The Catalyst: Sparking Creative Transformation in Healthcare

5 Tips to Fix Patients That Ghost

Have you ever scheduled a date with your patient only to be stood up? In this episode, Dr. Lara Salyer tackles the perplexing trend of patient ghosting with wit and wisdom, offering five key strategies to keep your patients as engaged in their appointments as they are with their social media feeds.
The conversation starts by debunking the myth that ghosting is just a patient problem, urging healthcare providers to look at their own systems and practices.
Here's a quick breakdown of the action plan Dr. Salyer proposes:
Smart, piercing reminders that ensure your appointment doesn't get lost in the inbox shuffle.
Consistent, compelling communication through newsletters and texts that turn your clinic into a health hub for your patients.
Streamlined access with a single digital touchpoint for all patient services.
Active solicitation of patient feedback to refine your services and foster patient loyalty.
The creation of a judgment-free zone that normalizes health struggles and strengthens patient-practitioner trust.
Dr. Salyer she shares real-life transformations from her own practice that testify to the power of these strategies. This episode provides a toolkit for healthcare providers to strengthen their relationship with patients, ensuring that no appointment goes unfilled
 
Quotes:
• "90% of ghosting is because of the practitioner's systems." - Dr. Lara Salyer (00:01:45) 
• “I quickly saw the gamut of behavior that packages encourages. First of all, you've got those patients that forget they bought the package. It happens. And six months later, they're messaging you saying, oh, I forgot. Can I just get a refund? I never came, I never cashed in on any of my advantages or visits. Or the opposite, you have a really motivated patient who, instead of taking six months to achieve goals, they're better in two. So now what do you do? I felt unethical keeping their money? That just is not the kind of medical services I wanted to provide.” (2:40 | Dr. Lara Salyer)
• “I would invite you to dig deep in this episode and go over the five ways that you can make your ghosting percentages go down, and how you can make your clinic services the most welcome and inviting place for patients to get care.” (5:16 | Dr. Lara Salyer) 
 
Links
Connect with Lara: 
The Catalyst Way Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.catalyst.way/
Brainstorm Session: https://drlarasalyer.as.me/discovery
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
The Catalyst Way: https://drlarasalyer.com/catalyst
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Healthcare Starts With Self Care

In this episode of The Catalyst Podcast, Dr. Lara Salyer interviews Dr. Reena Kotecha, a medical doctor and organizational well-being consultant. Dr. Kotecha shares her personal journey of experiencing burnout and struggling with mental health issues while working as a hospital doctor. She discusses a pivotal moment in a supermarket where she had a panic attack, highlighting the lack of self-awareness and self-care among healthcare professionals.
Dr. Kotecha emphasizes the importance of creating space for human connection and self-reflection in the healthcare system. She believes that healthcare starts with self-care and advocates for the integration of mindfulness and well-being practices into the daily lives of healthcare professionals. She shares her own experiences of practicing Ayurvedic medicine and learning about mindfulness and meditation at the Dalai Lama's resident temple in India.
Dr. Kotecha encourages healthcare professionals to adopt a beginner's mindset and approach each moment with curiosity and openness. She emphasizes the need for small daily disciplines that build resilience and self-compassion over time. She also highlights the importance of celebrating small achievements and finding joy in everyday moments.
Dr. Kotecha's mission is to improve the well-being of healthcare professionals through her Mindful Medics training program. This program focuses on personal well-being, productivity, performance, and engagement in the workplace. She believes that by taking care of themselves, healthcare professionals can better care for others and create a more compassionate and supportive healthcare system.
Listeners are encouraged to connect with Dr. Kotecha through her website and LinkedIn profile. Dr. Salyer concludes the episode by urging listeners to share the episode with colleagues and continue practicing the sixth vital sign of creativity in their daily lives.Quotes:
• "We live in a world where healthcare professionals are burning out, they're depleting, they're leaving in droves." (09:59 | Dr. Reena Kotecha)
• "We don't talk enough about our challenges, our difficulties, our state of mental and emotional well-being, and our loneliness." (12:35 | Dr. Reena Kotecha)
• "We need to create the conditions to look after ourselves and each other in this system." (12:35 | Dr. Reena Kotecha) 
• "It's the small daily disciplines which build up over time, which allow you to care for yourself, to become more resilient, to become more compassionate." (37:59 | Dr. Reena Kotecha)
• "My vision is a world without burnout, and my mission is to teach one million medical professionals how to tap into creativity and flow to increase joy and well-being." (43:42 | Dr. Lara Salyer)
 
