Health Beat 2019

HEALTH BEAT A NEW HUB FOR HEALING Holistic medicine center opens in Detroit Lakes See page 3

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STILL GOING STRONG

DL woman battles Multiple Sclerosis with exercise, diet, and a positive attitude

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COME ON IN, THE WATER’S FINE! Elaine Meyer keeps active by swimming in Ecumen’s therapy pool three times a week

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GOODWILL ON THE HILL

Adaptive ski program at Detroit Mountain opens the sport up to all

SUPPLEMENT TO THE SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2019 ISSUE OF THE TRIBUNE.

PAGE 1 | MAGAZINE

Detroit Lakes Health Beat 2019.pdf

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Occupational Therapist Erin Lindberg is an expert in myofascial release and women’s health and pelvic floor rehabilitation. (Nate Bowe / Detroit Lakes Newspapers)

‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ New Healing Hub in DL offers acupuncture, naturopathic medicine and other holistic treatments for physical and mental ailments

BY NATHAN BOWE | NBOWE@DLNEWSPAPERS.COM

“The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system.”

— Robert C. Peale

A

new center for holistic medicine is open in Detroit Lakes. The Healing Hub, run by three experts in natural healing — Occupational Therapist Erin Lindberg, Naturopathic Doctor Joan Waters and Certified Acupuncturist Tabitha Olsen-Bergman — offers a wide array of treatment options, promising to find a holistic cure for what ails you.

FEELING IS HEALING “My philosophy is the whole is greater

than the sum of its parts,” said Lindberg,

“There’s almost always an emotional component tied to the physical component.

I’m healing both.”

-Occupational Therapist Erin Lindberg who brought the group together. “I had a passion to have a collaboration of holistic health and wellness practitioners,” she said. “Kind of a central location for people seeking holistic treatment methods.”

The Healing Hub opened in June at

115 Willow Street West, the professional building located at Willow Street and Lake Avenue.

While Lindberg specializes in myofascial release and pelvic floor rehabilitation, Waters is a general family practice doctor specializing in gastrointestinal health and sleep problems. Olsen-Bergman specializes in traditional Chinese acupuncture treatment and herbal medicine.

They all have a wide scope of skills and education and can treat a surprising range of medical conditions, from chronic pain to anxiety to chronic infections.

HEALING HUB continued on page 4 HEALTH BEAT | PAGE 3

HEALING HUB continued from page 3

Lindberg earned her occupational therapy degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, along with a minor in psychology, which comes in handy in her field.

“There’s almost always an emotional component tied to the physical component. I’m healing both,” she said. “Feeling is healing — we’ve stuffed so many things for so long it’s almost like a straightjacket on the body. I’m releasing the straightjacket off the body.”

She has worked in occupational therapy for many years, including long stints in dementia management and long-term care management.

“A big piece of occupational therapy is working with cognition,” she said.

Working at a nursing home when she was younger is what first got Lindberg interested in occupational therapy. But she found that management responsibilities made it difficult to switch into healing mode, so she stepped back and now works exclusively with patients.

She has worked in women’s health, including pelvic floor rehabilitation, for seven years — helping women of all ages with a number of urinary issues, including leakage and not making it to the bathroom in time; bowel issues like constipation; sexual issues including vaginal pain and painful intercourse; and even unexplained low back pain.

“I just finished mentoring for board certification in pelvic muscle dysfunction biofeedback,” she said.

She has worked in myofascial release for 14 years, helping people with chronic pain, immobility and decreased function.

She has been able to help a lot of people suffering from long-term chronic infections like Lyme Disease.

The fascia is essentially a three-dimensional web from head to toe that acts as the body’s truss system, absorbing shock, holding our parts in place, giving us support, and acting as a complex sensory and communications system, she said.

In areas where the fascia becomes shortened and solidified, it can lead to pain and decreased motion and function — and since everything is interconnected, fascial restrictions can impact every system in the body.

“There’s an energy component that goes PAGE 4 | HEALTH BEAT

Naturopathic Dr. Joan Waters works with a young patient. Waters works with many patients with gut and thyroid issues. (Submitted Photo) with it,” she said. “That’s why it’s holistic.

