Dr. Jason Burckhard and Dr. Andrea Burckhard

It’s good to be home for Drs. Jason and Andrea Burckhard.

Uprooting their established orthodontic and chiropractic practices in a metropolitan area to return to their hometown of Minot nine years ago was a leap of faith, but they say it has paid off both professionally and personally.

“It just feels right to be back here,” Jason Burckhard said.

Jason Burckhard graduated from Minot High School in 2000 and received a biology degree from Minot State University. He left Minot to attend the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry without a clear plan for where he might want to establish his practice.

“Growing up here, I was open to anything, but once I left, I didn’t think I would come back,” he said.

“I enjoyed growing up here as well but after high school wanted a little adventure – something out of state, just to see something different. I enjoyed living away but it also definitely helped me appreciate Minot,” Andrea Burckhard said.

She attended Bishop Ryan and was active in track and field and Minot High gymnastics as well as participating in Gymagic gymnastics. She left Minot in 2000 to attend Yale University, receiving a degree in molecular, cellular and developmental biology and participating on the track and field team. She worked for a pediatric cardiology nonprofit at the University of Minnesota for two years before going on to obtain her doctor of chiropractic degree from Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minnesota. She practiced in West Fargo and the Twin Cities.

After their first son was born, the Burckhards both felt a pull to be back in Minot and closer to family. Both have all their immediate family members in Minot or nearby. Jason’s parents are Randy and Pat Burckhard and Andrea’s parents are Ty and Julie Albertson.

Jason Burckhard said a visit with family in Minot one Thanksgiving triggered a decision.

“It just felt like we belonged back here,” he said.

“I wanted to be by my family and I wanted to be here, where everything felt easier,” Andrea Burckhard said. “We’re not sitting in traffic. We’re not driving 45 minutes to daycare. We have a family. We have a safety net. You appreciate all that once you don’t have it for a while.

“But then we thought about the logistics. We’ve got to start over. And it took us, I think, probably in fairness two years to really process what it would take to come home. It took some courage,” she added. “You don’t have any income. You’re just being realistic about it. We knew that’s what we were signing up for, but we also, at that point, knew this is where we wanted to be, and it wasn’t ‘maybe’ anymore. It was ‘This is where we want to be to raise our kids.'”

Gone from Minot for 15 years, they had been practicing in Minneapolis about four years before making the move back in May of 2015. Aided by all the local support, they were able to launch their Minot practices the following July.

“We think back to that time and we’re thankful for those people that gave us a try,” Andrea Burckhard said. “When you start from zero, it does help you be grateful.”

As for settling back into the community, Jason Burckhard said it felt like a natural transition. Watching his nieces and nephews play sports in the same facilities where he went to school is awesome, he said.

Even the building where they have located their orthodontic and chiropractic practices comes with memories. Jason Burckhard said it is something of a landmark for him, although he could not have known in all the years he drove by to attend MSU that he would work there someday. Spine and Sport Chiropractic and Burckhard Orthodontics are located in the former Artistry building, west of the city library. The Burckhards eventually purchased the building, which also houses other small businesses.

Although they work in the same building, the Burckhards admit their now busy practices and shuffling their three boys to and from daycare doesn’t allow them much time to actually see each other during the work day.

A hockey player growing up, Jason Burckhard has coached youth hockey with the Minot Hockey Boosters and coaches youth soccer with the Minot Soccer Association. He formerly served on the Minot State University Alumni Board and Minot Public Schools Foundation Board. He also is a member of various professional associations, serving as president of the Minot Dental Society from 2016-19.

Andrea Burckhard received the North Dakota Chiropractic Association’s Chiropractor of the Year award this month. She had served on the NDCA board in the past and stepped in to fill a void as vice president when the organization was seeking board members this past year.

“At her first board meeting back, she was engaged with the rest of the board and had great ideas for projects we were working on,” said Dr. Jacob Holkup, NDCA secretary-treasurer. “This past year Dr. Andrea was the main contact for several insurance-related matters for our membership. She spent many weeks researching the issues and spent many hours on the phone advocating for her profession. With her knowledge, Dr. Andrea helped educate membership through several email bulletins and spoke to many individual chiropractors across the state. Due to Dr. Andrea’s hard work and dedication, numerous chiropractors were able to navigate the challenging times this past year.”

The Burckhards consider themselves to have come full circle to give back to the organizations and institutions that helped them get where they are. Andrea Burckhard said it also feels good to be colleagues with local professionals who once treated her or had been a mentor.

“You don’t always have that everywhere. But you have that here,” she said. “You step into a community of people that are warm and welcoming and make it a nice place to live and work, and you want to keep it that way. So that’s motivating.”

The Burckhards also enjoy that Minot is small enough to let them share a sense of community with their patients.

“We see it as a privilege to be able to treat family and friends who trust us. Sometimes people we grew up with. Sometimes people we went to school with,” Andrea Burckhard said. “It’s humbling and it’s a privilege.”