Dr. Peter Georgiou. Image courtesy of Ross Forman_______
There was a time, shortly after opening his North Side chiropractic office, when Dr. Peter Georgiou had only two patients—and he purposely scheduled them back-to-back, starting at about 11 a.m.
He also called some friends and asked, er, begged them to stop by the office about that same time. Georgiou wanted to impress his patients, to make it look like he was super-busy.
'I'd pay my friends by buying them lunch, usually pizza,' said Georgiou, laughing.
But get this: Georgiou's fourth patient ever, back in 1993, was Sade.
Flash forward to 2007 and Georgiou is still at it, a licensed chiropractic physician who, in January, opened ReAlign Chiropractic at 916 W. Belmont. It's a snazzy new office that he calls 'my dream come true, my dream practice.' ( Back in 2005, Dr. Patrick Labelle joined the office. )
ReAlign treats arm, back and neck pain; sciatica; headaches; pinched nerves; whiplash; and carpel tunnel syndrome, among other ailments.
'One of the reasons I decided to change the name to ReAlign was because I didn't want to give the impression that chiropractic work was all we did,' he said. 'Sure, it's the primary focus and what drives this practice because I believe that everyone needs to be adjusted; an adjustment has such a profound impact on the nervous system. And once that's aligned, everything else will function at its optimum as well. The new name, I think, will be friendly, more inviting.'
The health care center also offers massages, yoga classes, nutritional counseling and acupuncture; soon, it will add microdermabrasion and facials.
'I wanted to create a wellness center where people can just go and feel good about themselves. That's the main focus for me,' said Georgiou. 'We're dedicated to giving the best quality care that we can. We have a great staff, from massage therapists to the chiropractors. We care about our patients.'
'Ever since I was a child, I always wanted to be a doctor and a flight attendant. Well, I've done both,' said Georgiou, who was a United Airlines flight attendant for almost 11 years. 'I thought I was going to be a medical doctor, and studied pre-med at Pace University in White Plains, N.Y.'
He eventually took a job working in the intensive care and cardiac units at White Plains Hospital, where he stayed for about four years. But then, 'I got so disillusioned with the invasive medical care, so I just thought that there had to be another way out there,' he said.
Georgiou joined United at age 23.
Being a chiropractic patient led Georgiou to becoming a chiropractic professional because 'it is a natural way of healing someone without having to be invasive.' Interestingly, many of his patients over the years were, or still are, flight attendants.
In 1996, Georgiou received his chiropractic certification in sports medicine. He's now a certified chiropractic sports physician.
'Historically, the most common reasons why people don't go to a chiropractor are the pain and the expense,' Georgiou said. 'Well, chiropractors take away interferences to the body that allow the body to work at its optimum. We allow the spine to function at its capacity.'
The openly gay ( and single ) Georgiou said about 40 percent of his clients are LGBT. Of all his patients, about 60 percent are male, ranging in age from six months to 91 years.
'Being a part of that community, it was very important for me to be in this neighborhood [ with my new practice ] . I think that people feel very comfortable coming here and many of them are very confident, secure talking about sensitive issues,' Georgiou said.
Getting To Know: Dr. Peter Georgiou
Age: 45
Born in: England
Moved to America: At age 5; has lived in New York City.
To Chicago: In 1986.
Now lives: Lakeview neighborhood
Hobbies: Traveling, gardening, sailing, snow skiing and spending time in his hot-tub.
Favorite vacation Spots: Hawaii ( especially Maui ) , Europe and the Greek Islands.
Sports: Has played a lot of racquetball; sponsored local teams.
Theater: Goes to at least one movie a week. Attends plays about once a month.
Fly away: Spent 10 1/2 years as a flight attendant for United Airlines.
Ethnicity: Greek
Gay Games 2006: Did not participate, but hosted a swimmer from St. Louis.
Cold, hard fact: Has been to Iceland.
Serving the stars: His fourth patient ever was Sade after he picked her instead of Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. 'I'm not a Deadhead, so I picked Sade.'
