Today we’d like to introduce you to David Yoo.
David, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My interest in holistic medicine started as a child. I was brought up in a Seventh Day Adventist
community. Seventh Day Adventist are very health and wellness oriented. The community observe a
vegetarian and Kosher diet accordingly to the old testament dietary guidelines. Recently, Loma Linda
(Largest concentration of SDA community) was appointed by the World Health Organization as one of
four green zones in the world. Through the SDA church, I became involved with a health program called
New Start (90’s). It was a holistic medical program that helped terminally ill patients through holistic
medical approach. Through this program I’ve worked with medical doctors, acupuncturist, herbalist,
chiropractors, and nutritionist. It was this program that really stirred my passion for holistic healing. I
attended Seventh Day Adventist universities (Pacific Union College & La Sierra University) to study
Biology from 1993 to 1997. Then I attended Cleveland Chiropractic College to further my education in
holistic medicine. I also started to learn different techniques and clinical skills outside of school, in
different Chiropractor’s offices. I graduated in August of 2002 (magna cum laude), started working as
an associate at Gentle Chiropractic Care in Riverside. I learned from another practitioner (Dr. Heckman)
that was a nurse practitioner and a chiropractor. Dr. Heckman was a very savy business women and
part of a business management group (Gibson Management) that helped other Chiropractors. While
working with Dr. Heckman, I learned variety of clinical skills and how to manage the business side of
practicing. In November of 2004, I joined Dr. Simon Yau in Chinatown, Los Angeles to practice in the city
that I love. Dr. Yau was a well-known Chinese practitioner that utilized acupuncture, herbal medicine,
chiropractic, and physical therapy. While learning from Dr. Yau, I discovered Metagenics (top
neutraceutical company). I took a seminar from Metagenics about functional medicine. Then, started
my education on functional medicine, soon after. I obtained a Certified Clinical Nutrition degree after
studying nutrition and functional medicine for couple years. Still working to earn my fellowship in
functional medicine now. In, November of 2005, Dr. Yau retired and I purchased the clinic. At that time,
the clinic’s name was changed from Yau’s Chiropractic Clinic to Omni Wellness Clinic. Since then, we
have worked with other acupuncturists, message therapists, physical therapists, and chiropractors.
Initially for the 1st 10 years of practice, we mainly treated patients from local small businesses, seniors
(Chinatown retirement community), doctor referrals from Chinatown medical community, runners and
sports injury patients (I started training for marathons in 2006 and have finished 7 Marathons and 2
triathlons since), personal injury patients (referrals from several lawyers offices), and the downtown
community. We focused our marketing through word of mouth (quarterly mailers and email campaign),
community health fairs, marathon and fitness expos, relationships with local medical doctors and
lawyers. Starting in 2014, we lost about 30% of our business to Obamacare. Since Obamacare did not
include Chiropractic and Acupuncture, many of our patients that switched to Obamacare did not have
access to our care anymore. So, we started to market more toward corporations in downtown. We
joined corporate health fairs, wellness programs, and employee fitness programs. After, numerous
corporate campaigns last 3 years, we have worked with employees from Gensler-LA, Dodgers, LA
Athletic Club, Ace Hotel, several downtown law firms, Ramon Cortines School of Performing Arts and
Visual Arts, and numerous mid-sized businesses. Also, with gentrification of Chinatown, our patient base
has been changing from 50% Chinese American base to 30% Chinese American base. In addition, 70-80%
blue collar workers and small business owners to over 70% white collar workers.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There were many struggles in re-establishing our clinic. From the beginning in 2005, once I took over
from Dr. Yau, we lost many referral sources from attorneys, medical doctors, and other patients. They
did not know who I was and didn’t have a long-lasting relationship. So, I regularly reached out to some
of the local medical doctors and attorneys to establish a working relationship with them. Also, we
started to send out quarterly newsletters and coupons to our existing patient base to improve
communication. In addition, we regularly attended local community health fairs (many with National
Organization of Renal Disease), health expos (NBC health and fitness expos, LA marathon fitness expos,
Chinatown Firecracker Run, Women’s Heart Health expo, etc.), health improvement classes at local
community centers, and local school employee wellness day.
Within the last 10 years, marketing has changed dramatically. Most of it is online base now. Therefore,
within the last 6 to 8 years, we started to concentrate more on our online presence, rather than direct
marketing like health events and advertising. We created our own website (several transformations
since), Facebook, started a blog about healthy lifestyle and natural medicine, yelp, google reviews, and
more.
Since the inception of Obamacare, we lost many referral sources from medical doctors because many
doctors retired with Obamacare. Also, we lost 30% of our patient base, because many who switched
their private insurance to Obamacare did not have access to Chiropractic and Acupuncture. Therefore
we started to focus our attention and marketing to the corporations in the downtown vicinity.
Please tell us about Omni Wellness Clinic.
Omni Wellness Clinic provides natural and holistic care to those that want to face life with an optimal
health and wellness. We have a team of Chiropractors, acupuncturist, massage therapist, and functional
medicine practitioner to help you achieve your health goals. Our team is dedicated and highly
experienced (combined experience of 27 years) in the health and wellness field. Our team is made of
Angelenos that have a deep understanding of the health issues that we face today. No other clinics or
offices in the downtown, Los Angeles region offers the variety of services that we can. Also, we have
staffs that are highly trained to work with your insurance companies, if you are looking for insurance
covered services.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big
changes?
Within the last 3 years we have been serving our corporation employees. We understand that a
healthy and fit work force is a productive work force. Therefore, we have been designing
wellness programs for corporate employees in mind. We are excited that within the near future,
we will start work with the Dodgers to help their employees be more healthy and productive with
wellness programs. The program will be within the insurance network coverage.
Contact Info:
- Address: 625 W. College St. Suite 206
Los Angeles, CA 90012 - Website: http://www.omniwellnessclinic.com/
- Phone: 213-617-8163
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OmniWellnessClinic/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/omni-wellness-clinic-los-angeles
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