Links
Connect with Dr. Reena Kotecha:
Mindfulness Course: mindfulmedics.teachable.com/p/mindful-in-healthcare-the-wellbeing-performance-course-for-healthcare-professionals
 
Connect with Lara: 
Membership Magic Workshop (Nov 8th): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/membership-magic-design-your-own-3-tier-functional-medicine-membership-tickets-735854850667?aff=oddtdtcreator
Catalyst Reclamation CME course: https://rightbrainrescue.com/p/reclamation
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
The Catalyst Way: https://drlarasalyer.com/catalyst
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Creating Health to Reveal Meaning and Ultimate Purpose

From HPA axis analysis to the sizzle of a skillet—discover how Dr. Cheng Her integrates cutting-edge science with culinary arts in functional medicine. Join Dr. Lara Salyer as she explores Dr. Cheng Her's innovative union of medicine and meal prep. In addition to being a true food lover, Dr. Her is a physician and founder of Telos Functional and Integrative Medicine in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Dr. Her shares his journey from conventional family practice to functional medicine and discusses the importance of creating a space that reflects his passion and values.
He focuses on core functional medicine methods like HPA axis analysis, stool testing, and functional nutrigenomics, showing that a straightforward method can lead to meaningful results. A unique feature of Dr. Her's clinic is the teaching kitchen that is at the heart of his practice figuratively, and literally in the center of the building. It's more than a place for patients to learn about food and nutrition. It's a space for community, understanding the relationship between food and well-being, and for patients to connect over shared experiences.
As for what's next in his practice, Dr. Her plans to grow his team, incorporating nutrition experts and launching a mentorship program for other practitioners. He hopes his clinic will serve as a focal point for education and collaboration, helping both new and experienced professionals in their journey.Quotes:
• "So I've had great mentors tell me, what are the fundamental things that you feel are most important? And so in this clinic, everyone who comes through gets an HPA access analysis. Everyone gets a stool test. We want to make sure we get a good look at their microbiome. We want to see what's going on. And to a large extent, everyone's going to get some sort of functional nutrigenomics. (18:00 | Dr. Cheng Her) 
• "70 to 80% of folks have substantial gains with just these very modest, fundamental elements." (19:54 | Dr. Cheng Her)
• “People heal just from learning. And I think awareness is curative. And when you start looking at your own habits and your thought habits and your movement habits, your eating habits, you start to heal without even going deeper.” (23:24 | Dr. Lara Salyer) 
• “We have to first and foremost, take care of ourselves. We're only as good as we are to ourselves. And this is not just lip service. Our Fridays are off. I want folks to go home, tend to themselves, cook that delicious meal, throw a load of laundry in, walk the dog instead of busting through the weekend so they just come back next Monday. It's built into their benefits." (21:44 | Dr. Cheng Her)
 
Links
Connect with S. Cheng Her:
Website: www.telosfxnlmed.com
 
Connect with Lara: 
Workshop Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/membership-magic-design-your-own-3-tier-functional-medicine-membership-tickets-735854850667?aff=oddtdtcreator
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
The Catalyst Way: https://drlarasalyer.com/catalyst
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Make Your Charting Flowy and Effortless

Does patient charting feel like the bane of your existence? It doesn’t have to feel that way.In this episode, Dr. Salyer will tell you how it's done. She shares a game-changing tool, TextExpander, that allows you to create personalized shortcuts for your charting needs. By using this app, you can streamline your communication, ensure consistency, and save valuable time. Dr. Salyer walks you through her pre-charting routine, during which she copies and pastes relevant information from patient forms and pre-populates recurring items. She also shares her approach to creating concise and actionable visit summaries, making it easy for patients to understand their next steps. With Dr. Salyer's tips and techniques, you'll learn how to optimize your charting process, improve patient experience, and reclaim your time.
 
