I’ve worked in Primary Care as a Physicians Assistant for seventeen years, mainly in Internal Medicine. Every time I started a new role, I would inevitably end up focusing on chronic diseases. It took me years to realize this wasn’t just a coincidence. What was it about this niche that was so gratifying to me, I wondered. Chronic diseases are mainly a product of lifestyle. Life is chronic! This meant that managing these problems would open the door for me to initiate a detailed and personal discussion with my patients about their lives, what their individual decision tree looked like, what obstacles they were facing, and what underlying beliefs were informing their choices. It was the long term relationships that I developed in this arena that fueled my passion for chronic disease management.

During the COVID pandemic, health care everywhere became consolidated and we all had to manage our patients health with fewer available resources. In a sense, we were pushed to maximize lifestyle medicine. The emergence of virtual visits suddenly allowed a much closer follow up routine for people trying to bring their chronic conditions into control. I learned that close follow-up, where patients felt like they had a resource nearby , was a game changer in terms of how they related to some of the difficult changes they had to make. I had a cohort of 32 diabetics and 96% of them lowered their blood sugar levels into normal range over a period of 12 weeks without medication increases. Some of those patients completely eliminated the need for medication.

I was at the midpoint of my career at that time and realized that despite how much I enjoyed working in clinic, it was time for me to help people heal from chronic diseases rather than simply continue to ‘manage’ them. Healing is possible. To prepare myself to enter this new healing posture, I needed to diversify my clinical skills. I earned my certification as a functional medicine provider through the Institute for Functional Medicine in 2021 and started The Knowhow Collaborative in 2022. In addition to my clinical protocol, I place an emphasis on patient education. Most chronic diseases in the early stages do not produce symptoms. Telling patients to alter their life, change their diet, and take new medications when they arent even having symptoms is ,understandably, a very hard sell. Making sure patients share in my understanding of their health is so central to my philosophy of patient empowerment. When provider and patient are functioning from the same bank of knowledge, it becomes easier to move some of these mountains.

My pilot group of diabetics demonstrated to me just how vital support is for health creation. I offer a community for my clients so that instead of being asked to leave old habits behind and enter a new space on their own, they can start that endeavor with their very own collaborative of peers who are reaching for the same goals. I host 5 educational events to dive deeper into understanding the human body and how it is affected by our modern lifestyle. Each event is typically 2 hours in length and includes sharing food, a curriculum, and meeting other people who are also working to optimize their health. It has become commonplace for support systems to grow out of these events. These are the types of interventions that simply cannot happen in a 15 minute appointment.

At The Knowhow Collaborative I establish working goals with each patient, perform a detailed assessment of family, social, and medical history, construct a therapeutic plan to accomplish goals, and educate each client on their conditions.

The gratification that I feel from watching my clients reach a new level of wellness is immense. I take the privilege of my clients trust seriously and am here to walk with them through the hard work as well as the joy of healing.