ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
About the Director
Director Minji Kim
You come to us because something hurts or doesn't feel right.
So here, at least,
I hope you feel truly dear to us.
ALWAYS "DEAR" YOU
WHY DEAR
Why DEAR started
As a child, I wanted to do everything, and to do it well.
As the years went by, there were fewer things I wanted, but my wish to open a Korean medicine clinic, and my sense of what kind of clinic it should be, only grew firmer and clearer.
Moments spent typing at a monitor instead of looking a patient in the eye,
moments when a packed schedule left no time to hear how someone's day had been,
and moments with a patient left heavy-hearted and frustrated because they weren't understood—
Care that doesn't hear
what a patient is going through today.
I didn't want you
to go through that here.
And here, you won't.
The name DEAR sums up how I think about care.
"Dear" means precious, someone held close.
I wanted DEAR to be a place where, beyond treatment, you find comfort and ease.
That wish is where DEAR Korean Medicine Clinic began.
The name DEAR holds
the kind of care I want to hold on to.
A place where each person is treated as someone precious,
and can feel a little more at ease.
I meet the person first,
and take time to listen.
Everything moves fast, and with so much information, it's hard to know what actually matters to you.
With AI search, it feels like you can find almost anything in an instant.
But time with someone who takes the time to listen has become all the more rare.
I always try to see the person first and hear their story.
I keep learning and broadening my view so that what I know and have experienced can reach my patients.
Because I want to be someone patients can talk to about their lives, their feelings and the balance of their days.
With me, I hope you can
talk a little more freely
and worry a little less.
WHAT I HOPE FOR
The kind of care
I want to keep
A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR
When you don't know how to explain how you feel,
or can't even say where or how it hurts,
coming to a clinic can take more courage than you might think.
Before I'm a Korean medicine doctor, I want to be someone you can talk to easily, like a close friend.
I may not know everything,
but I'll always help as much as I know how.
Here, I hope you'll always feel a little more dear to us.
I hope we can take our time and talk, a little closer.
Minji Kim