WAUPACA COUNTY POST

July 3, 2002

 

PRIME TIME

By Angie Landsverk

Post Staff Writer

 

Alternative Treatments a Growing Trend in Waupaca

 

            When Suzann Cook and Candace Stocker opened Health Concepts in 1995, it was just the two of them.

            “We started with two treatment rooms and a tiny office,” said Stocker.

            Now, remodeling is underway in the building on Division Street that includes 10 practitioners, including an acupuncturist who has hours on Mondays and Tuesdays, and is the closest one in a 30-mile radius.

            Cook and Stocker are the co-owners of Health Concepts, which along with The Nutrition Center, is sponsoring an educational series this year on various topics.

            Both women have backgrounds in nursing and met while working at Bethany Home.

            Stocker, who grew up in the Ogdensburg area, worked at the Iola Hospital before going to work at Bethany.

            She became interested in massage therapy after a friend of hers became a massage therapist.

            “There was no one in town doing it,” she said, adding that Barb Achten became the trendsetter in Waupaca.

            Thinking it would be really interesting to take the class, Stocker finally did so.

            “Everything just fell into place,” she said.  “I took the class in Chicago.  I had a place to stay.  The money was there.  Time was available.”

            Stocker was certified in massage therapy in 1994.

            Cook grew up in Waupaca, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and worked in everything from the emergency room to being the head nurse of the intensive care unit.

            After moving to Florida, she was director of nursing at a 120-bed convalescent home and also did home care while living there.

            While in Florida, Cook became more interested in “healing touch,” which she had learned about in college and which nurses in Florida practiced with their patients.

            Cook describes healing touch as an energy-based therapy.  It is an alternative healing that uses hands-on and energy-based techniques to balance and align the human energy field.  It deals with the spiritual, physical and emotional aspects of health.

            In Florida, where it was often used before and after surgeries, she noticed that those patients needed less pain medication and seemed to experience better recoveries.

            When she moved back to Waupaca in 1991 an began working at Bethany, Cook met Stocker, and the two women realized they had similar interests in alternative healing.

            Cook says that in dealing with different cultures in Florida, she noticed how many times people have their own home remedies.  That in turn sparked her interest in nutrition and herbs.

            Although the East and West coasts were more open to alternative therapies when Cook and Stocker opened Health Concepts, they made a leap of faith.

            After they opened, Cook began her massage training.

            Health Concepts offers a holistic approach to wellness and self-care.  Among the services they offer are massage, healing touch therapy, reflexology, acupuncture, many body treatments and various facials.

            Reflexology can relieve stress and tension, improve circulation and lymphatic flow, and work to unblock nerve impulse pathways.  It is a unique method of using the thumb and fingers to stimulate more than 7,200 nerve endings in each foot.  Those nerve endings correspond to all parts of the body.

            Cook and Stocker were joined by reflexologist Linda Rice shortly after they opened.

            “When we first opened, it over-whelmed us,” Cook said. “The response we got and the types of people we had coming in.  We were getting a lot of last-resorts.  That is why we were here.”

            Among them was a 78-year-old woman who had bone cancer. Her doctor had told her there was nothing he could do for her.

            Cook and Stocker had the woman eat a “live diet”, meaning she avoided meat and ate unprocessed foods and raw or slightly strained fruits and vegetables.

            Cook did healing touch on her three times a week.

            When the woman walked into her doctor’s office three months later for an appointment, she had gained back a little weight and was taking half the pain medication she had previously taken.  She had also gone fishing with her husband and planted her garden.

            The doctor told the woman his schedule was full so her next appointment to see him would not be for six months.  And he told her he did not expect to see her.  But, he did.

            In those six months, she continued gardening, went to a fair and was alive for a baptism, confirmation and a wedding.

            When she went to that next appointment, the doctor told her she was worse - without doing any blood work - and that he would not see her anymore.

            Cook and Stocker said it was amazing how well the woman had done and that was an emotional set-back for her.

            “She did pass away, but we worked with her for about a year,” Cook said.  “She maintained her quality of life.  It was a great experience for everyone.”

            Today, 75 percent of their clients visit them for massages.

            She said massage can relieve stress and help with general aches and pains.

            It also is becoming more recognized as a treatment for people with fibomyalgia, which is a chronic pain condition that is characterized by widespread pain and accompanied by long periods of fatigue.  Striking mostly women between the ages of 20 and 50, it is estimated that as many as 12 million American suffer form the disorder and often have not been diagnosed due to its elusive nature.

            Fibromyalgia will be the next topic for the fourth installment of their year-long “Complementary Therapies and Nutritional Approach to Wellness” educational series.

            That one will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16, in the downstairs meeting room of the Waupaca Area Public Library.

            Free to the public, the presentation will include a demonstration of gentle exercise techniques, information about nutrition and massage, and how acupuncture can be used in pain management.

            The topic in August will be attention deficit disorder, which they believe will be a good one right before the new school year begins.

            It was on a January day that they met with Lynda France of The Nutrition Center.

            They have always worked closely with her because Health Concepts does not carry supplements.  So when they think someone might need a supplement, they refer the person to France so that a choice can be made.  And France is helpful in referring people to Health Concepts when they have questions.

            They wanted to enhance that relationship by working together, and wanted to address the issues which are of the most concern to people.

            Cook said that while some of the topics are very broad, they are starting points.

            Stocker said maybe they can inspire people to then do their own research.

            “We still feel very strongly that education is a big part of what our job is,” she said.  “It carries over from nursing.  We need to educate people about their alternatives - self-care.  We’re just trying to educate people on their choices so they can make intelligent decisions on their care.

            What they offer at Health Concepts was once called alternative therapy before being called complementary and now, finally, integrative therapy.  This means people should not have to choose between methods.

            “A lot of things are being researched.” said Cook.  “Acupuncture is a good example of that as well.  For years, it was looked down on by Western medicine.  Now, it is much more accepted.”

            Often, the body needs a boost to use its energy to heal itself, she said. People need to correct the balance.

            “Your body wants you to be well and happy,” Stocker said.

            Cook says they see people of all ages and from all walks of life.

            Their current oldest client is 88, and their youngest is a few months old.

            “I think people look for our services much sooner,” said Stocker.  “Through your entire life you need to change and grow.  That’s what’s so nice about this profession.  We can learn all these alternative things and still relate back to what we do.”

            Cook said that, through the years, they have found that people reach plateaus and that there are many pieces to the puzzle.

            “It is really a joint effort, a combination of things,” she said.

            Stocker said they look at each of their clients as a whole person.

            And Cook said that holistic health is the wave now because it allows all the pieces to be put together, and this can be done by working with physicians.

            With insurance companies not yet covering alternative therapies, people who visit Health Concepts and other places like it are willing to pay out-of-pocket.

            Stocker and Cook say this means these people then take a more active role in their healing process.  They take responsibility for their health.

            Cook again said it all goes back to what they learned as nurses - how to educate people.

            “You need balance in life,” she said, “Moderation is the key.”