There’s the physical body and the energy body, and I’m treating them both.”

The energy is released first, and it takes 3 to 5 minutes for the body to follow, she said.

“I’ve had a lot of success (with myofascial release),” Lindberg said. “I’ve been doing it a lot of years.”

Erin and her husband Charlie live in Detroit Lakes and have three school-aged children.

TRUST YOUR GUT Dr. Waters graduated from the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland in 2014. She is licensed to practice in Minnesota, Kansas and Colorado.

“I have post-graduate education in chronic infections, mold illness and functional treatment of thyroid conditions,” she said.

“Most of my patients have either gut or thyroid issues.”

promise to cure autoimmunity, but a lot of times (my patients) do get full resolution of symptoms.”

She has helped patients otherwise facing a lifetime of immune system-suppression drugs: “We balance the immune system.

We don’t suppress it, we balance it.”

Food sensitivities and allergies are often a symptom of digestive problems like so-called leaky gut (intestinal hyperpermeability) in which tight junctions in the intestinal walls open up and wash out proteins and toxins. Waters said conventional medicine does not consider leaky gut to be a real condition, although it is present in several chronic diseases. She said what happens is that partially digested proteins enter the bloodstream and are attacked by the body’s immune system.

Doctors can treat the symptom by taking the patient off specific foods for 6-8 weeks, but “if their digestion doesn’t improve, they will just develop problems again. You

“Auto-immunity is just a real common thing these days. I will never promise to cure autoimmunity, but a lot of times (my patients) do get full resolution of symptoms.” -Naturopathic Doctor Joan Waters But since “60 to 80 percent of your immune system is housed in your gut,” her expertise in that area has also helped her successfully treat autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

“Auto-immunity is just a real common thing these days,” Waters said. “I will never

really have to find out what started it in the first place,” she said.

That can be an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestines, a parasite, a sensitivity to gluten, or true food allergies, she said.

“My job is to figure out what their anti-inflammatory diet is and then figure out what started that off,” she said.

This is what a good day looks like.

Joan Waters (Submitted Photo)

She also treats anxiety, depression, and a host of other conditions, being well-versed in the medical use of clinical nutrition, herbal medicine, hydrotherapy and castor oil packs.

And she handles her own blood draws. She uses both conventional lab testing and specialty lab testing with specific, targeted chemistry panels. Her patients’ stool samples, for example, go through about 30 tests, far more than the standard medical stool tests.

She uses “the best of conventional medicine and the best of naturopathic medicine” to provide an individual treatment plan for patients.

One difference between conventional medicine and functional medicine, she said, is that “we treat what we see, we treat symptoms — we don’t have to have a diagnosis.”

Waters treats people of all ages, including children.

“I love treating kids,” she said. “I can make a real difference by getting kids into healthy habits early on.”

And by educating parents, it

can make a difference for the child’s whole family, she said.

Herbal medicine has a lot of advantages, including few significant side effects, she said.

And with antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the rise, herbs can be used effectively.

“Bugs are not resistant to herbs,” she said. “I rotate herbs, so we don’t ever get resistance to our herbs.”

One of her patients suffered from a painful urinary tract infection for years and years, with multiple courses of drugs proving ineffective. “Herbs took out the infection,” she said. “Antibiotic-resistant bacteria was causing the problem.”

Waters is building her practice in Detroit Lakes, and spends about a week a month at her practices in Colby, Kan., and Fort Collins, Colo.

She grew up in Wisconsin and “that’s what brought me back,” she said. “There’s an integrity and a conscientiousness in the Midwest that you don’t find elsewhere.”

HEALING HUB continued on page 6

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HEALTH BEAT | PAGE 5

HEALING HUB continued from page 5

WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS With a degree in Chinese medicine, Tabitha Olsen-Bergman knows all about acupuncture and the other healing modalities of traditional Chinese medicine, including forms of massage, herbal, nutrition, heat and exercise therapies.

A Minnesota-licensed and nationally-certified acupuncturist, she graduated from Northwestern Health and Science University in Bloomington in 2016 with a master’s degree in acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

“I have 3,000 hours of training just in the needle-specific part of it,” she said.