Quotes:
• "What we want to concentrate on is making your charting effective and easy, but also applicable for the patient on the other end, making it predictable so you have your own system, making it easy to retrieve information so that you know where to look." (3:43 | Dr. Lara) 
• "What I'm working on is your efficiency as a practitioner to get your own nomenclature figured out with your charting and your snippets, your dot phrases, your chart parts. There's so many names for those little tiny building blocks to create a chart." (04:22 | Dr. Lara)
• "So in addition to making your communication efficient and your charting efficient, text expanders allow you to be consistent, which is even more important." (16:27 | Dr. Lara)
• "Do a little bit of time enlarging your text expander repertoire, making a naming system that works with your brain, and start playing, start using it. And you'll be surprised how easy it is to get your pre-charting done so that when the patient's in front of you, and for those that don't know, my first initial visit is one hour and my follow-ups are a half an hour. And I'm never late, like ever. I don't go over. I am always on time, and it's because I'm ready. And when the patients start talking, I know where to put it in the chart." (25:53 | Dr. Lara) 
Links
Connect with Lara: 
The Catalyst Way: https://drlarasalyer.com/catalyst
Membership Magic workshop: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/membership-magic-design-your-own-3-tier-functional-medicine-membership-tickets-735854850667?aff=oddtdtcreator
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

A New Narrative for Health, From Hollywood to Healthcare

“I help people take data and turn it into compelling storytelling,” explains Ari Mostov, a healthcare narrative strategist at WellPlay, a business consulting firm where she utilizes the power of storytelling to help healthcare consumers become more empowered and proactive agents of their own healing journeys. Storytelling is in our human DNA, Ari explains, and most of us aren’t fluent in the hard data involved in diagnosing and treating disease. By packaging data in relatable, allegorical form that clients can understand, healthcare professionals can increase the likelihood that patients will take the necessary steps to improve and maintain their health, while saving the professional a great deal of frustration. 
 
With a background as a Hollywood producer of film, television and gaming, Ari is well familiar with Joseph Campbell’s famous literary template the hero’s journey. Ultimately, each client is the hero in their own healing journey. In the same way that movie-goers often continue to co-create the narrative of their favorite films and enter into interactive worlds once they leave the theater, Ari hopes that healthcare consumers will do the same with healthcare once they leave the clinic. A big part of this is sharing their stories across social media where they can serve as inspiration and a source of motivation for others. Entertainment has proven to impact people’s behavior: when a patient watches a medical drama for example, they are more motivated to schedule and keep screening appointments, for example. 
 
As the daughter of a physician, Ari grew up with doctors who were well-acquainted with her unique story. Using “relentless imagination,” she is helping to reimagine the healthcare system to reaffirm patient’s agency and self-advocacy.
Quotes
• “Storytelling allows us to make meaning but it also allows us to create action, create mobilization, allow us to get from point A to point B, as long as we know what we want and where we're going.” (7:01 | Ari) 
• “It's sort of like putting me in front of my car's mechanic and him telling me all about the gears and the rotors and the whatevers. I wouldn't know what he's talking about, but he's having a blast with all the data. But when you tell me, Hey, your car is about to die on the highway, if you were to take it out, again, because your tires are flat, that makes sense. That's a story, and our patients deserve that as well.”(11:39 | Dr. Lara)
• “I do think there is a way to increase our own ability to self advocate and empower ourselves and really redesign the healthcare system in a way that reaffirms agency, reaffirms that at the end of the day, the person doing the healing is the patient, it's not the doctor, it's not the nurse, it's not the pharmacist. I have this belief that all healing is really self healing.” (15:16 | Ari) 
• “I really love how Hollywood has nailed down this fan model. Why can't we apply that to health care? So it's not just, ‘Oh, this is a healthcare experience that I enjoyed. It's actually, ‘This is a healthcare experience that I want to be a part of, I want to help co create, I want to continue.’” (20:28 | Ari)
• “There have been several instances where TV or films have had an educational component, but they're also really shifting the attitude, which I think, is even more important. You can go from, ‘Oh, yes, I'm aware that this is an issue, I'm aware that diabetes is a problem,’ or ‘I'm aware that maternal health is something I should be concerned about,’ to actually changing your attitude, and then even taking action. That's where the real power is.” (22:29 | Ari)
 
