an exceptional working relationship where we encourage each other’s practice, and both of us are willing to do more than our share of what needs to be done. Our strengths are different and complimentary to each other; what I am weak in he is strong and vice a versa. Other changes have come, because at the old office we had to make do or make the physical structure work the way we needed. Now we built it to be more efficient and easier to use.

We know your homes also were either damaged or, in your case Dr. McAllister, completely destroyed. Are those repaired or rebuilt, now, too? How have you and your families coped with juggling all the balls in the air … in rebuilding practices and homes? Fortunately, once again, working with good people helped enormously. We were able to build the temp office first and have it running in 60 days, thanks to Goetze Dental (once again a great dental supplier will have people to assist you with such issues). Then we focused on our homes. Then the new office. For Dr. McAllister there was some overlap, but I was able to take up the slack because my house was ready much sooner. Working

together we were very efficient. I don’t think it would have been nearly as smooth if we were separate. Not to say we weren’t busy; we were. The staggered hours allowed one of us to address issues anytime during the day (another advantage of that schedule). We are just now realizing how busy we were, now that things are almost finished. Support for the MDA also was greatly appreciated you did great and we owe you a lot!

For each of you, what have been some of the biggest challenges since clean up, beyond just the rebuilding itself? Psycho- logically dealing with everything in your life disrupted or gone. Most of my support businesses were hit—accountant, insurance agent, church, gym, pharmacy, medical doc- tor. All of these offices were damaged, de- stroyed or never rebuilt. Also, I recognize that when my sons come home they still see scars and that affects them. Seeing news reports from other cities going through disasters brings up memories that still are painful. Dr. McAllister’s kids, who are younger than mine, still think about the storm. When the weather looks bad they all start to worry and are more

s it relates to the Joplin tornado, when most of us purchase insurance coverage of any type, we really don’t anticipate using it. “You hear of other people who have fires, floods and catastrophic losses, but we all tend to have the mind set that it won’t happen to us,” says Greg Russell, MDIS Executive Vice President. Because we all should consider that whatever “it” really could happen to us, we should further educate ourselves and know our insurance policies. It could start with simply reading your policy. Truth is, most of us do not.

Have you added that new equipment you just

32 focus | MAR/APR 2013 | ISSUE 2

Know Your Insurance Coverage A

purchased to your insurance? Perhaps if the lease agree- ment or terms of the loan stipulate it, you have. But we find that many clients are busy and forget to notify us of practice changes like new assets, values, location change and professional changes, like additional pro- cedures you are performing (for professional liability). Your coverage is condi- tioned on this notification, and it is specified in the in- surance contract. Discipline yourself to call and verify. Beyond the obvious coverage for your practice, does your insurance take into account something like

policy?

Ask questions to ascer- tain if current coverage is adequate and works like you think it should, but also what coverage you may not have and still need.

Knowing your insurance coverage and how it works is no less important than any other preparation to protect your family and property. “All insurance policies are not the same, and neither are the agen- cies that sell them to you,” reminds Russell.

respectful of the warnings. It seems to be slowly getting better, but is still on our minds.

Even though this was a terrible tragedy with a great deal of heartache, what has been something especially positive thing that has come from it? A chance at a new begin- ning. It is important to look for the potential of the situation. Joplin has great plans and has changed some areas that needed to be changed but would have taken decades. If you reflect too much on the past, it is difficult to plan and execute the future. Staying posi- tive and working through the problems have allowed us to overcome any obstacle so far set before us.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us as we approach the two-year anniversary of the tornado? We are grateful for the MDA and the MDIS. Without them, we would not be in the position we are now. They knew what insurance we needed for this undreamt of event, and there is not a day that passes that we aren’t grateful for that! f

loss of business income, which was extremely valuable to the

Joplin dentists who had such a

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