Andrea Desjardins, creative and photography partner in Axon Images. about an aspect of their health – or that of a family member or friend – that they didn’t think applied to chiropractic is in- credibly satisfying. I feel like I’ve reached them on a new and different level. need to give patients more. Through my experience as a chiropractor, and the interest I’d always had in photography and design, I recognized an opportunity to combine my two passions into a tool that could: a) help patients get more out of their experience in their chiropractor’s office, and b) assist DCs to reinforce key points essential to a patient’s success, in every visit. My goal became to create a new and exciting look for chiropractic, helping to solidify the place of chiroprac- tic care at the forefront of the health-care community. By getting patients passion- ate about their care, I – and my partner in Axon Images – hope to take this mindset beyond the walls of the clinic and create more excitement and awareness in the community. Over the past eight years in practice, I have placed many of my personal pho- tographs around my clinic. On many oc- casions, patients have made comments, or suggested that I should do more with the photos. It was really these com- ments along with the constant drive to do something “more” that stimulated me to develop the concept of Axon Images and provided the opportunity to com- bine these two aspects of my life into one. Along with my creative partner and fellow photographer Andrea Desjardins, I have created images that are artisti- cally driven, while keeping in mind the education and information needs of the www.canadianchiropractor.ca patient as well as the chiropractor. One of our goals was to emphasize the arts of photography and graphic design in our work. We want to elevate patient inspira- tion to an art. An integral part of our treatment program is education and inspiration. HOW IT WORKS We feel it is important to stimulate pa- tients to think in ways they may not have considered before. In order to grow, we often have to ven- ture beyond the borders of our comfort zone. It is incredibly challenging to cap- ture a concept as diverse as chiropractic, and its impact on health, in a single photo- graph. Instead, we developed concepts that targeted key areas of chiropractic, from philosophy to maintenance. Most people understand the basics of health. We want to take these key concepts to a higher level. If an image can impact patients in a way that might stimulate conversations about their health, or lead them to a different perspective on a top- ic, the image has succeeded. Watching my patients pause at an image in my clinic, tilt their head to one side, and start a conversation with me HARNESSING THE WEB Often, a good idea gets shelved. I didn’t want to be one of those people who wished they’d done something about an idea. We felt passionate enough about this idea to take a leap, develop the concept, do the research, build a website and learn the details of online commerce, all on our own. Through countless hours of tinkering and many, many mistakes, our website has developed into an effective tool for delivering our images to chiro- practors all around the world. The Internet has opened the door for ideas such as ours. The end result of our effort is a collec- tion of images that we’re proud of, and that DCs can confidently display to pa- tients. We believe the future holds endless possibilities. We are constantly develop- ing new ideas and concepts – and we are currently developing packages for new doctors that will supply them with im- ages to “dec out” their clinics. While there is a wealth of educational materials on the market for chiroprac- tors, we wanted to offer DCs something new and exciting. If Axon Images can play even a small role in the recognition, development and expansion of chiro- practic care around the world, as well as in our own backyard, we’ve achieved a huge success. • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | FEBRUARY 2009 • 9
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor Febuary 2009: Page 9
