SQM Pick

For several years now, I have been seeing two optometrists. They are Doctor Dale Gray and her associate Doctor Munheer Haji. For Doctor Gray specifically, I have known her for over 20 years. After all these years, Doctor Gray still takes very good care of me whenever I have issues with my eyes. Despite the fact that her office is always busy and packed with patients, she puts her undivided attention at the patient in front of her. If you call in for an emergency, all the office staff will be extremely accommodating.

I have gone to the office numerous times for minor and bigger issues. Whether an eyelash is stuck in my eye or if the outer layer of my eye is scratched, the office is always professional and obliging no matter how big or small the issue.

Along with Doctor Gray, Doctor Haji is amazing when it comes to fitting contact lenses. She has multiple options and makes sure that you are aware of them. Another particular staff member who I would like to mention is Annie, the receptionist. She knows every patient by name and adds a very personal touch to the usual military-style operation you would find in other optometrist offices.

Overall, I would highly recommend going to Doctor Gray’s office for anyone with eye care needs. You will always find a very professional and accommodating environment when you go there.

Dr. Dale Ellen Gray Hamilton
1333 Sheppard Ave,
North York, ON M2J 1V1
416 494 6155

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Several months ago, my wife had a serious problem with her back. When her problem was diagnosed and she felt excruciating pain, I knew that one of the best things to do was to put her in physiotherapy. I could have seen Chris or Shaun from Sport Medicine Clinic, but the problem was my wife’s inability to walk due to the severe pain.

Aware of this issue, my sister-in-law recommended Physio Active and Thomas Hein. Thomas then referred her to Polina Provad, a physiotherapist. First of all, Polina had squeezed my wife into her busy schedule when we almost cancelled the appointment in the beginning. My wife’s pain was so bad that we were contemplating going to a hospital instead of a physiotherapist. When I informed Polina, she offered to stay late so they could get the treatment going.

Polina is a very experienced and skilled physiotherapist. She analyzed and assessed my wife and came up with a treatment plan. She was very accommodating! When we first entered the clinic, we faced a small challenge of moving my wife to the treatment bed. To help my wife, the clinic brought a wheel chair and pushed her to the room every single time. When my wife had to go there on a daily basis in the first couple of weeks, the clinic deliberately scheduled its patients so that she could have easy access to the room in a wheelchair.

As my wife was on the road to recovery, Polina started to introduce other methods like acupuncture and massage therapy. Overall, the entire clinic and the office staff members are excellent in their field. Ashley, the office manager, was very patient and friendly whenever we saw her. Thanks to Physio Active, my wife is in much less pain and almost back to normal! A large part of that is because of their wonderful efforts.

Physio Active
1450 Clark Avenue West Unit 22
Thornhill, L4J7R5
905 695 0371

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In more recent times, as I have been recovering from my rotator cuff injury, Chris has referred me to Dr. Shaun Lemann. Shaun is a chiropractor who works alongside Chris at the Sport Medicine Clinic and he is highly skilled and reliable in his field. While moving into the final phase of my injury treatment, Shaun has recommended a number of necessary therapy approaches. Recently, I have been working on my range of motion with Shaun, and I have already been seeing improvements. Asides from chiropractic, Shaun has experience in a number of different experiences in therapy and physiotherapy.

Like Chris and other experts at the Sport Medicine Clinic, Shaun will patiently listen to your issues and problems. He will professionally assess you as he is very good at identifying specific problem areas. Although sometimes the treatment is painful and I cry of severe pain, Shaun has significantly helped to maintain my usual bright and positive self. Both of these doctors, Chris and Shaun, will gladly see to your injury even if it’s not a sports injury.

Sport Medicine Clinic
79 Wellington St. West,
36th Floor, Toronto, ON M5K 1J5
416 865 0903

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Many years ago, I developed a back problem that seemed to arise whenever I played hockey. When I visited my chiropractor, he could not figure out what the problem was and instead, referred me to a guest speaker at the chiropractor college named Chris Broadhurst. At the time, he was the team therapist for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

As the pain worsened over time, I decided to be proactive and reach out to Chris myself. He kindly invited me to his office to have a look at the issue soon after. Within 5 minutes he diagnosed my back problem and recommended certain exercises that I should do continuously. I took his word and eventually my back started to improve. To this day the pain has not resurfaced. Getting other body injuries, however, was never an issue for me and whenever I had to get treatments, I always went back to Chris.

