What is good design

from 068 Magazine - March/April 2023

Encourage and Preserve Art

At the Gift Med Spa, we are very proud of our depth of treatment and care, for our aesthetic clients. We want you to look your best and we want you to look like you. In order to achieve that, we believe that many times less is more and that natural processes of revitalization are best.

Utilizing innovation treatments such as Morpheus 8 & PRP (Stem Cell therapy), we can get you as close as possible, naturally, using the elements of your own body to rejuvenate the skin, without surgery.

If you do require surgery, we use the most advanced form of surgery to yield vastly improved results. This is called FaceTite, AccuTite for the face, neck, and eyes.

We can approach the body nonsurgically as well. Through the use of medication, TrueSculpt (24% apoptosis of fat cells, with skin tightening) and Accufit (for true muscle sculpting), and of course exercise. Most of the time, we can get you there.

For those truly resistant people, we utilize a surgical procedure called BodyTite.

Last, but not least, our fabulous facials. If you are looking for flawless skin, we can go beyond anything you have ever experienced with our Diamond Glow Facial, to rejuvenate your skin with hydration/antiaging elements. If radiance is what you are looking for, our Photo Facials are the bomb. We utilize Cutera Green Genesis for skin types I-IV & laser Genesis for skin types IVVI, packages to give you exactly that. Beyond that, Rosacea, Melasma, Telangiectasias, can become a thing of the past for you.

The Gift Medical Spa is celebrating its second anniversary in Ridgefield, CT. East meets West in the integrative medical landscape of the MedSpa. Dr. Sciarrino went to Emory College, Emory Dental School, New York Medical College, and Westchester Medical Center. He has over 25 years of experience as a Maxillo-Facial surgeon at Stamford Hospital and has distilled this experience into the Gift Medical Spa.

Dr. Jing Zhang a graduate of Capital Medical University in Beijing, China, is a Neurologist, who strictly practices Acupuncture at The Gift. Acupuncture improves blood flow, corrects muscular dysfunction releasing the flow of healing, giving energy back to our bodies.

Now you don’t have to live in the Sardinia, Italy or La Jolla, California to have a long healthy life. Dr. Sciarrino seeks to create a “Blue Zone” right here in downtown Ridgefield. Through the use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT), acupuncture, and IV therapy, he wishes to enrich the health, vitality, and longevity of all those interested in living their best life.

The Gift Med Spa is not your grandma’s day spa. The future is here now. Through the use of HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) and controlled infusions IV therapy, we are currently improving people’s health spans and we believe life spans as well. Everything we do is backed through science-driven technologies, studies, and data.

If you are interested in learning more about improving life span and health span, please join us for our lectures on February 28, March 28, and April 25 at our medical spa at 392 Main Street (across from the Ace Hardware) at 5 pm. Space is limited.

To learn more about our services, or to schedule your consultation so that we may base our treatments on your needs, please give us a call at (203) 806-9250. •

by Jana Williams

Soul Sister Travels Organizes Trips that Make a Difference

Ridgefield natives Mary Dent and Kathy Pesce are a pair of women with boisterous laughs, an infectious curiosity to explore, and a willingness to put themselves out there wholeheartedly to make a difference.

Embracing their inner entrepreneur, in 2020 they founded Soul Sister Travels - a boutique travel company committed to journeying with a purpose.

A space where like-minded people can connect and begin their ‘giving-back’ adventure, Soul Sister Travels (SST) provides opportunities to volunteer with a community organization serving a specific local need. Each Journey also incorporates a personal wellness component in the form of yoga, meditation, hiking, self-actualization classes, beach getaways or even a safari. Offering the two elements of self-care and volunteerism fosters a connection not only to oneself, but to the community at large. “When you learn to connect to yourself, you can begin to connect to others,” says Pesce. “Wellness and volunteerism go hand in hand. At Soul Sister Travels we choose connection, not division.”

Don’t be fooled by the name Soul Sister. “It’s based on the connection between Kathy and me. However, we welcome everyone on our wellness and volunteering Journeys, not just women,” says Dent.

Taking kindness on the road Soul Sister Travels breaks down its ‘Journeys’ according to broad overarching categories reflecting different kinds of volunteer opportunities. Their Community Retreats focus on helping local charities while experiencing the culture of places like Nairobi, Kenya and Bali. Programs like the Heart & Soul Retreat in Florida and A Vineyard Weekend in Martha’s Vineyard concentrate on supporting local communities with a specific need in a shorter timeframe. They also have Environmental and Agricultural Retreats focused on creating a better physical world.

Some recent volunteer opportunities include: partnering with the National Parks Service to clean up trash in the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee; building a home with Habitat for Humanity in Sarasota, Florida; working with the Red Stocking Fund to bring presents to underprivileged children living year-round on Martha’s Vineyard, and assisting a halfway house in Vermont with suits and supplies to help men transition and reacclimate to society after incarceration.

Soul Sister Travels’ volunteers bring supplies and help with infrastructure projects at Drug Fighters Primary School and Feeding Center school in Kibera, Kenya. The Journey culminates in an awe-inspiring adventure in the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

While true family excursions have yet to be developed, Soul Sister Travels welcomes parents and enthusiastic, ‘younger’ volunteers to the mix with prior approval. Most recently, high schoolers accompanied their parents to a school in Kibera, Nairobi - the largest urban slum in Africa - where they connected with local children who were orphaned, or whose parents suffered from drug or alcohol addiction.

“The Drug Fighters Primary School and Feeding Center (DFC) is particularly close to my heart,” says Dent, who went on to describe how these children have absolutely nothing in a community that is already known for having no way out of poverty.

SST has an ongoing collaboration with the school aimed at creating a sense of trust and community with the teachers, administrators and students. SST volunteers help with not only their time – for example, painting a library or providing playtime and community-building activities – they also bring hard-to-get items including classroom supplies, soccer balls, and basic technology with them in the form of donations. In return, SST participants experience a culture filled with spirituality and warmth, even though these children lack the very basics in material wealth.

“Agnes, the director of DFC, says this particular school deals the most vulnerable children. The staff focuses on creating a sense of community and self-love for these kids; kids who have never experienced it,” continues Dent. “Kathy and I received cards from the children overflowing with gratitude.”

The journey of giving begins here

The wellness part of the Kenyan Journey is a three-day safari in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Known for its abundance of wildlife including lions, cheetahs, zebras, hippo, elephants, and more, it is also the location of the annual wildebeest migration. Abutting the Serengeti, together they form a landscape of rolling hills and savannahs. Journeying to the Maasai Mara is a truly life-changing experience for SST travelers.

When asked what they love most about Soul Sister Travels, Dent says, “We feel the smallest and most sincere act of kindness makes the most powerful impact for all.”

Pesce continues that the best part about the retreats for her are the authentic bonds created with the volunteers who journey with them, whether a longer trip to Africa or Bali, or a weekend on the Vineyard. “It’s transformational,” she says. “The closeness –and openness – of the group during the closing remarks on the last day of each Journey fills me with gratitude. The personal growth of the participants, and the reflection they have on their experience, plants seeds for the rest of their lives.”