Schmit shifting

Dr. Ed Schmit’s last day seeing patients at his Main Street office was Thursday.

On Christmas Eve, he’ll open up at his new location.

Schmit, his staff and a crew of movers spent Friday relocating equipment for Schmit Chiropractic to its new location at 1607 1/2 N. Meridian Street, Portland.

“I’ve always kind of wanted to own my own building,” said Schmit, whose new office will be just north of Greek’s Pizzeria in the space that was previously occupied by Hanni Plumbing Heating & Cool. “I think the new building gives us a way to be more convenient for patients, have more availability for other services and things like that. But also help to process and take care of people in more efficient ways.”

Schmit has been renting the space for his office at 207 W. Main St. ever since taking over the practice from Dr. Dennis Spaulding 12 years ago. He’s been looking for a new facility for about the last eight years, but it wasn’t until early 2018 that he found a space that suited him.

He bought it in February.

He’s excited about the location on the north side of the city for a variety of reasons, including the ability to set up the building as he saw fit. Marquee Builders of Berne handled the construction work, which he estimated at more than $450,000.

“It’s a whole new redesign,” said Schmit, noting that work such as exterior painting and installation of a new sign will continue after the new facility opens. “It’s from the ground up. Everything is new.”

The layout will feature a waiting room at the front of the building, with treatment and therapy rooms situated next to each other.

At the Main Street building, treatment rooms are near the front and therapy rooms are in the rear, which can be difficult for patients.

“Patients have to walk a lot longer of a distance to get there,” said Schmit. “In the new place, it’s going to be much more convenient, especially for people with backs that are sore and that are not feeling good anyway.”

The new office will also offer better accessibility for patients. 

There’s a large parking lot that serves those in the shopping strip, including The Rock Church and Greek’s. And there’s no step up to get into the office.

“It’s hard sometimes when (a patient) is parking halfway down the street and has to walk from the courthouse over here on a walker,” said Schmit.

“That’s just no good.”

A career in chiropractics wasn’t ever in the plans for Schmit. But that changed after he injured himself while lifting a patient during nursing school.

The result was neck pain and headaches, and his mom told him to see a chiropractor. He said he was a bit nervous because the profession was looked down upon at the time, especially among his fellow nursing students. But who was he to reject mom’s advice?

“So I went,” he said. “Here I am.

“I actually had a really good experience, enough to change my life and change my course.”

Schmit went to work for Spaulding after school — it was one of the offices he observed during his studies — and bought out the practice five years later when his boss retired.

His office offers chiropractic care focusing on the spine and nervous system, helping patients with issues such as back problems, leg, knee and neck pain, headaches and shoulder issues. His equipment, all of which will come with him to the new location, includes an ultrasound, X-ray machine and lasers.

The new space is about 50 percent larger than the Main Street office, making it more suited to bringing in an additional doctor. That’s a goal for Schmit, who has been solo in his practice since 2015.

He’ll have a quick timeline to get started Monday, but said Christmas Eve is usually slow. It typically focuses on emergencies or appointments for those who have serious pain and would like to feel better for the holiday.

“Really, we’re going to work the kinks out on Monday,” he said.

Schmit and his staff — he has five employees — will then take Christmas Day off before hitting the ground running Wednesday.