One particular incident stands out to me the most out of all my times with Chris. When I tore a ligament in the knee, he was able to quickly refer me to a doctor and a surgeon. Because of his fantastic skills, I was back at playing sports, including skating, within 6 weeks after the surgery. I remember a couple of other interesting injuries I pulled off, including my rotator cuff, and for all of them Chris was able to direct me to medical professionals after providing me with physiotherapy treatments. It’s no surprise that my recovery time was significantly shortened with Chris’ medical expertise.

Not only was he the team therapist for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he was a personal therapist for Wayne Gretzky as well as other NHL athletes. He is so talented at his field and remains to be one of the most respected physiotherapist. However, the most important truth I want to emphasize is that Chris does not care whether you are an NHL hockey player or a famous singer. He treats all of his patients the same way and he will give you whatever amount of time you need. He enjoys working and helping your our average Joe as much as a professional athlete. Currently he has two clinics: Sport Medicine Clinic and Lifetime Sport Medicine Clinic. I would highly recommend visiting these clinics if you ever need a skilled physiotherapist.

Sport Medicine Clinic
79 Wellington St. West,
36th Floor, Toronto, ON M5K 1J5
416 865 0903

Lifetime Sport Medicine Clinic
3055 Pepper Mill Court,
Mississauga, ON L5L 4X5
289 290 6457

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Earlier this summer, my wife and I found ourselves in the Emergency Room, at North York General Hospital, several times, due to some severe back problems she was experiencing.

While the problem was diagnosed during the first visit, despite the medications, the pain became worse, and we had to return the next day.  When we went back to the Emergency Room, as is typically the case, it was very busy and crowded.  While my wife was not looking for special treatment, she was in a lot of discomfort and wanted to lie down, however there was no room to do this.  I went up to a nurse and informed her that while my wife did not need to be seen by a doctor immediately, she was in a lot of discomfort and couldn’t remain in the same position.  After listening to my wife’s situation, the nurse was very accommodating and took my wife to a room where she could lie on a bed.

As I sat in the room with my wife, I witnessed first-hand the doctors and nurses in action.  For starters, every doctor and nurse was busy, hustling around, and very focussed on the tasks at hand.  One doctor in particular, was taking care of a young boy who had broken his arm.  She understood that the patient she was dealing with was a young boy who was hysterical, and made every effort to be calm, patient, and explain to the boy what she was doing, at all times.  Another doctor attended to my wife, listened to her concerns and adjusted her medication, allowing her to be a bit more comfortable despite the circumstances.

Round three for the Emergency Room visits, occurred a few days later, when my wife had to return to the hospital to obtain a renewal for her prescription.  Despite the ER being busy and crowded, we happened to have bumped into the same doctor that originally took care of my wife.  The doctor remembered us, and as such provided us with the necessary prescription, getting us in and out of the hospital quickly, both for my wife’s comfort and to make life a bit easier on us..

People can be stuck in the Emergency Room for many hours, and it is often very daunting, stressful, and upsetting. However, throughout all of the interactions that my wife and I experienced, I truly believe that the doctors, nurses, and staff at North York General Hospital have the public’s health care in their best interest.  Despite the stress, crowding, and busy schedules, once a patient is seeing a doctor, the focus is completely on the patient…where it should be.  My only complaint is the high parking fee, however when it comes to patient care, the people at NYGH were amazing, and helped put my wife on the road to recovery.

North York General Hospital
4001 Leslie Street
Toronto, ON M2K 1E1
416-756-6000

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Over this past summer, I decided to tackle one of my home renovation projects, which involved me staining the fence in my backyard.  While it seems as if staining a fence would be a relatively simple and straightforward project, to do it right, it is actually a somewhat long and hard process.  As such, I decided to start the project by visiting my local Home Depot, on Billy Bishop Way, near Dufferin and Wilson.  When I arrived at the Paint Department, an eager employee asked how he could help me, so I told him about my fence staining project.  Based on the answers to my questions, he suggested that I would need approximately three gallons of stain to complete the work so I followed his advice, and bought three gallons.

As I embarked on the project, very quickly it was apparent that the employee really miscalculated the amount of stain I would require, as the cans were being used up and I had a looooooong way to go.  In fact, given the amount of stain I would still require, I decided to purchase a pail, which consists of five gallons.  Later on, I actually purchased a second, five gallon pail, and I still wasn’t finished!

Near the end of the project, I had to keep purchasing more and more gallons of stain, and not taking the “buy four get one free deal” (the pail is five gallons for the price of four) because of underestimation, until I bought a total of 13 gallons!  It was still not enough to cover the entire fence, so to complete the project, I headed back to the store, on more time, for what should be the last gallon of stain.

When I walked down to the Paint Department, once again, a long-time employee noticed that as a regular customer, I was not my usual jovial self, and that I seemed to be a bit miffed about something.  She asked me what was wrong, and how she could help me, and while I was reluctant to bellyache, I told her about the long and time-consuming fence staining project and the inaccurate initial estimation of the three gallons of stain, which ended up costing me close to $100.00 in extra purchases.

The employee apologized, without hesitation, and offered to give me the last gallon of stain for free.  I expressed my concern, that she would somehow get into trouble, be she assured me that this wouldn’t be the case.  She explained that she could justify the offer, as I would have had the last gallon free if I had purchased a third pail, and because she knows I am a regular customer, that I wasn’t trying to trick her.  We filled out some paperwork, I got the free gallon of stain to complete my project, and I was on my way a few minutes later.  I know that this was only one gallon of stain in a lengthy project, but this employee made me extremely happy, at a time when I was becoming increasingly frustrated.

The moral of this customer service experience is that the Home Depot at Yorkdale has amazing staff members, and they are empowered to make certain decisions that create the happiest of customers. While the Home Depot motto is, “You can do it, we can help,” another fitting motto would be, “We make it right when we make a mistake”.  The team in Yorkdale’s Paint Department is very experienced, knowledgeable, and is composed of some great and caring people.

Home Depot
90 Billy Bishop Way
Toronto, ON  M3K 2C8
416-373-6000

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Over the summer, I had the pleasure of conversing with an employee in the office who was from Afghanistan.  The conversations usually become about food, and in this case, specifically Afghan cuisine.  The employee told me about a restaurant which was near our office, and ensured me that it served the best Afghan cuisine in Toronto.

A few weeks ago a bunch of us were up for something a bit different and decided to visit the restaurant for lunch.  When we arrived at the location, we immediately noticed that the location was very busy, but the line up was moving along at a good pace.  We were welcomed by two smiling employees and given fast, friendly service.  Since it was our first time in the restaurant, and my very first time eating Afghan cuisine, the staff members were more than happy to give some suggestions and recommendations.

The menu consisted of platters, kabobs, wraps, and salads, along with a number of drink options.  So as to not hold up the line, too much, I decided to try one of the platters, which included meat, along with a generous portion of rice, salad, and nann.  While the meals took a while to arrive due to the fact that they were cooked to order, the food was hot, fresh, and delicious, which more than made up for the wait time.

The order of Sultani Kabob was delicious and filling.  It was a combination of two kabob menu options, which were the Barg Kabob and Kofta Kabob.  The order included skewers of lean beef that was marinated in seasoning and spices, and chunks of filet mignon that were marinated in the restaurant’s own special seasoning.  One of my colleagues ordered a wrap, which was I am told was equally as delicious and filling.  The wraps were served with a soft tortilla and filled with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and the restaurant’s famous sauces.  The side order of Kabilee Rice did not disappoint, either.  It consisted of basmati rice topped with raisins, carrots, and almonds. Not to be forgotten was the large piece of nann that seemed to accompany most meals.  It was served piping hot and was perfectly baked.  Overall, the other SQM staff and I found our meals to be very satisfying.

Since our first visit, we have gone back to the restaurant a few more times, and have found both the quality of food, along with the service to be just as good as the first time.  Despite having visited many restaurants in Toronto, Afghan cuisine had never come across my mind in the past, however my experiences at Bamiyan Kabob have made me add yet another country’s food to my list.

Bamiyan Kabob
62 Overlea Boulevard
Toronto, ON L3S 4S1
416.429.7514
www.bamiyankabob.com

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