Natalie Chai, BSc, OD, FCCSO, and her husband, Dylan Bartel, OD, are celebrating the one-year anniversary of Trifecta Optometry. After they both graduated from Pacific University College of Optometry—she in 2014 and he in 2015— they spent some time working as associations before soft-launching the practice in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in August 2023. They celebrated their grand opening in June 2024. The couple works at the practice full-time providing specializing care in an elegant environment.
STARTING THE JOURNEY
Dr. Chai had been employed at several setting but “eventually realized that owning my practice was the only way to serve my patients and community the way I envisioned.” The first task was finding the right space. “In school, they always tell you, location, location, location,” Dr. Chai says. “I was quite particular about the size of the clinic and what I wouldn’t compromise on,” she says. “I wanted to have room to grow.” Most of the places the couple looked at felt dated, congested or weren’t close to other health care providers. “I wanted it to feel right.”
The space they originally found was perfect, with two neighboring units combined on a corner lot. Plus, it was the only space available for sale, not for lease. When they crunched the numbers and found that the mortgage was “basically what the lease would cost,” they were excited to put in an offer. But the place had already sold, so they started their search again. Then, a few weeks before Christmas 2022, the realtor called and said the sale had fallen through. Dr. Chai and Dr. Bartel immediately bundled up, got in their car and drove to place an offer. “We raced there, shook hands and closed the deal,” Dr. Chai says.
DESIGNING THE SPACE
The 2,400-square-foot space had been gutted, demolished and rebuild, ready to house a brand new business. Dr. Chai enlisted the help of two interior designers and let them know what she did and didn’t want. “I wanted to stay away from feeling like a bright white medical space,” she says. “I wanted to use warm, earthy colors so it felt inviting yet elegant.” The optical features sleek colors like black, gold and olive green, while the medical side features more cream colors and earthy tones. The entire optical gets lots of natural light, thanks to the corner lot and large windows. Outside, the office neighbors an accountant, a nail salon and a coffee shop, with more businesses popping up often.
The team laid electrical, plumbing and an HVAC system and built walls to frame the space. Dr. Chai and Dr. Bartel also wanted to focus on three specialty services, hence the name Trifecta—dry eye disease, myopia management and specialty contact lenses. “To our surprise, this served a transcending purpose in that as a full-service and dispensing clinic, everything else also came in threes,” the husband-and-wife team says on the website. “Our three principle core values, serving three generations, three primary eye care services and three eye care product categories.”
Dr. Chai originally wasn’t going to include an optical space but quickly found that patients inquiring about scheduling a specialty service appointment were also asking about comprehensive exams and if they could buy their frames in-house. Trifecta Optometry now offers a wide selection of frames, including options from Fendi and Tom Ford.
Behind the front desk, a textured wooden feature wall displays the practice name in large gold lettering. Light wooden flooring runs throughout the optical in a herringbone pattern with a cushion underneath for both sound control and comfort. Ceilings high enough to accommodate a second level expand the space vertically, and light wood door frames contrast against the darker colors throughout. Most of the furniture in the space was found at Rove Concepts. The couple incorporated the wooden feature wall into the outside of the second story of the building, and chic black hardware frames the windows and front door.
EXAMS + SPECIALTY SERVICES
The two separate but connected spaces worked perfectly for the practice’s needs. One bay acts as the dispensing side, while the other hosts medical procedures. The space also features two exam lanes, two procedure rooms, a consult room, a contact lens room, a separate visual field test room and a sterilization room with autoclaves. There are also two pretesting rooms: the first is a special testing lane with an Oculus Keratograph, axial length measurement machine and corneal topographer, and the second is used for primary care appointments, with an OCT, autorefractor and fundus photography.
There’s also a lab on site, plus a staff room, washroom and private office. Dr. Chai says the province of Alberta is currently in the midst of a scope expansion that may allow them to do more, including lumps and bumps, so they look forward to expanding the care they can provide to patients. For now, they offer advanced in-office treatments for dry eye, including intense pulsed light and radiofrequency treatments using corneal shields. They also offer a full range of myopia management options including orthokeratology, and for complex eyes, they offer specialty contact lenses including EyePrint Prosthetics. They recently added Plasma Rich in Growth Factor (PRgF) biologic eye drops in-house and hired a medical lab technologist employee to draw blood.
WORKING, TOGETHER
Dr. Bartel joined the practice full-time a few months after opening. He had previously worked in refractive and cataract surgery at an ophthalmology office for almost a decade. “With how quickly we’ve grown, it made sense for him to come here full-time,” Dr. Chai says. For now, he focuses more on primary care and emergencies, while she handles specialty cases, but it’s a team effort through and through. “Somewhere in there, there’s a dash of routine,” Dr. Chai says.
Working together has given them more time as a couple, too. They can get from home to the office in less than five minutes. “As a business owner, I’m here early and I’m here late,” Dr. Chai says. “It’s a luxury being so close to home.”
After a year of ironing out wrinkles, the couple is proud of how quickly they’ve grown to be a part of the community. “Seeing it in person is so different than seeing digital renditions,” Dr. Chai says. “It’s finally come together. Now, it’s real.”
| GET THE LOOK |
| Optical walls: Mohegan Sage |
| Walls in rooms: Gettysburg Gray, Sandy Hook Gray, Gray Mist |
| Door Frames & Doors: Wrought Iron |
Check out Trifecta Optometry online:
Facebook Trifecta Optometry
Instagram @trifecta_optometry
See other design inspiration stories here.
Would you like to share your remodel/relocation/new practice or office refresh story with WO readers? Email us here.