Links
Connect with Ari Mostov:
Website: https://www.wellplay.world/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ari-mostov/
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
The Catalyst Way: https://drlarasalyer.com/catalyst
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

The Evidence for Change: Why Integrative Medicine Needs Critical Thinkers

Searching for a balance between excellent patient care and practitioner well-being? In this episode of The Catalyst, Dr. Lara Salyer sits down with Dr. Jordan Robertson, a naturopathic doctor who is revolutionizing patient care and practitioner support in the field of integrative medicine. Together, they discuss Dr. Robertson's extensive work with Clarity Health, impacting over 20,000 patients, and her initiative, the Confident Clinician—a resource aimed at supporting naturopathic doctors globally.
 
Dr. Robertson sheds light on key insights, identifying three common challenges that often obstruct functional medicine practices, such as the tendency to focus too narrowly on tailored care or not leveraging essential support staff effectively. On the other side of the coin, she highlights three foundational elements for a successful integrative clinic: establishing a well-defined patient care process, maintaining expertise while actively collaborating, and valuing the power of a supportive community.
 
This episode provides insights and strategies that can enhance any practice, benefiting both patients and practitioners.
 
Quotes:
• "Hiring out to support your weaknesses so you can continue to focus on strengthening your strengths is an incredibly important step that I think takes that mindset for clinicians." (13:05 | Jordan Robertson)
• "I'm a big fan of collaborative care with conventional medicine. There are thousands and thousands of things that I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole clinically. And I've drawn that line in the sand so hard. But my patients still respect everything I do have to offer. And I think when we have that level of confidence to say, “Yeah, you need an antibiotic’. Or, “Yeah, that's not in my scope of practice. I need you to be referred to so-and-so.” But that actually builds your practice. It doesn't decay it." (20:18 | Jordan Robertson) 
• "I think leadership in our profession actually looks like community. It actually looks like circles of clinicians who are willing to be vulnerable, to talk about what they're doing, to share with each other, and to pull each other up." (25:22 | Jordan Robertson) 
• "When I start thinking about critical thinking and critical appraisal I go right back to that education model where we need to value the clinicians that are coming out and recognize that they are the best we've got. Even if it's day one of their graduation and it's really our responsibility as people in the profession to help get them there and help support them. So when we start to challenge that, it really challenges the things that we think we know. And it really starts to value changing our mind." (30:31 | Dr. Jordan Robertson)
 
Links
Connect with Dr. Jordan Robertson ND:
Website: www.confidentclinicianclub.com
Instagram: @drjordannd
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
The Catalyst Way: https://drlarasalyer.com/catalyst
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

5 Strategies to Save 10 Hours a Week

Ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? Jenna Piche, once a marketing executive and now a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, has dialed in the art of mastering her time and mindset. This week, Dr. Lara Salyer learns Jenna's game-changing strategies for a balanced and productive life and medical practice.
 
One of the key insights Jenna shares is the concept of the “positive no”. She explains that it's okay to say no and set boundaries, as long as it is done in a respectful and positive manner. By communicating your limitations and commitments, you can avoid overextending yourself and prioritize your own needs. 
To use their time to its maximum potential, Jenna encourages practitioners to delegate tasks that are not in their zone of genius, allowing them to focus on the work they are truly passionate about and only they can do. Another valuable tip Jenna offers is the importance of routines and rituals. By creating a workday startup and shutdown routine, practitioners can set themselves up for success and ensure they are working efficiently and effectively. These routines also allow for intentional planning and reflection, helping practitioners to optimize their time and energy.
 
This episode underscores a valuable message: success, both in a professional landscape and in personal realms, hinges on effective task prioritization, time and mindset management.
 
