Leaders in integration – promoters of regulation
We at IHP are pleased to cover The Pear Tree Clinic, located in Dieppe, New Brunswick. Dr. Melissa Blake, ND is the owner of the clinic. She graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in 2006 and knew at that time that she wanted to return to the Maritimes. She first opened The Pear Tree in Sackville and then decided after 2 years to move to the larger Moncton area with hopes of growing The Pear Tree into a multi-disciplinary medical center. Dr. Blossom Bitting, ND joined Dr. Blake in 2009 and they have been practicing together successfully for the last 4 years. Both NDs have recently become mothers and impressively still manage to service approximately 200 patient visits per week.
The clinic is 3000 square feet and includes 6 treatment rooms, an infrared sauna, and a yoga studio. The other members of the clinic include Andrée Surette Poirier, RMT and Sari LaBelle (HSI), CYT. Andrée focuses her practice on stress reduction and stress management. She is also a Reiki Master Teacher and utilizes many different techniques in personalizing her treatments to her patient’s needs. Sari is a Life Coach, Yoga teacher, and Meditation instructor. She leads group sessions and helps her patients actualize life goals through selfexploration, body and mind awareness, and creative expression. The Pear Tree Clinic is unique in that they are the only integrative clinic in their area that offers naturopathic services and other alternative health care services. Their team approach is reflected in the clinic slogan: “Pearing together, for your health and wellness.”
Staying connected is important to the clinic team members. The team meets once a week to discuss clinic operations and upcoming events. During these meetings, they bring up challenging cases and work together to develop comprehensive, individualized plans. Their mission is to make an impact in the wellness of each person who walks through their door. They believe a team-based approach is the best way of achieving this. As a result, they put a significant effort towards networking and continually contact other local health care providers, in hopes of improving the health service options available for their patients. Naturopathic Doctors are not regulated in New Brunswick. Dr. Blake and Dr. Bitting try to bridge the gap between NDs and MDs by attending and hosting networking events, educating the public and other health care practitioners, and by providing high-quality holistic care to their patients. They are both members of the New Brunswick association of Naturopathic Doctors (NBAND). Dr. Blake is also a member of the Nova Scotia Association.
New patients usually find the clinic through their website or online through the yellow pages. The practitioners also see a large amount of patients from word-of-mouth referrals and from external referrals. For new patients, the clinic’s receptionist is responsible for filtering primary health goals and then directing the patient to the appropriate practitioner. Although both NDs enjoy general family practice, Dr. Blake’s practice focuses on cardiovascular health and oncology, while Dr. Bitting’s practice focuses on pediatrics and fertility. The NDs are usually the primary contact for patients and manage the addition of other practitioners as needed. If the patients present with musculoskeletal complaints or a high degree of stress, they usually refer to the massage therapist. If weight loss is a concern, they also suggest tailored yoga programs and will meet with the patients on an individual basis as well as in groups.
The clinic has a natural health product dispensary. It includes custom tinctures using herbs from Viriditas and St-Francis Herb Farm. They carry supplements from professional product lines, including AOR, Genestra, CanPrev, Vitazan, Thorne, and Restorative Formulations. They carry homeopathics from Boiron. Dr. Blake does all blood draws for the clinic and then sends out to labs such as Gamma-Dynacare Laboratories, Rocky Mountain Analytical, Doctor’s Data (especially for heavy metals), and Neuroscience. The clinic’s most popular lab test is Rocky Mountain Analytical’s IgG test for food allergies, followed by Vitamin D testing.
Due to the lack of regulation, the public still has misconceptions about the ‘ND’ designation and other competing designations that non-regulated health care practitioners use, such as ‘nd’, ‘naturopath’, and ‘naturotherapist’. Many health plans cover services by nonregulated practitioners. One concern for the NDs is that many people assume they can’t afford naturopathic services. Another concern the practitioners have is that patients sometimes think that because they are seeing a medical doctor, seeing an ND may be counterproductive. The medical doctors can also perpetuate this idea because they may have had a bad experience with an unregulated practitioner. To remedy this, the clinic does a lot of community outreach work. They send letters to MPs and they try to work with local MDs by initiating and maintaining communication. A lot of education also occurs within the community. Both NDs write articles for local papers and send out monthly newsletters to their mailing list. Dr. Blake believes that by offering IV therapy, it has helped expand the clinic’s reach and credibility.
Legislation is a big challenge and is a hot topic at provincial meetings. The largest obstacle faced by Naturopathic Doctors is the low number of practitioners. Unfortunately, this is a self-perpetuating problem. Because the province is unregulated, fewer NDs may want to practice there. In turn, because there are not a lot of NDs practicing, it becomes difficult to justify regulation! However, Dr. Blake has seen a large shift over the last several years.
The public is more educated and the number of NDs has doubled provincially over the last 6 years. In an effort to promote awareness, the team has been actively involved in many wellness and health expos that occur in the area and have hosted successful networking events for health care practitioners. Future plans for the clinic include expanding the team. They are actively seeking other practitioners who would fit well within their integrative model. They would especially like to find a health care practitioner that is linked to the conventional system, such as a Nurse Practitioner or an MD. The clinic hosts health programs and workshops for the public in an effort to continue integrating into the healthcare system. They are also looking forward to implementing a community acupuncture program, whereby multiple acupuncture treatments could occur simultaneously. IHP would like to thank The Pear Tree Clinic for allowing us to showcase their accomplishments.
The clinic hosts health programs and workshops for the public in an effort to continue integrating into the healthcare system.
