New practice is serving Dunkirk

When chiropractor Dave Segraves says his new practice in Dunkirk offers a service, he knows that’s true.
The former teacher has been a practicing chiropractor for 28 years, a career change spurred by treatment he received for extreme back and leg pain many years ago.
Segrave’s new practice, Elite Healthcare of Jay County, is housed at 126 Main St. in Dunkirk. It opened in January and held a ribbon-cutting earlier this month.
Its focus is on “physical medicine.”
“We rehab people without the use of narcotics,” Segraves said, adding the medical approach is both narrowly-focused and “high touch.”
Segraves, who lives in Randolph County, decided to open up the Dunkirk office because of his familiarity with Jay County through family and friends.
He also saw the need for a practice in the area. He says the practice is “one of few offices between Fort Wayne and the Ohio River” that offers its type of medicine.
In addition to Segraves, Elite Healthcare of Jay County’s personnel include part-time chiropractor Paula Jones, massage therapist Emily Graber, nurse practitioner Kristin Golden and secretary Kayli Martin.
The practice has seen a couple hundred patients in its first six months. The problems they come in with range from lower back pain to headaches, and numbness and tingling, Jones said.
“We are not isolated to a certain genre of healthcare, so to speak,” she said.
The Dunkirk office includes an X-Ray room for diagnostic imaging, a room for chiropractic adjustment and an area for exercise therapy.
“We help to ease people’s pain and increase their mobility,” she said the clinic’s mission.
However, the clinic is committed to more than simply easing the patient’s pain while they are in the office. It also seeks to help patients keep the pain from recurring.
One way that is done is through exercise therapy.
“Once they’re out of pain, it helps people to strengthen their muscles to maintain their adjustment,” Jones said of the therapy.
Another way is through massage therapy, with massages once a week from Graber.
Segraves, who also works out of Elite Healthcare of Muncie and Miracle Chiropractic in Connersville, said his new location is seeing progress. It is accepting new patients, with immediate appointments available.
“It’s growing. Anything takes a little longer than think. People just have to realize you’re there. Number two, realize you’re offering a service they can take advantage of locally,” he said.
“We are growing. We really enjoy it and we’re getting all different type of patients and we treat all different types of patients,” said Jones. “We treat families. We treat people who are still actively working, we treat seniors, we treat children.”