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Modern Acupuncture aims for affordable care

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Progress Staff Writer

Dr. Stephen Gubernick saw patients with a variety of maladies while running a successful chiropractic clinic with The Joint in Scottsdale.

Pregnant women suffering from low back pain visited him and he referred them for acupuncture. The patients reported back with positive results.

This piqued Gubernick’s curiosity. Yearning to learn more, he pursued a license in acupuncture and took additional needle technique courses.

“I quickly implemented acupuncture into my practice and found the results to be even better than anticipated,” he said. “I realized that acupuncture is much more than just a complementary treatment for pain. It could stand on its own and be effective with numerous conditions outside of pain.”

Inspired, he founded Scottsdale Airpark-based Modern Acupuncture with former The Joint executives Matt Hale

Dr. Stephen Gubernick, left, founded Modern Acupuncture after hearing success stories about the alternative medicine form from his patients at The Joint. William McCalla, right, is the lead acupuncturist for Dr. Stephen Gubernick. (Photos by Dennis Murphy) and Chad Everts, along with that company’s then-IT director Mike Nesteby, in 2016.

They have since adopted the titles of chief executive officer (Hale); chief clinical officer (Gubernick); chief development officer (Everts) and chief information officer (Nesteby).

Celebrating its fourth anniversary, Modern Acupuncture opened its first Zen-inspired clinic in North Scottsdale at North Thompson Peak Parkway and North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard in 2017.

The brand has expanded its reach with four additional franchises across the Valley, including Village at Arrowhead, Dana Park, San Tan Pavilions, and 16th and Camelback. Nationally, the brand has launched more than 500 licenses with nearly 50 clinics across the United States. Since opening its first location, Modern Acupuncture has served more than 20,000 patients with 126,760 treat-

seeACUPUNCTURE page 23

Sedona officials to chamber: don’t market us

PROGRESS NEWS STAFF

While the Grand Canyon is seeing a steady increase in visitors, Sedona officials may have seen enough.

Verde Valley news media reported two weeks ago that Sedona City Council asked the local Chamber of Commerce to stop marketing the city for at least a year.

The request came as residents are begging that the city manage the burgeoning influx of visitors, which now tops three million annually.

Residents complain their lifestyle is being overrun by the stress of vacation home

Sedona residents are apparently fed up with the huge influx of visitors, who routinely create massive traffic jams on the main road through the city.

(Courtesy of the Verde Valley Independent)

Residents complain their lifestyle is being overrun by the stress of vacation home rentals, traffic jams and piles of trash left by visitors.

rentals, traffic jams and piles of trash left by visitors.

Sedona City Manager Karen Osburn was quoted in the Verde Valley Independent as saying that in years past, the chamber’s seeSEDONA page 23

sole mission “was to get the right visitors, at the right time.”

“This year things were much different because the direction was: We really need a one-year pause on solicitation of new visitations,” she said.

Osburn said that tourists who are here need to be educated on how to be good visitors.

She also questioned the chamber’s proposed budget, which is largely funded by taxpayers through the city council.

“Just as someone who puts together a budget that includes salaries, benefits, administrative overhead to come in with a request that is well more than double in one year’s time is, that’s a big ask,” Osburn said, adding the increase request was particularly distressing “in a year that the city has given some direction to say we need to scale back a very significant portion of what you do.”

Council Member Jon Thompson suggested the chamber might “even find ways to deter people.”

Thompson said the public has had a message for council: “they want to pause marketing.”

Candace Carr Strauss, president/CEO of Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau, said Sedona’s discussion about tourism is being observed nationally in the tourist industry.

“I got calls from Maine, from California, asking me about what was going on here with cutting our marketing budget.” “It is a significant pause,” Strauss pointed out.

Councilwoman Jessica Williamson pointed out that Sedona is one of the biggest growing areas in the nation.

“This may not be a blip,” Williamson said. “We may not have any slack periods at all.”

Mayor Sandy Moriarty said the council has made a commitment to pause destination marketing and questioned if some of the city’s chamber budget should be reallocated toward housing solutions to help workers in town.

Meanwhile, John Dillon, executive director of the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association, said his 16 member companies saw revenues fall by $22 million when the park was closed in the first half of 2020. But he said those same businesses have been operating at full capacity since last June, when COVID-19 restrictions eased. “We’re doing very well, we’re recovering, and there’s a lot of confidence,” said Dillon, who said association members are already booking trips into 2023. Monthly visitor numbers at the Grand Canyon, the most-frequented park in the state, confirm that people have been coming back. It would have been hard to go down: Visitors to the Grand Canyon hit zero in April 2020, when the park was completely closed. By April this year, the Grand Canyon recorded 425,978 visitors, who spent 6.6 million hours at the park, according to Park Service data.

