Lifebridge X-Ray
Giving up on four years of hard work and a university degree is never easy, but Brittany McKenzie says she doesn’t regret her decision to do exactly that.
“I wasn’t getting what I wanted from my degree, so I went back to school. That was four years ago now,” McKenzie said. “I decided on a different route and then I ended up here … My plan B ended up being better than my plan A.”
After completing a two-year x-ray technician program at SIAST — now known as Saskatchewan Polytechnic — the Langenburg native spent about a year working at an x-ray clinic in Saskatoon. She fell in love with the work immediately, she said.
“My mom’s a nurse, so I always knew I was going to do something in the medical field. It was just a matter of finding out what was the best fit.”
Last year, McKenzie heard about Lifebridge Health Centre, a unique complex in Stonebridge that houses various medical facilities. When her employer said he didn’t want another clinic in the city, she said, “Why can’t I do it?” she recalled.
Opening a new business, much less a medical facility, is never easy. McKenzie said her year-long path from idea to opening was complicated because very few men proved willing to take a young woman seriously — at least in the beginning.
“I had a lot of no’s from a lot of different places,” she said. “I did put (the idea) aside for about two months, said, ‘Okay, this isn’t working.’ But my fiancé and my family, they pushed me, in way that drove me to prove people wrong. And I did.”
Lifebridge X-Ray opened for business last month. Its owner said the location makes sense because of its built-in client base, which includes patients seeing physicians in the complex, as well as people who live nearby.
Opening a new business comes with its share of headaches, but McKenzie said she enjoys being her own boss, and not just because there is a lot of competition for jobs in her field. She also enjoys coming to work every day.
“I get to do what I love to do every day,” she said. “I love working with my patients, I love taking x-rays and being able to have that job security, knowing that I have a position in this place where I want to be.”
Lifebridge X-Ray
Address: #327—118 Cope Cres.
Phone: 306-382-1355
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Related
Andrea Murphy in her new Saskatoon gym, Pave Fitness.
Pave Fitness
Andrea Murphy always wanted to start her own business, but it wasn’t until she moved back home to Saskatoon that the future revealed itself to her.
Murphy grew up playing competitive soccer, and ultimately earned a scholarship to Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. After completing her kinesiology degree and finding a job as a personal trainer, she started growing restless.
“I found at the gym I just felt myself in the same routine, kind of doing the same thing,” Murphy said of the years she spent working at a local facility. “I still really enjoyed it but I was looking for a challenge, and wanted to try doing it on my own.”
Murphy said while she didn’t have any experience opening or running a business, her family provided the necessary support. She she started planning to open the gym late last year and found a location on Idylwyld Drive this summer.
“(That is) when I started being like, ‘Okay, this is something I can do — I can use my services to help more people and run my own thing and have more control.’ ”
Pave Fitness opened its doors in September. Murphy said its philosophy, and her own, is embedded in its name, which is an acronym for Passion, Activity, Vitality and Energy.
“It’s really about finding what motivates you, what drives you,” she said. “I really ideally want to help (people) pave (their own) paths to wellness. Really, to make it a lifestyle you can achieve and maintain on your own.”
Since opening the gym — which offers individual and group training sessions, as well as “boot camp” classes and sport-specific classes — Murphy has been enjoying herself immensely.
“I feel that I’m in the right place right now,” she said. “I always knew I was in the right area of work, but I find it so fulfilling … I don’t even live for the weekends, like I used to. Every day I enjoy it.”
Pave Fitness
Address: 912 Idylwyld Drive
Phone: 306-715-3180
Web: Pavefitness.ca
Hours: Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
If you have started, expanded or moved a small business in Saskatoon within the last few months, contact Alex MacPherson at 306-657-6210 or amacpherson@postmedia.com. Home-based and temporary businesses, as well as those without physical locations, will not be considered for publication.