After graduation, she returned to Moorhead, where she opened her first traditional Chinese medicine clinic in October of 2016, and soon after a satellite clinic in February of 2017 in Detroit Lakes.

In July of 2017, she went back to school to get a Doctorate of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine at the American Academy of Acupuncture and Orien-

Earth area.

She knows the subtle yet complex pulse diagnostic systems and the many other aspects of traditional Chinese medicine, and knows which herbs to prescribe. There are different categories of herbs, with five to 15 herbs in each category, similar in action, but not in strength and other characteristics.

“I can diagnose and treat anxiety, depression, infertility, pain, headaches..,” she said.

And patients don’t always have to verbalize their medical problems: “I can see it in the cues that their body signs and symptoms are reflecting.”

For those struggling with addiction problems, traditional Chinese medicine can be another way to help with the physical and emotional pain, and can help with withdrawal symptoms.

“The body has the ability to create its own pain-killers,” she said. “Acupuncture has the ability to release those.”

Olsen-Bergman lives in Moorhead with her husband,

COVER PHOTO: Certified Acupuncturist Tabitha Olsen-Bergman works on a patient.

She specializes in traditional Chinese medicine at the Healing Hub. (Submitted Photo)

Acupuncture needles are strategically designed and placed by Tabitha Olsen-Bergman, who practices at the Healing Hub. (Submitted Photo)

“The body has the ability to create its own pain-killers. Acupuncture has the ability to release those.” -Certified Acupuncturist Tabitha Olsen-Bergman tal Medicine. She is currently enrolled and attending monthly classes on specific biomedical conditions and traditional Chinese medical methods. She will graduate with a Doctorate of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree next summer.

“The majority of patients I have been treating have been pain patients,” she said. But she also has a strong interest in treating people with anxiety, depression and similar conditions.

She said her patients range in age from 8 to 86, and many come to Detroit Lakes from neighboring communities like Frazee, Perham and the White PAGE 6 | HEALTH BEAT

Tim, and their three school-age children.

All three practitioners at the Healing Hub will help patients submit insurance claims, and after the initial, comprehensive first office visit, rates range from $65 an hour to $150 an hour, depending on the practitioner.

“For a specialty practice, that’s actually a very reasonable cost,” Waters said.

Lindberg can be reached at 218-850-8308, Waters can be reached at 970-482-2010, and Olsen-Bergman can be reached at 218-422-5920.

Tabitha Olsen-Bergman (Submitted Photo)

Healthy habits to improve longevity I

mmortality may not be possible, but many people aspire to improve their chances of living a long and prosperous life.

A study published in the journal Lancet analyzed data from the 2016 Global Burden of Diseases project to generate life expectancy predictions from 2017 to 2040 for most countries. The United States saw the largest decline in ranking among high-income countries, as life expectancies in the U.S. are projected to fall from 43rd in 2016 to 64th by 2040, with an average life expectancy of 79.8.

Life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped in each of the past two years, according to annual reports by the National Center for Health Statistics.

But there may be hope for Americans yet. Doctors and scientists continually study the lifestyles of people who outlive their life expectancies. While genetics can play a role, so can following healthy habits, which have been identi-

fied to promote longevity. ► Don’t smoke. Many smokers have been told that smoking trims 10 years off their life expectancies, and that statement is corroborated by a study published in 2013 in The New England Journal of Medicine that tracked participants over a span of several years. The good news is people who quit before the age of 35 can usually regain those lost years. ► Avoid drug use. Accidental drug overdoses contributed to 63,600 deaths in the United States in 2016, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Usage of prescription opioids and heroin has skyrocketed in recent years. Drug use also may exacerbate mental illnesses, potentially making drug users more vulnerable to suicide. ► Maintain healthy body mass. Moderate to vigorous exercise regimens and diets loaded with healthy foods can keep weight in check. Maintaining a healthy weight has a host of positive side effects,

including reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer in North America. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly four in 10 adults and 18.5 percent of children in the United States are obese. According to the 2015 Canadian Health Measures Survey, 30 percent of adults in Canada are obese and may require medical support to manage their disease. ► Limit alcohol consumption. Some evidence suggests that light drinking can be good for cardiovascular health. However, a paper published in the Lancet suggests every glass of wine or pint of beer over the daily recommended limit will cut half an hour from the expected lifespan of a 40-year-old. The paper says the risks are comparable to smoking.

