Standing amid the devastated downtown core of Goderich, Jeff Moran took one look at the remnants of Huron Optometric Centres and knew it was time to call in a favour.
As a Property Claims Specialist at Economical Insurance, part of Definity, he was in the field responding to both residential and commercial claims in the wake of the record-breaking tornado that hit the Ontario town on Sunday, August 21, 2011. But with roofs gone and interior walls exposed, most of the damaged properties couldn’t be entered without an engineer’s permission.
Despite the restrictions, Jeff felt compelled to find a way to take more immediate action. Not only was the clinic one of his company’s commercial insurance customers, but he knew that much more than just the retail space was at risk.
“Retrieving the costly equipment and irreplaceable client records would mean Huron Optometric Centres would be able to resume operations more quickly following this disastrous event,” notes Jeff. “We couldn’t risk further damage to the property and its inventory from rain or strong winds, so, it was time to think outside the box — or at least outside Goderich.”
Capitalizing on a close contact, Jeff reached out to the owner of a restoration company from London, Ontario, who was happy to call its workers off other jobs to help. Meeting up with the engineer in Goderich, Jeff immediately got to work.
Together, he and the engineer connected with local law enforcement, securing access to the building that once held the busy optometry practice so they could safely assess damage and begin the claims process. No time was wasted once Jeff was granted entry.
“We dove in and began to remove as much as we could, saving the diagnostic equipment, retail merchandise, and, of course, any paper records that would be gone forever if we didn’t get them out fast enough,” he says. “Before we left, we wanted to mitigate any further damage, so we tarped up the collapsed walls.”
Extending their services to many other small business owners in need across downtown Goderich, Jeff and the engineer gained clearance to a variety of additional commercial units to remove valuable products and client records before they were lost. In the end, with relatively little downtime and no need to purchase new equipment, Huron Optometric Centres was able to resume operations faster than expected, along with several other businesses who had benefited from these early mitigation efforts.
Looking back on that day, Jeff is proud of the difference the Definity team was able to make.
“As a claims specialist, I know how traumatic and scary a loss of this magnitude can be — especially for a small business owner,” he shares. “But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you have a dent in your garage door or a tornado hit your business — we’ll be there to make the restoration process as fast and simple as possible.”
Jeff Moran, Property Claims Specialist at Economical Insurance