Dr. Yooson Kim has spent the last 20 years doing steady, careful work—helping people feel comfortable in the dentist’s chair and building a practice her patients trust. Like many business owners, she also knows that trust matters just as much behind the scenes: with vendors, employees and especially the insurance carrier she chose to help protect what she’s built.
That’s why, after years with a different carrier, Dr. Kim decided to move her commercial insurance to Erie Insurance and update her coverage to better fit her dental practice.
Then, about a year later, the unexpected happened.
“I opened the door on a Monday morning, and water just came rushing out,” Dr. Kim remembers. “It wasn’t a small leak. It was instant chaos.”
A high-pressure water line had failed;<a href=”[1]#1′”>[<a href=”[1]#1′”>1] the damage was immediate.
Dr. Kim’s first thoughts weren’t just about the space—they were about the ripple effects.
“I’m thinking about patients, staff, equipment…everything,” she says. “Every day you’re down, you’re disrupting patient care, you’re jeopardizing staff wages and your own livelihood.”
What stood out next was how quickly Dr. Kim says ERIE stepped in, and how coordinated the response felt—from her agent to the dedicated claims team working with her.
“I didn’t feel like I was chasing anyone,” Dr. Kim says. “ERIE moved fast to help me start getting the situation cleaned up and to get my office back on track.”
Because a dental office isn’t like other spaces, the details mattered. Restoration and repairs needed to be handled quickly. Dr. Kim says there was real collaboration to help keep progress moving.
“The coordination was incredible,” she says. “It was complex, but it never felt out of control. They didn’t just write a check and disappear. They stayed engaged until we were back up and running—and well after.”
Dr. Kim was fortunate to have multiple locations, which helped reduce some of the disruption. Still, her team needed a place to work while the office was restored, and she leaned on temporary space so staff could stay productive.
In about two months, the practice was operational again.
“The repairs were so good it felt like ‘new,’” she says. “Actually—it was new before, and now it’s ‘new-new.’”
No one wants a loss. But when it happens, Dr. Kim believes the real question is simple: “What would we hope somebody would do for us?” For her, the answer looked like urgency, clarity and a team that helped her get back to business—fast.
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