Mayor Sandy Moriarty While that is an imsaid the council has made provement, it is still a commitment to pause 24 percent lower destination marketing and questioned if some of the than the 563,898 visitors who spent 8.7 million hours in the city’s chamber budget park in April 2019.should be reallocated Sullivan said backtoward housing solutions to country permit re-help workers in town. quests “started a little slower in February and March” than in a typical year, but that April and May have been “pretty much on par with previous years.” However, there are still challenges. Sullivan said park infrastructure continues to hinder operations. Problems with the sewage treatment plant at Bright Angel Campground at the bottom of the canyon, for example, have reduced the number of people who can camp there. “We’re kind of limited right now, since our biggest campground in the canyon is operating at half capacity,” Sullivan said, accommodating 55 campers instead of the usual 110. With foreign visitors making up a large part of the Grand Canyon’s tourism business, another challenge is the COVID-19 restrictions on international travel. Tusayan Town Manager Charlie Hendrix said that has resulted in “kind of a delay” in the return to normal business. “We’ve had some wonderful support locally, which we’re really excited about, but we don’t have any international travel yet,” she said. Cronkite News contributed to this report. ments across all five Arizona clinics.

“We’re going to open many more clinics,” Gubernick said. “I don’t know details on exact numbers yet, but we stayed strong during COVID, when there was a lot of pain and stress, depending on what happens with the country.”

According to the World Health Organization, acupuncture is an all-natural, holistic treatment clinically proven to alleviate chronic pain, relieve stress, and treat over 30 diseases and conditions.

“In the last year, many people were unable to get into a doctor or manage their own mental health or stress,” Gubernick said. “We played a pivotal role in easing that. “They felt the benefits. They didn’t have to go into a doctor’s office when people were scared early on. We provided that option for people. Once they experienced it, they continued.”

He said all acupuncture is effective, but Modern Acupuncture is different.

“Our treatments are accessible,” said Gubernick, who is also the Scottsdale franchise owner. “We built the company to make acupuncture affordable and convenient.”

Steve Dinkins is one of those patients. He said acupuncture has been a “saving grace” for him during the pandemic.

“I’m a member at Modern Acupuncture to get relief from my back and neck pain, but I found that the acupuncture treatments greatly reduced my stress and anxiety that 2020 brought as well,” Dinkins said.

“Acupuncture has evolved into a critical part of my wellness routine and I’m so thankful for it.”

Gubernick said he’s able to build his clientele by keeping the clinics open seven days a week for extended hours and offering a membership model that makes visits affordable.

Memberships are $89 monthly and that includes two visits per month. Other packages are available.

“The price is important, especially now,” said Gubernick, who formerly worked for The Joint. “With acupuncture, like a lot of other therapies, consistency is important to be effective. Treating pain and stress with an affordable rate is important, too. We use a specific technology that’s very effective for pain relief while inducing relaxation.”

Gubernick said most patients come in for back and neck pain. However, once the discomfort subsides, they stay with Modern Acupuncture for maintenance.

“Acupuncture has that stress-relieving effect,” he said. “They feel calm. Stress ruins everything, but when patients come in, they can get a clear mind and stay calm. That’s what keeps people coming back.”

The focus

All Modern Acupuncture locations align with a series of goals to allow patients to heal. • Provide exceptional modern acupuncture care in an accessible manner that is consistent and affordable for everyone. • Create a spa-like environment with scientifi c-based music therapy, relaxing nature scenes, soft lighting and heated zero-gravity massage chairs. • Develop its licensed acupuncturists with ongoing training based on the latest scientific evidence-based research. • Support its practitioners, or “Zen advisers.” • Offer pharmaceutical-grade supplements for pain, stress, fatigue, sleep and immune support that, paired with acupuncture, help patients live comfortably. • Partner with like-minded organizations and companies who share its mission. • Continue to educate the public on the benefi ts of acupuncture and provide treatments and products to help everyone reach and maintain their wellness goals.

Modern Acupuncture 15035 N. Thompson Peak Parkway, Suite E105, Scottsdale 480-771-9205, modernacupuncture.com

Modern Acupuncture corporate offi ces 17550 N. Perimeter Drive, Suite 100, Scottsdale 480-999-5505, modernacupuncture.com