Quotes:
• "Just stop working from a to-do list, right? Work with a daily big three or a daily big one, whatever it is. And once you get the important things done, you'll feel like you're making progress and then you can move on to the busy work." (12:01 | Jenna Piche)
• "The idea of having routines and habits and rituals in place is that you focus on something once, you create a system to do that thing, and then you put that on autopilot." (18:02 | Jenna Piche) 
• “But the idea that when you have routines in place and you do it every day, then it just becomes who you are and you move farther faster. So I apply that to the operations mindset. How can we touch something once, create a system, and then work the system so we can free up our mental brainpower?” (19:17 | Jenna Piche) 
• "Leveraging these things and these systems and even the right frame of brain helps you accomplish more and less time so you can really enjoy the business that you've created." ( 36:10 | Jenna Piche)
• “Because nothing beautiful or wonderful can happen unless you honor yourself and your own inner-creativity and inner-vibrancy and invest in yourself enough to envision a better future. Having this blank canvas and designing a work-life masterpiece that is uniquely yours, that feels like home and it's personalized, and the biggest bottleneck, or I should say the tiniest bottleneck that we need to move through is time management. (36:20 | Lara Salyer)
 
Links
Connect with Jenna Piche:
Website: https://firstlighthealth.co/womens-health-and-focus-coaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennapiche/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firstlightcoach/
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
The Catalyst Way: https://drlarasalyer.com/catalyst
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Beyond the Mental Health Label -- From Illness to Wellness

Dr. Christina Bjorndal, a naturopathic doctor and authority in the treatment of mental illness joins The Catalyst to speak about her own experience with depression, bulimia and suicidality, which, at one point, left her in a coma. Yet, in a stunning message of hope she reveals that it was this latter incident that set her on a trajectory of healing, a process she says is both individual and ongoing. As human beings we are divided into four quadrants: mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. Western medicine is limited, Dr. Christina explains, focusing only on the physical aspects of mental health. Naturopathy and pharmaceuticals can work together to better treat not only symptoms of mental illness but their root causes. 
 
To get to those root causes we must be willing to dig into our own pasts. What underlying fear is the brain, which is designed to keep us safe, protecting us from? Do our problems stem from nature versus nurture, from genetics, epigenetics and/or intergenerational trauma? We often wear masks in public to hide our suffering, such as the one Dr. Christina wore throughout her time in the corporate world. However, the body will whisper that something is wrong until it yells in the form of a crisis. 
 
Dr. Christina leads us through an exercise in which we have an honest conversation with our hearts. Join today’s discussion to learn more about how we can learn to check in on ourselves, starting in the smallest ways and the important difference between information and transformation. 
 
Quotes
• “Anyone struggling with their mental health, suicidal ideations, depression - you're really the furthest from love for yourself that you can possibly be.” (7:21 | Dr. Christina)
• “Labels help to explain a constellation of symptoms, your experience, but they don't explain how you got there. And often, that explanation is rooted in some earlier experience that predates the diagnosis.” (10:31 | Dr. Christina) 
• “As a human, you're comprised of the physical level, mental, the emotional and the spiritual, and Western medicine is mostly focused on the physical level.” (13:35 | Dr. Christina) 
• “I subscribe to the theory, a little bit more of epigenetics, which is that genes load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.” (23:09 | Dr. Christina)
• “Whenever you say you want something - lose 20 pounds, want to leave a relationship, job, change, whatever you say you want something, but you never do it is because you've got an unconscious sub commitment, you're committed to something else. And that's something else is often being safe, keeping you safe.” (28:51 | Dr. Christina) 
• “That is what depression does to you. It really clouds your judgment. It's like you're in a dark cloud and you cannot see through that cloud. You're pretty much immersed in it. However, the sun is actually still shining behind that cloud.” (34:25 | Dr. Christina) 
 
Links
Connect with Dr. Christina Bjorndal, ND:
Website: drchristinabjorndal.com
Facebook: Dr. Christina Bjorndal
Twitter: @drbjorndal
YouTube: Christina Bjorndal
Instagram: @drchrisbjorndal
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

The Future of Family Medicine

Dual board-certified physician in family and integrative medicine, Dr. Jill Valerius has a valuable story to share on this continuation of our mini-series of successful practices. Her journey reflects a narrative familiar to many: beginning in a conventional medical setting, trying to cater to thousands, only to grapple with mounting frustration as her practice began to drift from her core purpose in medicine.
 