Simple, healthy lifestyle changes can help people increase their life expectancies.

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HEALTH BEAT | PAGE 7

Corri Ullrich was diagnosed with MS seven years ago, but she stays active, even continuing to ride horseback. (Submitted Photo)

Still going strong DL woman battles Multiple Sclerosis with exercise, diet, and a positive attitude

BY KAYSEY PRICE | KPRICE@DLNEWSPAPERS.COM

I

t’s been seven years since Corri Ullrich was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but she baffled doctors at a recent appointment by working her way into an easy jog.

“If I sit for a while, I get stiff, and I had been sitting in the hospital room, waiting for the doctor. When he came in, he watched me walk, and I’m like, ‘I do jog every morning.’ He’s like, ‘You run?...I gotta see that.’ So I walked a couple of times, and loosened up my legs, and I was able to run. He was like, PAGE 8 | HEALTH BEAT

‘Wow. I can’t believe you can do that’,” Ullrich recalled.

MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks and damages the brain and spinal cord, causing communication issues between the brain and the rest of the body, according to the Mayo Clinic website.

Symptoms vary but, in general, MS causes numbness and weakness in the limbs, tremors and vision problems. As it progresses, it can potentially cause paralysis, particularly in cases as severe as Ullrich’s.

After Ullrich was diagnosed, the Mayo

Clinic determined that the Detroit Lakes mother of two had primary progressive MS, “the worst kind you can have,” she said: “Some people, they’ll relapse and then get better. I won’t get better. I just will slowly decline.”

In Ullrich’s case, most of the damage the disease has done has been in her spine, an area that, when attacked, is more likely to cause paralysis.

“I have these really elongated lesions, and they’re kind of spider-webby. Even the neurologist, she looked at me and

was just like, ‘I can’t believe you can walk...because it’s just so bad’,” Ullrich said.

THE WORST KIND

It took a while for Ullrich to figure out she had MS. After waking up one morning completely numb from the belly button down, she knew something was wrong, but she went through a few misdiagnoses first.

“I went to the walk-in clinic. They told me I had a pinched nerve, sent me home with muscle relaxers,” Ullrich recalled.

For a time after that, she got on fine. She even started to think she was getting better, but her father noticed her difficulty walking.

“I couldn’t even walk without my legs dragging,” she said.

When she went back to the doctor, they did a CT scan and sent her to Fargo for an MRI and spinal tap, still unsure of what exactly was wrong.

“So they admitted me, and it was about midnight. My cell phone died. I couldn’t get ahold of anybody,” she recalled.

“The only number I knew was my grandma’s, but it was after midnight, and I didn’t want to call her. I’m sitting there crying.

You know, I’m scared.”

Though it was late and her doctor had gone home, when the test results came back, he returned to give Ullrich the diagnosis: multiple sclerosis. She recalls it being a scary time. She didn’t know much about the disease. She wasn’t even strong enough to walk on her own at this point.

“I think I sat in the hospital for a week until I was strong enough to walk out of there,” she said.

Once she finally was able to go home, she was put on a few medications, but nothing really seemed to work. In fact, they made her a little sick.

“I think a lot of people think that the meds that they have for MS help with your symptoms, but that’s totally not true,” said Ullrich, explaining that her doctors actually advised her to just continue doing whatever she was doing to treat herself because, at her checkups, she continued to show she was doing just fine, still walking and getting around alright.

HOW DOES SHE DO IT?

“What I was doing is Dion’s (Dangerzone Gym),” said Ullrich, explaining the diet and exercise routine that has kept her strong enough to run even though the damage done to her spine

Ullrich has two kids and lives in Detroit Lakes. She moved back to the area because she wanted to raise her kids here, closer to family. (Submitted Photo)

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STRONG continued from page 9

could easily have put her in a wheelchair some time ago. “I go there probably three times a week.”

She also runs every morning, in spite of it all.

