Seven years later, with a shiny new doctorate in chiropractic from the University of Québec at Trois-Rivières, she returned home to start her own business.

Opened in 2004, her clinic in Mansfield filled a need for chiropractic service in the Pontiac — a need that proved so large that, within six months, she had opened a second location in Shawville.

Now, 20 years have passed, and Dr. Gagnon is hosting a pair of events this week to celebrate the milestone, starting with a party at her Shawville clinic on Monday night.

What’s more, she’s doing it in typical fashion, by opening the events to the community.

Gagnon may have left the Pontiac for her studies, but the sense of community drew her back. “I realized that we have it really good here,” she said.

Over the years Gagnon has seen her fair share of changes. Her Mansfield practice started small, with a paper appointment book in which she pencilled in clients by herself. She quickly realized she needed an assistant, and a computer, both of which she procured within a few months. Then, she expanded to Shawville, where she has been ever since.

Looking back on 20 years, Gagnon said time has flown by and she is taking this time to reflect on the achievement.

“It’s a bit surreal to realize that so much time has passed, yet I still feel fresh out of session practice. It’s kind of a weird thing, but it’s a milestone for sure,” she said.

Gagnon said when she set out to be a chiropractor, she never imagined herself as a business owner.

“There is still an imposter syndrome that sets in, where I ask myself ‘do I really know what I’m doing?’”

She does, of course, know what she’s doing. For the last 20 years she has been an active participant in the Pontiac medical community, participating in workshops, working on business skills, even serving on the board of directors at the Pontiac Hospital.

Gagnon takes her role as a community member seriously, and is constantly looking for ways to better serve her patients.

Even though she’s not up-to-date with the latest technologies, she will be participating in an upcoming SADC tech summit because she recognizes the need to evolve.

“To be successful in business you have to work on your business and you have to be involved in the community,” she said.

Gagnon owns some of the most expensive diagnostic imaging machines in the Pontiac — a hefty expense for a small practice, but, she says, “it’s one of the tools I can use to better diagnose and better help my patients.”

She said one of the keys to keeping a successful practice in a small town is honesty and integrity. If she can’t help a patient, she’ll tell them.

“I don’t want my clinical decisions to be biased by financial gain,” she said, adding that it was important to let her patients know she’s doing this work for the right reasons.

“To have that authenticity to say, ‘Look, I’m doing everything I can, I’m here to help,’ I think people understand that I genuinely want to help,” she said.

In her experience, those values have paid off, and she is grateful for the community support she has received over the years.

“Small communities such as ours, the wonderful thing is that if you do things well, people talk, but if you do something wrong, people talk even more. You really have to focus on delivering the best care possible and being genuinely interested in the patient and really focusing on what is best for them, and then in the end it trickles down to having a successful business,” she said.

At first, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to expand her practice to two locations. It’s more equipment, more travel, and more work. But, as she notes, her patients can have severe lower back pain, so asking them to sit in a car for the extra half-hour was just too much.

“Bringing care closer to the community is the best thing,” she said of her decision to have two clinics.

Going forward, Gagnon is looking to expand her practice. Within the next five years, she would like to have another chiropractor on staff, who she could train and mentor until they are ready to eventually take over the practice, enabling her to retire.

She said whoever that person is, they have to be a perfect fit. “You have to be willing to be a part of the community,” she said.

The second night of Gagnon’s 20th-anniversary party is happening this Thursday at her Mansfield clinic from 4-7 p.m. Everyone is invited.

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