Dr. Betty Luna has known that she wanted to be a pediatrician since she was 15 years old. Now, she’s opening up her own practice within the very heart of her hometown of Westbury.
“My brothers always had chronic illnesses, and traveling back and forth to the hospital with them I would constantly see the whole process and I would always think about how I would make it better,” she said. “I think with kids you have a blank slate…you can do so much in terms of preventative care to make sure they grow up healthy, and that’s what made me interested in getting into the field of pediatrics.”
Luna Cares is the very first practice headed up by Luna. Located at 320 Post Ave., it celebrated its opening on Nov. 12 and offers a wide variety of treatment options for youngsters ranging from newborns all the way to age 21. Though only having just opened her doors, Luna already has some patients and the list is slowly starting to grow as word gets out.
Luna herself has been a doctor since 1998. She initially started out working at Jamaica Hospital for 10 years, followed by several clinics and a hospital in the Bronx. However, the itch to open her own practice was getting almost too much to ignore, Luna said, and finally she decided to take the plunge.
“I loved the hospitals, in having your own practice you can pick your own staff and scheduling and other changes. In a hospital setting you don’t have that autonomy…you have to do things their way,” she said. “But after you have a lot of experience you know what works and what doesn’t. When you have a private office you can tweak things so they work the best.”
Luna’s office does away with the typical bland and spartan design associated with most doctor’s offices; instead, she embraces a bright, cheery motif, with the walls adorned with Disney characters ad superheroes to put her little patients at ease, she said.
“Going to a doctor is scary, even for adults, so I wanted to make it an environment where kids can walk in and feel comfortable,” she said. “I also don’t wear a white coat, because kids associate plain, white things with doctors…I didn’t want a plain, sterile environment here, I wanted it to be warm and inviting.”
Opening your own business is always an unsure process, and a doctor’s office is no exception. Luna freely admits that the decision on her part to do so was no walk in the park, but now that she has opened her doors in a great location, she’s feeling far surer of herself.
“It was terrifying…but now that I see the process and have met so many wonderful people, I wouldn’t change a thing,” she said. “This is a great, central location that’s very accessible…there’s lots of public transportation nearby, such as the Long Island Rail Road, and the schools are nearby as well…I think it will be a perfect location.”
To find out more, call 516-333-7700.