“I’ll walk a little bit and warm up my legs, and then I’ll run. I can’t run on treadmills...I get nervous about that. I envision myself, like, flying off it, so I have to run outside. It can be minus-20 out, and I will bundle up, and I will go. If I do that every morning, I’m pretty good for the rest of the day,” said Ullrich.

She believes getting her muscles going and keeping them loose helps her get through the day, but she also credits strength training, which she does at the community center, along with keeping her weight down, with making movement easier.

“I do work my legs, like, lifting-wise, two, three times a week — just focusing on my strength (and) keeping my weight down ‘cause if I get heavier, it’s harder to walk around. It’s really important to stay thin. It’s just less weight, and it hurts less when I fall, too,” she said.

Of course falls happen, but not as much now as they did when she was just starting out at Dion’s. She skins her knees and hands when her legs give out, but she gets right back up and keeps going. She says she’s glad there’s a community there who knows the situation and doesn’t freak out when she hits the ground.

“I don’t want to fall and everyone to be like, ‘Oh, are you OK?’ That’s nice that you’re worried about me, but I know if I do fall, I’m just going to get up and maybe swear at myself,” she said with a laugh.

Ullrich says falling is part of the embarrassment she has to swallow with MS. As much as she would love to be normal, she knows she isn’t, but she still does her best to blend in.

“I do have a (service) dog that’s trained. I can’t walk down stairs without a railing, and he is trained to help me,”

Ullrich stays active, working out at Dion’s Gym about three days a week. She also goes for a run outside every morning. (Submitted Photo) she said, adding that she tries not to use the service dog much. “It’s a pride thing.

I like to try to be normal. I know I’m not normal, but I really want to be.”

Caleb, her service dog, is a good motivator, though, whining every morning until they go for their run. Ullrich said she knows there will come a point when she will need to lean on him more but, for now, she does everything she can to stay healthy and independent, and also knows when to accept her limitations.

“You know, I take vitamins,” said Ullrich, adding that she also changed her diet quite a bit after her diagnosis, going gluten free and cutting back on coffee and pop. “But I’m not on any meds.

They want me to get on one, and I’m thinking about it.”

NOT DONE FIGHTING

A few months ago, Ullrich got noticeably worse. She began experiencing terrible pain in her legs, and she was ready to finally throw in the towel.

“I was about done. It hurt to walk, and I couldn’t sleep because I would lay down and my legs would just ache. They would twitch,” she recalled, adding that she thought she was ready for a wheelchair. “I slept on it, cried, and slept on it.

I woke up the next morning and decided

I’m not done fighting.”

Ullrich did another round of massage therapy and physical therapy and, after working hard and staying positive, she came out of it. The leg pain all but disappeared.

Of course, it isn’t all perfect. Ullrich still struggles during the winters, the cold-weather days more painful and difficult than others, and the ice poses its own dangers. She also still deals with some numbness in her legs, and one of her hands doesn’t have much feeling or grip, either. Some former favorite pastimes, like skiing and boating, have become too difficult to do.

“You just learn to do some things differently,” she said, adding that she knows how to modify workouts at Dion’s so that she can still stay active and participate.

She still feels awkward from time to time, like when people stare, and she gets frustrated with how her body limits her, but she hasn’t lost hope.

“I get really angry, but I try not to be negative about anything. I just would rather look at the good things I have and focus on those,” she said. “I tell everybody, ‘Your health is the biggest thing. Just embrace every day that you got.’”

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HEALTH BEAT | PAGE 11

The Cottage at Ecumen resident Elaine Meyer, right, says the water exercises she does with instructor Lesley Webber help her maintain not only her physical health, but mental health, as well. (Vicki Gerdes / Detroit Lakes Newspapers)

Come on in, the water’s fine!

Elaine Meyer keeps active by swimming in Ecumen’s therapy pool three times a week

BY VICKI GERDES | VGERDES@DLNEWSPAPERS.COM

E

laine Meyer has enjoyed spending time in the water ever since she was a little girl, and now, as a resident of The Cottage at Ecumen Detroit Lakes, she continues to go swimming up to three times a week, year round — in Ecumen’s therapy pool.

