Do You Need a Doctor? Holistic Family Medicine at Madrona Integrative Health

Jan 7, 2024 • Written by Dr. Hannah Webb, ND

We are in a healthcare crisis. Most of us are affected by this, whether ourselves directly or via a family member or loved one. It could be that you don’t have a family doctor at all, or that you are not getting enough time with your provider to answer all your questions. It could be long wait times for much needed referral, diagnostic testing, or surgery. Many of us are not getting needed care. I hear these stories daily. 

At Madrona we are passionate about doing everything we can to fill these gaps. One of the biggest ways we do this is through naturopathic medicine, because our NDs are trained to do primary care. Currently our NDs are doing basic bloodwork, allergy testing, stitch removal, wart treatment, IUD insertions, PAP exams, medication abortions, etc etc that in other circumstances would not be needed from us. But can we act as your GP? Your family doctor? This article will explain how we can support. 

Being trained to do primary care means we can, together with you, hold the big picture of your health. If you are seeing, say, a physiotherapist and a counsellor and rheumatologist as well, we can be the practitioner that holds the overview of all of these pieces. Because naturopathic medicine takes a broad view, we include and discuss all aspects of your mental, physical, and spiritual health. 

The scope of practice of an ND includes pharmaceutical prescribing as well holistic approaches such as lifestyle change & habit optimization, herbal medicine, dietary strategies, and more. This means we can refill your asthma or blood pressure meds, but also go in depth with you about the other more natural options to support your health. 

NDs can requisition labwork through Life Labs – this is the same lab work run by a regular medical doctor. And, labwork run by an ND is private pay. This can be an advantage, because we have more freedom to run more thorough or more preventative labs and do so oftentimes more expediently, however it can also be frustrating because through a GP (if you have one) this labwork is mostly covered under MSP.

Similarly, NDs can requisition private imaging – x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. However, NDs cannot refer to specialists. 

These are frequent questions we get at the clinic. SO many people locally don’t have a GP so often are looking to piece together their needed care with the other options available. Oftentimes this looks like seeing an ND for primary care and a practitioner with whom you can build a relationship with continuity and trust, and then utilize Telus Health or another online platform as a “walk-in clinic” to see an MD as needed to seek labwork, or a referral when your ND lets you know your concern is beyond their scope. 

An ND can go a LONG way in providing the primary care you need, and do so with a holistic approach to medicine.