The Right Way
Looking back over the past year at CLIMB, I am just amazed. And so grateful. So grateful to see this much improvement in our members’ health in such a short time. So grateful to practice medicine in this approachable, non-traditional way. It’s been a huge paradigm shift, but we have quickly found it is what is needed to provide effective, personalized care.
This is the way – support people fully, in mind, body, and spirit to grow, learn, heal, and feel their best.
I know this is the right way. The way I get to know my patients is not just within the four walls of an exam room but in the gym, at a nutrition talk, in a collaborative session with their therapist, at an interactive workshop, or while catching up in the kitchen between visits. I see my patients in life seamlessly with no barriers and no hierarchy. Questions get answered and encouragement pervades. We trust each other and feel comfortable with one another. And from that foundation, we can build. We can go through this health journey – and really, life – together.
What we do at CLIMB may be novel in today’s advanced medical age, but it is pretty simple. I answer the phone when patients call, I talk to and see patients when they need to be seen for as long as they need, I coordinate with their specialists. Many say I am their quarterback – I guide and support their health.
And I love collaborating for better, more complete care. Sometimes it’s having a collaborative visit within CLIMB with Amy, connecting physical and mental health symptoms, other times it may be meeting together with Blakey to formulate a body work plan that bolsters the mind-body connection. The part that makes me most happy, though, is that our patients are involved; they are part of this collaboration, part of their own care. We are a team working together to develop the most cohesive plan to help our patients feel their absolute best.
It has been incredibly rewarding to extend this collaborative model to care providers outside of CLIMB as well – cardiologists, endocrinologists, gynecologists, etc. Often, we’ll be on speakerphone during a patient’s visit or touching base following the visit – to ensure everyone is working together, nothing gets missed, and we have a coordinated plan. One of the biggest compliments I received this year was when a specialist told me, “What you’re doing is exactly what our patient needs. She is getting support, feeling heard and doing so much better.”
When we started CLIMB, we knew that health is not just getting a physical exam or checked when you’re feeling sick. It’s continuous – it’s about how you feel, how you think, how you eat, and how you move – every day. It’s your whole relationship with your body and your physical and mental being, and I am so proud that in our first year at CLIMB, our vision has come to life. This is what it’s really like here. It’s a joy to go to work, to do this hard work together, to be part of this journey.
And this is the best part, the most rewarding. Watching our members feel better, feel stronger, feel more confident, and feel a part of a community that genuinely cares for them. I am so glad I took the leap to practice medicine differently. I am so excited to be here, be available, and be able to help lead this community in growth.