“It’s what gets her out of bed in the morning, and keeps her quality of life excellent,” said Anita Bendickson, PAGE 12 | HEALTH BEAT

The Cottage’s clinical manager. “She looks forward to coming here as often as she can.”

“I love the water,” Meyer said with a big smile. “It’s good for me physically, and it’s good for the mind, too.”

“And it’s not just floating in the water,” she added, noting that her instructor, Lesley Webber, comes to Ecumen from the Detroit Lakes Community and Cul-

tural Center every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to teach swimming and water exercises to the residents.

“The purpose is to get them moving around,” Webber said, noting that Meyer does particularly well with the exercises.

“She was quite an athlete growing up,” Webber added, noting that during their sessions together, Meyer had told

her about how she “used to be able to outrun the boys on the track team (in her hometown of Moorhead) — but she couldn’t compete because there was no girls’ team back then.”

Meyer is no stranger to the water, having spent many a summer’s day during her childhood at the pool in Fargo’s Island Park, where she first took swimming lessons. In the winters, she would swim in Concordia College’s pool.

After moving to Detroit Lakes to continue her teaching career (having also taught in Barnesville and Valley City, N.D.), she continued to enjoy swimming at the lake during the summer, while spending most of the fall and winter in the classroom (though she continued to swim every day after work whenever she could).

“I taught English and speech here in Detroit Lakes for 30 years,” said Meyer, adding, “I was also the debate coach.”

She raised her two children, sons David and Gregory, as a single mother

(she and her husband divorced shortly after she moved to the community).

David still lives in Detroit Lakes, where he, like his mother, became a teacher, teaching physical education at the high school and helping to coach the Laker football team. Greg, meanwhile, lives in southern Florida, where he works as the business manager of a

“I have artificial knees and hips. I think they’ve lasted this long, and not given me too much trouble, because I swim… Swimming has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember.”

-Elaine Meyer

was looking forward to spending lots of time in their backyard swimming pool.

She also added that she plans to continue swimming for as long as she is physically able, and credits her regular pool habit with helping to keep her strong.

“I have artificial knees and hips,” she said, adding, “I think they’ve lasted this long, and not given me too much trouble, because I swim… Swimming has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember.”

“It helps her with her memory, her pain, her quality of life… it just helps all around,” added Bendickson.

“I really do enjoy it,” Meyer added.

“Not many people know we have a pool here, but it’s great… they keep the water at 91 degrees, so it’s always warm and feels great.”

local cruise line; he and his wife have two children, one of whom is now grown and attending law school.

“I hope to go visit them in Florida this Christmas,” Meyer said, noting that she

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Goodwill on the hill Adaptive ski program at Detroit Mountain opens the sport up to all DETROIT LAKES NEWSPAPERS STAFF REPORT

A

n adaptive ski program at Detroit Mountain is making it possible for everyone to experience the joy of downhill skiing.

The Detroit Lakes ski hill, in partnership with the Moorhead-based nonprofit Hope Inc., is hosting ski times for kids and adults with mobility issues from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays, now through mid-March.

The goal of Hope Inc. is to provide family-friendly sporting and recreational opportunities that are critical to people’s health and development. The organization offers wheelchair basketball, sled hockey, theatre and many other adaptive programs in the area, in addition to skiing.

For the program at Detroit Mountain, volunteer skiers help guide participants down the hill using specially designed sleds: one, called a mono-ski, allows participants to use some of their own upper-body strength to help guide themselves down the slopes; the other, a bi-ski, is for anyone, regardless of upper-body strength.

Participants range in age from three years old to older adults. While in the past the program has focused more on kids due to a 150-pound weight limit on the sleds, this year, there’s a new, bigger sled that doesn’t have that weight limit, opening the program up to more adults.

Usually the program has about 30 or so participants over the course of a winter, with just a few individuals out on the slopes every Sunday, so the group is small and low-key.

Families of participants are welcome to tag along and ski, or just watch.

Volunteer ski guides are always needed.

To learn more, visit hopeinc.org, call 701866-9002 or email info@hopeinc.org.

PAGE 14 | HEALTH BEAT

Volunteers with Hope Inc. help kids and adults with mobility challenges enjoy downhill skiing.

(Submitted Photo)

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HEALTH BEAT | PAGE 15