7 minute read
Focusing on the whole patient
Ken Sturtz
“I feel like our practice is probably less likely to pull out the prescription pad first. I think most patients that come to our practice are looking for options beyond that.”—Heidi Baldwin
Dr. Heidi Puc, Heidi Baldwin and Jennifer Kohler began their careers without a hint that they would someday work in integrative medicine.
Puc spent several decades as a traditional oncologist. Kohler went into nursing school right out of high school. And Baldwin previously taught English and special education.
“When I was teaching special education, if you ever told me that I was going to be the practice manager of an integrative health practice or doing any of the work I do now, I’d have said you were absolutely crazy,” Baldwin says.
But all three women eventually gravitated to and embraced integrative medicine, which combines conventional medical care with complementary therapies and a holistic approach aimed at promoting health and wellness. And all three are now practitioners at Integrative Medicine of Central New York, the practice near Chittenango that Puc and Baldwin started in 2018.
Puc became interested in oncology when her grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. After medical school and residency, she spent more than 20 years with Hematology-Oncology Associates of CNY. During that time, she became interested in integrative medicine and received specialty training in integrative medicine through the Scripps Clinic in California as well as completing a two-year fellowship through the University of Arizona.
She began practicing integrative oncology in addition to conventional hematology and oncology. In 2015, she left to join The Stram Center for Integrative Medicine near Albany where she focused on integrated medicine, oncology and management of Lyme disease. Baldwin spent 18 years in education, teaching English and special education, but along the way developed an interest in natural health. She was completing a program in holistic nutrition when the school abruptly closed.
While teaching, Baldwin says she developed severe allergies to the cleaning chemicals being used in schools, which eventually forced her to leave education.
While going through the process of determining what was making her sick, Baldwin started taking Reiki. After her first class she knew she wanted to continue with it. She eventually became a Reiki master and began teaching classes. She also took courses in Pranic healing. Baldwin still felt something was missing; she says it wasn’t until she completed a yearlong program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition that she began to bring all of her training and education together.
She also resolved some health symptoms she’d been dealing with for years. Doctors repeatedly told Baldwin she had chronic fatigue, but she was adamant that something more was wrong and pushed for answers. She was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease and finally received treatment.
“That moment when I found out I had Lyme disease was life-changing for me,” she says. “It wasn't that I just had some mystery chronic fatigue.”
In 2018, Baldwin and Puc launched Integrative Medicine of Central New York. The pair already knew each other through a shared spiritual community and the timing turned out to be right. Puc, who has children here, had continued living in Central New York, but commuted to The Stram Center for work for more than two years. She had hoped the practice would open a satellite office in Syracuse. When that didn’t come to fruition, she decided to open her own practice with Baldwin.
Although Baldwin serves as the practice manager, she was also able to bring her areas of specialty – nutritional health coaching, Reiki and medical grade CBD products and essential oils – to the practice.
“It was a no-brainer for me because I knew I’d be able to help that many more people,” Baldwin says.
Although theirs is a direct pay practice, Baldwin says patients are sometimes able to be reimbursed depending on their insurance.
Heidi S. Puc, MD, FACP, ABIHM
Jennifer Kohler, MS, FNP-BC, CLC
A majority of the practice’s patients are women, though they do treat many men as well. Baldwin says men tend to be more hesitant about integrative medicine and often come in for the first visit at the urging of their wife.
While it embraces conventional medicine, Puc says integrative medicine is more focused on all the things that can impact a patient’s health and wellbeing and drilling down to the root causes of disease rather than focusing on a disease process and merely treating symptoms.
Getting to root causes takes time, though, and spending more time with patients is one of the noticeable differences from conventional medicine. For example, Puc says a conventional visit to a doctor’s office might last 10-15 minutes. At their office she says a follow-up visit with a patient might last upwards of an hour and a new patient visit typically lasts two hours. The purpose is to do a thorough review of everything that could be affecting a patient’s wellness.
“If a busy practitioner has 10 minutes with a patient they’re not able to get a full perspective of what is influencing that person’s whole life,” Puc says. “So, I think that’s the limitation unfortunately of the medical system.”
Integrative Medicine of Central New York offers a variety of treatment options including everything from herbal remedies, intravenous vitamins and supplements, and individualized Lyme disease treatment, to HeartMath, neurofeedback, and meditation. Exactly what type of treatment is recommended depends greatly on the individual and what issues they’re coming in with.
Puc says she sees many patients with cancer who are looking to incorporate natural remedies with the conventional treatment they’re receiving. Some patients facing a terminal disease are seeking ways to improve their quality of life.
People with acute or chronic Lyme disease who aren’t getting the help they need through conventional recommendations make up a sizable portion of their patient population, Puc says. They also see patients with autoimmune diseases, patients suffering from exposure to mold or chemicals, and patients seeking help with pain management as well as those dealing with gastrointestinal issues or who are suffering long-term issues from Covid. Many are seeking natural remedies.
“I feel like our practice is probably less likely to pull out the prescription pad first,” Baldwin says. “I think most patients that come to our practice are looking for options beyond that.”
Other patients are interested in strengthening their immune system or receiving health coaching to help them deal with things such as diabetes or stress.
The practice is also expanding its services. Puc says Kohler, who started in February, is focusing on women’s health including endocrine and gastrointestinal issues.
Kohler went to nursing school and, after working as a registered nurse, went back to school and became a family nurse practitioner. She worked at an OBGYN practice until 2011 when she took a position at Upstate Hospital working in high-risk obstetrics.
Over the last few years, particularly during the pandemic, Kohler felt patient centered care was getting somewhat lost.
“I felt like I was losing that opportunity to truly listen to patients,” she says. “I love the area that I came from, but it also restricts what you can offer patients.”
She didn’t want to get stagnant and began to wonder if it was time to change directions. As she explored her options, Kohler discovered there was an opening at Integrative Medicine of Central New York. She was intrigued, but says she didn’t understand the full spectrum of what integrative medicine was. So, she did a job shadow at the office to get a feel for it.
“Because this is so different from conventional medicine, I think it is important to get to know it before making that decision,” she says.
Heidi Baldwin, MS, RMT, Holistic Health Coach “I honestly was just mesmerized for lack of a better word at what I didn’t know was out there to offer patients.”
Kohler says having more time to meet with patients has also been a game-changer. She now has the time to really listen to patients when they talk about their health and life and gain a better understanding of the issues they’re facing. That helps patients feel empowered, something she says conventional medicine sometimes fails at.
“I want to look at what you’re currently doing, how are you doing and is there anything that we can add in to help,” she says. “I want to work with the patient, work with what they’re currently doing and make it work for them.”
Kohler isn’t the only person in the practice who specializes. In addition to Puc and Baldwin, several of the nurses of staff also have specific areas of focus. The result, Baldwin says, is that the practice is capable of serving a broad spectrum of patient needs.
“We are really blessed to have an amazing team of providers who work well together,” she says. “Everybody brings something really amazing to the table.” SWM
