Transcript
Intro: From studio three at buzz TV, it’s The Horse’s Mouth with Tom McManus.
Tom McManus: All right. Welcome back to another edition of The Horse’s Mouth here at Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach, where we’re raising money for the Foodies Care organization, helping people out on the street and helping put food in their tummies. You keep them healthy and happy. It’s great to be here, great to be alive. We’ve got a great show lined up for you.
Tom McManus: Tony Davis is back from Crestcom, and, we got a great, group of people coming. And still, there’s going to be smarter than me, but, well, they can fit right in here. This would be in a bar tent around the show. So let’s welcome in the panel. Tony is up first. Hey, Don. How are you doing?
Tom McManus: How’s Vegas treating you?
Tony Davis: Oh, it’s treating me like Vegas.
Tom McManus: Yeah, I had to.
Tony Davis: Come back.
Tom McManus: And pick up some clients out there. What’s the deal?
Tom McManus: I know there’s a lot of people out there that need leadership development, that’s for sure.
Tony Davis: But I was, focused on all the things.
Tom McManus: That’s right. Sin City is not the place for leadership, that it really is it, I was there. Well, great to have you back at the show. Thank you sir. Right. Troy Buswell of Caudill Supply.
Troy Buswell: Yes, sir.
Tom McManus: What kind of supply are we talking?
Troy Buswell: Mostly, HVAC, plumbing, electrical. Anything inside of your home that we can help you or help our customers. We moved up from Saint Pete in March of this year. So it’s a 40 year old company. And, family business. Yes, owner, I own it. We’re owner operator, my wife and I, and we recently moved up from Saint Pete to Jacksonville, and we’re getting acclimated to the local area, supporting non-profits.
Tom McManus: What’s it like with—and thanks for being here—when these private equity companies are buying up the track, companies like you supplying them, like, how does that change? How does it rework the relationship or how it settles down?
Troy Buswell: Oh, absolutely. It’s definitely a challenge. They’re working, they’ve got to report to their priorities. So their margins are tighter, which means they bang on the suppliers to cut their margins. So, yeah, definitely gotta pick and choose where we’re a good fit.
Tom McManus: A small, easier office, I would imagine.
Troy Buswell: There’s not many mom and pop suppliers left, and we’re one of the only ones in Jacksonville, so that’s locally owned and operated.
Tom McManus: So you’re a Packer fan? Be careful in Jacksonville.
Troy Buswell: Exactly. I went to University of Wisconsin. So I’m a Badger, but I do like the Jags and Bucs and support football.
Tom McManus: We got Mohamed and Viral. You guys, your MDs, are you both?
Mohamed Shaalan: Yes. We have the clinic, we have three physicians in the clinic.
Tom McManus: How long you been doctors for?
Mohamed Shaalan: I graduated ’95.
Tom McManus: No kidding. Wow. What’s your specialty? General medicine or what?
Mohamed Shaalan: My record physician.
Tom McManus: Okay. Wow. We’re saving people. How much schooling did you have to do to get to where you’re at?
Viral Acharya: Yeah, I did my med school in India and three years of residency in New York. That’s eight and a half years.
Tom McManus: It’s called MedStar Clinic. How many locations do you have here in Jacksonville?
Mohamed Shaalan: So we have only one location. We have three physicians.
Tom McManus: Three physicians, and they could handle anything. General positions? If I need a physical, break an arm, whatever, I come to see you guys. What about insurance and all that? How does that work?
Mohamed Shaalan: So what we actually try to help people who don’t have insurance. We have a membership program. With the membership, you pay $150, and then we have unlimited visits to the clinic. And we give you generic medications for free. We’ll give you an annual blood work for free. We do all the EKG, lung function test. All this for an annual monthly membership.
Tom McManus: Are you guys doing Teladoc too?
Mohamed Shaalan: You can come to the clinic. We do telemedicine.
Tom McManus: But you’d rather have them coming in so you can look at it and get a feel for everything.
Viral Acharya: Yeah. It’s perfect. Because if you can’t come in person we have the option to do a call visit. But generally our first visit we like to see, you know, learn about each other. But then you’re home and you can’t come, tele is the way to go.
Tom McManus: So if you’re in leadership development for doctors, what would you say to them? Not them personally, but just a general—guys running these clinics, it takes a lot to do that.
Tony Davis: Well yeah. Here’s the thing. I would ask what are their challenges. What are the leadership challenges? It could range from employee engagement to communication. And here’s the great thing about our approach is that when I have my trainings, I have people across all industries. We’re all dealing with the same things. But because of our industry, our experience and perspectives, we’re seeing things differently. So everybody in my trainings learns from me and they learn from each other. Everyone’s a student. Everyone’s a teacher.
Tom McManus: Troy, you’re here. It’s more about taking care of this, like finding a solution, right? Anybody in your business, they need whatever they need and you’re going to deliver it for them. But you’re finding them a solution.
Troy Buswell: Well, we help mostly HVAC contractors. They’re busy. Their employees are busy. They don’t want their employees sitting around looking at their phone because it’s costing a potential service call where they could be helping one of their own customers. So we try to help them get in and get out and be efficient. Which at the end of the day, helps them become more profitable.
Tom McManus: You’re the buffer. What’s the widest range you guys deal with at the clinic?
Mohamed Shaalan: We treat everything related to medicine. We are primary care physicians. Anything medicine we do. But we don’t do any surgical stuff. Congestive heart failure, asthma, any GI problems, any problem with your stomach, any hypertension, diabetes. Everything.
Tom McManus: So anything—and then you send from there if they need something specialized. Are you guys going to have other clinics? You think you’re going to grow?
Mohamed Shaalan: Yeah, that’s the plan, to have more clinics.
Tom McManus: What’s the best part of being here in Jacksonville? You’re new to the area.
Troy Buswell: Not having to cross the ditch on the weekends. We live over in Neptune. So the golf cart area, we golf cart in here.
Tom McManus: The beach is a nice place to live.
Tony Davis: Sure. I live in Fleming Island, but I got a place out here. I grew up in Lauderdale. Lauderdale is great to go visit, but it’s so congested. It’s a whole different world down there. You come up here, it’s a whole different world. I love Jacksonville.
Tom McManus: How long have you guys been in Jacksonville?
Viral Acharya: I think 18 years.
Mohamed Shaalan: I’ve been here for 22 years.
Tom McManus: All right, guys, well, thanks for being here, I really appreciate it. Thanks for being patient. All the best, y’all. Hey, make sure you check out their profiles. You see this conversation if you want to reach out to them, you see it all right there at the Daily News network.com website. So till next time, stay safe, be cool out there and take care of one another. We’ll see you right here on The Horse’s Mouth.
Tony Davis: Cheers. Thank you so much, man. Appreciate that.
Troy Buswell: Foodies Care is a nonprofit organization here, starting in Jacksonville, Florida. Our mission is to support other nonprofits realize and carry out their missions. We’re trying to simplify that process to have a local body that’s here on the ground and says, listen, we’re going to work with you and partner with you. We’re going to give you the resources that you need to be able to do the work that is needed in this community.