In 1994, two nurse practitioners at opposite ends of the country set out to change health care. Both believed consumers could benefit from integrating conventional medicine with treatments such as acupuncture, yoga and meditation.
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Clockwise from far left: Nurse practitioner Beverly Spiro, Dr. Franne Berez, acupuncturist Mary Magan and nurse practitioner Rachel Walton. The women are treating patients at the new Family Wellness Center in Squirrel Hill. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette) |
Beverly Spiro, a driving force in the creation of UPMC Shadyside Hospital's Center for Complementary Medicine; and Rachel Walton, a children's natural health author; have joined to practice at the new Squirrel Hill Family Wellness Center. It is directed by Dr. Franne Berez, a holistic physician who has practiced in the neighborhood for 13 years.
Berez wanted to create a "community of women healers" and recruited six colleagues, including Spiro and Walton, both of Squirrel Hill.
Eight years ago, Spiro, a nursing school graduate of Yale University, was laying the groundwork for Pittsburgh's first hospital-based complementary medicine center at UPMC Shadyside. David Servan-Schreiber, a former medical director of the center, called Spiro a "pioneer of this new medicine in Pittsburgh.
"After years of practicing as a nurse practitioner, Bev realized that patients often needed more than just drugs or surgery. She saw that most of us need to draw on our own strength in addition to the tools of modern medicine in order to heal completely," he said.
Spiro was named the hospital center's first clinical director in 1997, and recruited practitioners, set up a community advisory board, steering committee and a speakers' bureau, and fielded a barrage of phone calls from the interested public.
At Squirrel Hill Family Wellness, Spiro, 54, under Berez's supervision, will conduct patient physicals, intake and assessment and then prescribe health plans combining conventional and complementary treatments. She will teach yoga and interactive guided imagery, as well as employ a controversial therapy used for severe cases of traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
Servan-Schreiber taught her the technique, called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Advocates say it treats patients by working with a patient's rapid eye movement. Spiro will continue to work part time at the hospital's department of medicine.
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More information
The Squirrel Hill Family Wellness Center, 5801 Beacon St., offers lectures on various alternative therapies. For more information, call the practice at 412-422-5433.
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Walton, 44, a women's health nurse practitioner, developed a comprehensive guide to traditional and complementary treatments for childhood illnesses while living in Boulder, Colo. She wrote the book, "Smart Medicine For a Healthier Child," with Janet Zand, an acupuncturist and naturopath, and family physician Dr. Bob Rountree. Published in 1994, the book has sold 100,000 copies and become a health food store classic.
For Berez, 50, of Swisshelm Park, having the nurse practitioners in the practice will eliminate a previous six- to eight-week wait for appointments and give her time to hold weekly patient care conferences. She sees 40 patients per week, spending an hour and a half with each. The practice does not accept insurance.
Berez, who drives race cars and raises prize-winning English bull terriers in her spare time, pursued a serious interest in natural health in 1972 when she enrolled in the National (formerly Bastyr) College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Ore., receiving a doctor of naturopathic medicine degree. She received her medical degree in 1981 in Mexico and is board-certified in family practice.
She expanded her practice after training with Dr. James Gordon at The Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C. Gordon, a psychiatrist, was the first chair of the National Institutes of Health/Office of Alternative Medicine Advisory Board. He believes in the integrated health-care model and the power of "mind-body skills groups" to help people heal. This inspired Berez to organize patient support groups in Squirrel Hill.
"These groups are amazing," she said. People's blood pressure comes down. "They connect with their hearts and each other. We teach people skills for dealing with stress instead of medication."
The center also includes Mary Magan, a registered acupuncturist; Jane Critchfield, who practices Reiki, a hands-on healing art; and Denise Happe, who will offer naturopathic nutritional and herbal consultations.
Also on the team is Patricia Lemer, who has brought Developmental Delay Resources, a nonprofit organization founded in Bethesda, Md., to the wellness center. Her network provides information about conventional and holistic treatments for childhood autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities.
Susan Scott Schmidt is a free-lance writer who writes occasionally on alternative health.
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