From the desk Dr. Dandy July 2018

Three moves in three years and a trip to Rexburg every month; we have been busy at the Healing Hut with many exciting things since the day we opened. This blog, via request, is a short stroll down the history of the Healing Hut. It all started when I graduated from NUNM in Portland, Oregon in 2015, and I was tired and missing my family, so we decided to move home. I slept through the whole month of July as I recovered from 5 grueling years of medical school.

As chance would have it, my husband, Tyler, wanted to go to a health class being taught by one of our dear friends, I was tired and exhausted and opted to stay in the car. He had been in the class for almost 20 minutes when a sprite young man came outside and looked as if he was searching for something. He then went back into the building to later appear with my husband at his side. Tyler came up to our car and introduced the young man to me as another Naturopathic doctor who had also just graduated, but from the school in Arizona. When I got out of the car, to my surprise, as I went to reach out my hand to meet him, he engulfed me in a huge hug which strangely made me burst into tears.

The gentleman was Dr. Brett Butterfield and for some reason being in the presence of a colleague and having such love offered my way was so touching to me at that time. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I had not started anything and was needing to maybe start setting up my practice. He replied that he had a room in his brand new clinic, so we headed over to look at it. To make a long story short, we immediately became friends; I signed a lease and started to see patients within a few weeks.

I rented a room that was no bigger than a large bathroom, I asked my dad to give me a small business loan so I could order some herbs, I started to reach out to family and friends who might need some health guidance. At first I was seeing 3 patients a week and I was thrilled. I was so excited to start "practicing" medicine.

MY FIRST PRACTICE ROOM

MY FIRST MEDICINARY

I hired my mom to help me at the front desk because soon I was seeing three patients a day. I soon found that making herbs, seeing patients, rescheduling patients, checking out patients was all too much. The great thing was working with my mom. The worst thing was, to date, with over 14 employees now, my mom still holds the title of the worst employee. It is a fun joke, but the truth (love you mom).

I had been in this space for around six months, and I was starting to see about 20 patients a week. I knew I was going to need something larger soon. As fate would have it, one day I was driving and saw someone putting a sign up in front of what used to be the Pacific Railroad office. I thought I could never afford a place like that to buy, but an hour later when I drove by again, the sign that was hung did not say for sale, but rather for lease. So I called right away and asked for the cost and a tour. When I found out the rent and the deposit, it was every last penny I had in my bank account. I did not care; this was where the Healing Hut came to life.

My folks scraping my name off the door my last day at our first location

We had not decided on a name yet, but the front of the building had a hut like appearance. One night Tyler and I were brainstorming names, and he just blurted out the healing hut and it held. Next thing I needed was a logo, so I went to fivver.com and paid $5. The first logo they sent over I loved. The clinic had 4 rooms and a waiting room we converted into an IV therapy lounge and community acupuncture.

We got the keys and at first we rented some rooms to other practitioners. After 6 months of that, I knew moving forward that we needed to be more of a team unit in patient care, and so I hired on everyone else instead of contract agreements.

I hired a front desk receptionist for 10 hours a week to help out which eventually turned into 40 hours. I also sent her to phlebotomy school so we could do onsite blood draws. We started small, but soon I was seeing 30-40 patients a week. We needed more help and I then hired an RN which proved to be great to have another health care provider who was passionate about natural health. We grew from me and the front desk receptionist to 10 employees over the two years that we were in this space, and boy did two years fly.

Then again, I knew it was time that we were going to have to move. I was, of course, nervous and worried about where to go. One of my patients referred me to a commercial real estate agent and she took me into a space that had been a medical practice but had sat for 3 years. From the minute I walked into that building, I knew that I was in the new home of The Healing Hut. I said to her, "I could not even have had an architect design this place more perfect for what we are looking for."

We have moved over into our new home, and I am excited that we are not going to have to move hopefully ever again. We have gone from a 12ft by 16ft room, to 1200 square feet to 3200 square feet. The growth of our clinic is so humbling. Every day I just pray that I learn more and can research more, know more and have more tools to help all of our patients to go from surviving their lives to thriving their lives.

Our current medicinary

The waiting room of our new location

Side note: there will never be enough words for me to thank my staff for the amazing things that they do every day for our patients and the amazing ways that they support me and each other. I don't know what I did right in my life to have the talent that we have found at The Healing Hut.