Dr. Valerius abandoned traditional family practice delivery models and transitioned to a membership-based approach. This move not only streamlined her patient list but also deeply enriched her patient relationships, elevating the overall quality of care. Our hosts, Dr. Salyer and Dr. Valerius, tackle the pressing questions that might be on the minds of physicians contemplating a similar leap. With candidness, Dr. Valerius chronicles her journey, emphasizing its transformative effects on patient interactions, care standards, and her personal sense of satisfaction. 
 
This episode is testament to the adaptability of healthcare providers and many ways that holistic family medicine can be delivered.
 
Quotes:
• “Conventional medicine is a patchwork. We treat symptoms, we pacify things, we make numbers look better. We don't necessarily make people's health better.” (7:41 | Dr. Valerius) 
• “We can change this. We can change the system. And honestly, we are so good in this country. When we need acute medical care, we are so good. But when it comes to everything else, we rank so poorly. And we have money in this country that other countries don't have, but we don't have foundational health that poor countries have.” (14:38 | Dr. Valerius) 
• “It's an exciting future of evolved family practice that you're saying I am going to talk about things that are not going to be typical and you're allowing, kind of curiosity and open mindedness to come together as you partner with patients.” (39:32 | Dr. Salyer)
 
Links:
Connect with Dr. Jill Valerius:
Website: www.nowhealthpalmer.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nowhealthpalmer
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jillvalerius
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

From Community Care to Functional Health: A Doctor’s Journey

20 years into practicing family medicine, Dr. Myrto Ashe completely reimagined the way she delivers healthcare. In this episode of our mini-series focusing on successful functional medicine clinics, you'll hear an inspiring and relatable story of one doctor’s journey to functional medicine. 
 
After witnessing the failure of conventional medicine to improve symptoms for a family member, Dr. Ashe began exploring alternatives to medications and began to try some of these practices on herself and her family. The near immediate improvement in everyone's health was so compelling, that in 2011 she decided to orient her consultation-based practice fully around functional medicine. She has since developed a unique micro practice model, inspired by her ex-husband's psychiatry practice, where she can spend more time with her patients and truly delve into their health concerns.
 
What sets Dr. Ashe apart is her passion for community health and her dedication to making functional medicine accessible to all. She recognizes the limitations of the traditional healthcare system and strives to provide a more personalized and integrative approach to healing. Her patients are not just numbers on a chart; they are individuals with unique stories and experiences.
 
This is also a story of a businesswoman exploring different models of delivering care. Dr. Ashe shares the pros and cons of structures she tried and how different models impacted the engagement of patients and the effectiveness of care, as well as her own satisfaction. It's an inspiring story that reminds us that there are many different approaches to healthcare, and the model of care impacts not just the quality of life and the well-being of the patient, but also the practitioner.
 
Quotes:
• "When I went gluten-free, dairy-free, my asthma disappeared, my joint pain disappeared, and I lost 15 pounds. It was unbelievable. And it's a shame that I hadn’t known this my entire medical career." (24:22 | Dr. Myrto Ashe) 
• “You forgive yourself for being just human. And then you realize that you still have a dream to help people with their health and their lives. And you can still do that.” (27:20 | Dr. Myrto Ashe)
• “One of my targets were my patients who were on chronic narcotics. I wanted to see if I could get them off of them and it was so fun to watch that happen.” (29:28 | Dr. Myrto Ashe)
• "I wanted to focus on functional medicine… I really feel that what I do is to teach." (31:59 | Dr. Myrto Ashe)
• “A friend of mine, who was someone I really looked up to a lot, tried to open a functional medicine clinic not far from here and signed up under Medicare. And he said it was horrible. He literally was paying to practice.” (41:44 | Dr. Myrto Ashe)
 
Links
Connect with Myrto Ashee:
Website: http://www.unconventionalmedicine.net
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm