Tim's Blog

Dr. Kelly Baltazar's positive impact on the Naturopathic Clinic here at NUHS was immense. That was evident from the blog entry last week, as well as comments from all of our interns currently in clinic, including those who have graduated. 

The outpouring of support and best wishes on her new journey was so great over the past two weeks that I am sharing comments from Dr. Baltazar on her journey as part of the founding team for the Naturopathic Clinic here at NUHS and her transition to Cancer Treatment Centers of America. 

Dr. Baltazar and I were able to sit down together and talk about her experiences here at NUHS as well as her plans for the future. These are quotes from the conversation we had, in Dr. Baltazar's words.

Dr. Coe and her ubiquitous camera with Dr. Baltazar at her going-away party

What was it like to start up the Naturopathic Clinic at NUHS?

"A lot of excitement, a challenge, a sense of a 'huge task in front of us' to not only get it started but to develop a quality clinical experience."

What were the greatest challenges?

"The basic tasks of creating forms, handouts, patient scheduling, and how to fit it within the existing NUHS clinic. How will we create the structure of the clinic? The most challenging part of the process has been managing all the behind the scenes work to ensure that both the day-to-day and the big picture remain solid." 

Can you compare the first cohort with today's processes, workflow and patient interactions and the path to accreditation in such a short timeframe?

"Throughout the years, much refining of the process, with a lot of strategic decisions needing to be made and refining the details as we went. When the news came in October (2012) that we had gained accreditation, a sense of true accomplishment." 

How did you feel at that moment with regard to your role here at the NUHS Naturopathic Clinic?

"After that moment [accreditation], I felt like my task was complete and then time to think about a new endeavor for my professional and personal growth. I have set and maintained high expectations and clinical standards and the culture is in place and that is one thing that I am very thankful for." 

What next?

"I will be pursuing other professional interests and avenues that will provide professional growth for me. Moving back to patient care in a direct role rather than a teaching/mentor role as a naturopathic oncology provider at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Time for personal life for a little bit. I will be getting married and hope to continue to run in marathons and half-marathons, cycling with my fiancé and gardening!" 

What would you like for your legacy to be?

"Accreditation and helping with the process as well as building a clinical program to meet the standards of accreditation." 

What was rewarding to you in your role as Chief Naturopathic Clinician?

"Those 'aha' moments when you can see a student truly capture a 'concept' was rewarding! However, the most rewarding aspect of my job has been seeing graduates become successful naturopathic physicians."

Thank you for doing the "grunt" work of forming, building and improving our Naturopathic Clinic to the point of accreditation. Thank you for answering the same questions from multitudes of interns day-in and day-out. Thank you for keeping a smile on your face and calm in the flurry of Student Clinic. Thank you for being a helping hand, a guide, mentor and leader.  

We will miss you, Dr. Baltazar.

This week's blog is bittersweet. This week I will say goodbye to our Chief of Naturopathic Clinics, Dr. Kelly Baltazar. While I (and many classmates and staff) are very sad that Dr. Baltazar is leaving NUHS, we are overjoyed for her and her new opportunity in practice! 

A bit of info about Dr. Baltazar. Dr. Baltazar earned her naturopathic medicine doctorate from Bastyr University and subsequently completed her chiropractic medicine doctorate from National University of Health Sciences. She stepped into the role of Chief of Naturopathic Clinics upon the inception of the clinical portion of the naturopathic medicine program here at NUHS. Dr. Baltazar, along with others, built our naturopathic clinical program from the ground up. She worked as part of the team to develop the forms for the paperwork, procedural manuals, visit protocols, scheduling, and assessments for all interns.  

Beginning with only a handful of students and growing the program to over 100 naturopathic students currently enrolled, Dr. Baltazar has mentored, guided, nudged, reined-in, and congratulated every naturopathic Intern upon graduation from the first student through the most recent graduates. 

Dr. Baltazar's legacy earning CNME accreditation for an upstart naturopathic medical school in an unlicensed state for NDs within seven years, which is an amazing feat!  While she didn't do this alone, the responsibility for the clinical portion of the program fell upon her shoulders entirely and she excelled at building a thriving naturopathic clinic! 

With a heavy heart and big smile for her new adventures, we all wish Dr. Baltazar much success and happiness in her new endeavors with Cancer Treatment Centers of America! She will be an excellent ambassador for our profession and for our university! 

Dr. Baltazar is standing front row center, to the right of
Dr. Fraser Smith, Assistant Dean of Naturopathic Medicine

Some student comments for Dr. Baltazar... 

"Dr. Baltazar, may your journey be filled with joy, success, abundance, and love for what you do and those around you!"
-- All of us 

"The moral of the story is that it takes seven people to make one of you."
-- An intern to Dr. Baltazar at her going away party 

"She simply rocks!"
-- A 9th Trimester Intern 

"Probably the best teacher I've ever had, including elementary, high school and undergraduate! She knew how to break down information into easily understandable terms."
-- A 9th Trimester Intern 

"She was the rock in a chaotic river in clinic!"
-- A 10th Trimester Intern 

This past week we were introduced to two of the more interesting classes I have taken here at NUHS over the past three years. These classes are Minor Surgical Techniques and Environmental Medicine. 

Minor Surgical Techniques is perhaps our best example of medicine's greatest force of intervention, while also following one of the Naturopathic principles of "do no harm." The task of bringing injured tissues together (so that they can heal more completely without complication) while piercing that tissue with a needle and suturing material (some tissue damage in order to help the whole person heal) can help prevent local infection building and possibly invading the circulatory system, where it can infect the person's entire body. 

While many of us will never use the procedures taught in minor surgery, some of our licensed states require that the naturopathic physicians in that state be able to perform all procedures that a primary care doctor would perform in their normal duties. 

Environmental Medicine is a review of the "total load" of today's environment upon the human body. We look at all sources of toxins from our food supply, items of everyday living, air, water and electronic sources. We measure the impact of these sources upon the human body, both in the short term as well as over a lifetime. We research ways of detoxifying the human body from these influences and ways of helping the human body, mind and spirit recover from an overload of toxins. 

These classes roll up many of the concepts we learned in the basic sciences portion of our curriculum from anatomy, inflammatory process, tissue injury and healing, our bodies' built-in filtration systems and just about every process we learned. Now, as I have said before, the concepts are being applied on a daily basis, both in our classes as well as when we see our patients at the Student Clinic.

In Memory...

Finally, on this Memorial Day weekend, I'm taking the bully pulpit of this blog to honor two of the veterans who have given their lives for our country, our freedoms, our people--not just for their generation, yet for those who follow, both born here and who immigrate here for a better life. These men are my uncles: U.S. Army Private First Class Edward Ammons, who was killed in action in 1945 on Luzon Island in the Philippines during the waning months of World War II after having fought much of the Pacific Campaign; and U.S. Army Private First Class Otto Ammons, who was killed in action in early 1952 near the 38th Parallel during the Korean War. Our family has never forgotten them and I will do my best to ensure that none of our veterans who have given their lives willingly for our country and innate liberties, regardless of the war, action or operation are forgotten.

Hi, everyone!

The first official week of Student Clinic is in the books and it was a full one! I was able to see five patients the first week and the time flew! Of course, it seemed as much time was spent with paperwork as with the patients, yet this is a necessary part of the patient visit to ensure that those who see a patient after me know exactly what I talked about with the patient. 

First a little background on student clinic here at NUHS. During 8th trimester, ND students are interns in Student Clinic. In other words, we only see students and their families during 8th trimester. This is to prepare us for seeing the general public in 9th and 10th trimesters. We are allowed and even encouraged to recruit our patients from the student population here on campus, as recruiting patients is part of building a practice once we graduate. When a patient doesn't request a specific intern, the patient is assigned based upon an objective alphabetical rotation. In other words, we have plenty of patients to see and help in Student Clinic even with minimal recruiting efforts. 

The week kicked off with a new patient visit, which typically is supposed to take about 90 minutes. Of course, a brand new intern with a new patient, new file, fresh paperwork and a steep learning curve means that 90 minutes is an attainable goal, yet often is one that is not met with a first visit. Take that first visit and follow it immediately with a patient who is returning for a follow-up visit and you have the recipe for a full day! Now, since our Student Clinic hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1pm to 7pm, multiply that by 3 and add all patient file paperwork that must be completed before leaving at the end of the day! Whoa! :) 

Thank goodness, our ND clinicians are around to give us a helping hand, guidance and solid suggestions when we "err off course" just a bit! Without their short bits of advice and a finger pointed in the proper direction, I'm certain 10 interns would have been scurrying in all directions. :) A quick shout out to our clinicians in the ND clinic and their patience, guidance and sense of humor! 

The rubber is meeting the road and it's time to apply everything that has been learned (or absorbed) for the previous three years. I'm honored and grateful that others trust their well being to me in Student Clinic at NUHS. I'm grateful that we have the strong clinicians to guide us during our internship!

Hi, everyone! All of us here at NUHS are back from break and getting into the rhythm of classes or clinic schedules. In my case, I have finally started the final lap here at NUHS and have entered Student Clinic. 

But first a little about this past break and my trip back home to the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina. I've included a pic from one of my favorite hilltops behind the "homestead" back in WNC. 

During my trip back home I was able to catch up with my family and friends, spend some quality time together and relax just a bit. I hiked a few miles on the Appalachian Trail that is very near my home at Sam's Gap in North Carolina and the views were spectacular! I caught a few odd looks from those who had been on the trail for awhile (guess they were wondering where my gear was), but all in all had a nice chat with one hiker as they descended from the trail to get a few supplies at a little store nearby the trail. Amazing how we traipsed all over the woods as kids never worrying about supplies, hiking poles, packs, etc., yet as an adult, I was concerned about hiking a few ridges that I had covered many times as a kid. All in all, a great trip and I'm thankful for my family and friends back home, catching up while seemingly not missing a beat, and leaving with a sense of love and fulfillment.

Now, back to school. I'm entering Student Clinic this trimester as an intern who will be working with students currently attending NUHS and their families. The cohort entering Student Clinic this trimester is, I believe, the largest cohort yet for our naturopathic medical school and the groups following are even larger! This first week is going to kick off with a bang, as my appointment schedule is booked for the week with students completing their "freshmen physicals." A freshman physical is a complete head-to-toe physical and naturopathic intake that typically takes about two hours, after some practice. I believe most of us will take somewhere between two and three hours for our first couple of intakes until we get our time management skills improved. :)

Well, with that I suppose it's time to get the shirts pressed, the slacks creased, the intern's white coat spotless, and step into the role of the student healer. A big welcome to all of our first trimester students in the professional programs and our undergraduate students! Until I graduate, I'll do my best to share life in the clinic over the coming year--stories of my time there as well as insight into other interns' journeys here at NUHS! 

Talk to you next week!