As I was working as a nurse in local hospitals and clinics I found myself feeling that I needed to do more for the patients. I wanted to spend more time with them and provide preventative care and emotional support. The problem was I had numerous patients and ended up being a technician of sorts, administering medications and monitoring IVs. I had little time for focused bedside care. The type of care Florence Nightingale spoke about in her writings numerous times.
The part I enjoyed was dong the treatments such as, bandage changes, compresses, and urine tests. That may sound strange but by doing that I had more contact with the patient and had more in-depth conversations with them.
I got out of nursing for a short period of time and worked with property management and attorneys. All the while I saw the buildings I managed as my patients and even kept the files as I did for patients in the hospital. It was an interesting job but I still had the feeling deep within me to help others in need.
During my days in real-estate I was faced with health issues such as chronic sinus infections, allergies, gallbladder pain, low blood sugar, fatigue and elevated liver function tests. I knew at that time that I needed to help myself. I sought out conventional medical care but only found that I had to repeat use of conventional drugs, drugs that just helped temporally and had a list of side effects. These drugs also caused my liver function to rise.
Due to my dissatisfaction I decided to seek out natural health care. Upon doing so I used homeopathics, herbs, and supplements that a practitioner recommended to me. My heath turned around drastically. I became stronger and reduced and eliminated the use of many of the drugs.
With all of the positive changes in my life I decided to seek out education in natural health. All those many years ago the education was difficult to find and when I mentioned it to family and friends they though I was a bit strange with my change in perspective. Even so I was determined to find classes. I trained with homeopathic practitioners, homeopathic professional organizations, a hypnotherapy guild, a reiki center, a shiatsu and healing center for acupressure and many more.
Since I found and completed many classes I then started to consult clients as a natural health care nurse. My education grew and I eventually obtained a doctorate degree in Holistic Health, Naturopathy and Integrative Homeopathy.
As I consulted clients they kept requesting that I teach the subject because they were also interested in following my path. Due to many similar requests I decided to teach my first holistic health care class. Over time our training programs grew and we began to teach many other natural health care methods. We added additional teachers to assist me with lecture and clinical supervision. We were and are still an apprenticeship model of training. The one thing I learned from nursing was that hands on was the best way to learn. The lecture is important but the hands-on was of most importance.
This growth through time was pivotal in my life. I now feel I am a new breed of Florence Nightingale, walking the halls of our natural treatment facility, feeling the positive energies of all of our talented practitioners and all of their clients feeing the effects of good care.
Some of the classes I took and the classes and clinical components that we now teach at our clinic are: Acupressure, Reflexology, Holistic Health, Integrative Homeopathy, Reiki, Holistic Nutrition, and much more.
If you are interested in following in my foot steps feel free to contact the Washington Institute of Natural Medicine.