DECATUR — Wellness Secrets in Decatur welcomes a new director, Mary Fisher, and a new registered nurse, Anne Marie Scott, to its staff.
Fisher came to Wellness Secrets in February of 2009, bringing 15 years of experience as director of the Wildwood Lifestyle Center in Chattanooga Tenn. Fisher is an occupational therapist and is also experienced in natural and preventative medicine. She has also spent time working as a medical missionary in the West Indies.
“For us to get someone with that kind of experience, we couldn’t have asked for more,” guest programs coordinator Sherry Trueblood said.
Scott, originally from Jamacia, received her nurse’s training at a Florida hospital. She worked at the Uchee Pines Lifestyle Center in Alabama and has experience in conventional, lifestyle and preventative medicine.
“She comes with a lot of enthusiasm to educate people how to make good decisions concerning their health,” Trueblood said.
Also new to Wellness Secrets is a Russian Steam Bath and exercise room. The center had been considering the purchase of a new Russian Steam Bath, but the model they needed cost $35,000 and was beyond their budget.
That’s when “sort of a miracle” happened, according to Fisher. A friend’s parents went into a Goodwill Store in Florida and found the exact tub they needed for $900. A spa had gone out of business and donated the hardly-used tub to the Goodwill Store.
In addition to the steam bath, the center also offers contrast showers in a giant shower with six heads, whirlpool baths, salt glows and hot and cold treatments.
Wellness Secrets also features a vegan restaurant, a health food store, massages and a walking track, as well as a live-in health program.
The center often presents community health classes such as smoking cessation, weight management, diabetes II seminars and hands-on cooking classes.
Wellness Secrets focuses on simple lifestyle changes like diet and exercise that can make a big difference in healing people, according to Fisher. The program focuses on understanding the cause and removing the problem, then using natural treatments to reverse damage.
Many patients have found help with problems like smoking, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, cancer and depression, Fisher said.
“We have seen people get off insulin, blood pressure medicine and cholesterol medicine in a safe way. We help people do what their doctors tell them to do; eat more veggies, get exercise, drink water,” Trueblood said.
“We do believe there is a place for conventional medicine and drugs ...We’re promoting a lifestyle to prevent sickness,” she explained.
Those who want to kickstart their new lifestyle with lots of support can spend between two and 18 days in Wellness Secrets’ live-in program enjoying personalized natural health care. The program includes consultations, health lectures, hydrotherapy, handson food preparation instruction, with plenty of support and spiritual encouragement, according to the program’s brochure.
There is also a twomonth health program for those who live in the area and want the benefits of the live-in program without spending time away from their homes.
Cari Baumann of Fayetteville was participating in the live-in program last week. Baumann said she has been crippled with Fibromyalgia for many years and was nearly bedfast. She came to Wellness Secrets when her doctors couldn’t offer any more help with her condition.
After just one week at Wellness Secrets, Baumann was lively and full of energy. She reported that she had been walking a mile a day, far from being bedfast.
“The routine little changes work like miracles - the fresh air, exercise, good water and good support - it’s so simple,” she said.
Noelene Craft of Gage, Okla., said she came to Wellness Secrets to stop smoking. Craft said she has smoked since she was 12 years old and now faces chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.
Craft said she hasn’t picked up a cigarette all week and hasn’t been suffering the usual withdrawal symptoms. She credited prayer, support from the staff and fellow patients, and breathing clean air, eating healthy food and exercise for making it possible to give up tobacco.
The Wellness Secrets store is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The restaurant is open for dine-in, carry-out or delivery in the Decatur area from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday through Thursday.
For more information, call 752-3883 or visit www.wellnesssecrets4u.com.
News, Pages 1 on 11/25/2009