WELCOME! I am honored that you have chosen me to help in your search for optimum health. This is your New Patient Information Packet. Please read, fill out and sign the attached forms and fax, mail or drop off this packet at least 24 hours prior to your appointment. This allows me and my staff to use your appointment time most efficiently. Bring any prior lab work, supplements, and medicine to your appointment. If you wish to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please notify our office 24 hours or more before your appointment. We charge a fee of one-half of the cost of the visit for missed appointments if less than 24 hours notice is given. It is our office policy to confirm appointments by phone one to two business days before your appointment. If you have an answering machine or voice mail, a message will be left. Many of my patients are sensitive to environmental substances, therefore we ask all patients to refrain from wearing strongly scented hair sprays, colognes, perfumes, aftershaves, etc. on the days you are here. If you have any questions please call our office. I look forward to meeting you!
TRAINING: The path of life is different for everyone and we are not all created the same. We all have different strengths and weaknesses; some of us are blessed with fantastic genes that have enabled us to live each day to the fullest and some of us have had less than optimal foundations from which to draw our existence. But, we all do age and as we walk along this path, our experiences vary. For me, my daughter went to my husband distraught because my demeanor had hanged from loving “Mom” to a cold and distant “Mom”. It’s often the people around us that recognize the change in us before we do. Fortunately, we have encouraged openness in our family and this event ignited the flame for me to seek alternatives for the inevitable process of aging.
My nursing career has taken me from labor/delivery at Valley Community and Brownsville Hospitals, newborn nursery to Lamaze instructor and Regional Director. As my family demands grew, my career took a shift to school nursing which was incredibly insightful. Brownsville bordered on Mexico and I was the emergency nurse for 35,000 students from elementary to high school. The range of health problems and family circumstances opened my eyes to the different cultures and life styles within that area. We moved away from the violence of Mexico and chose to be closer to help my terminally ill father. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this move didn’t allow me to continue within my previous experience and my path changed towards the aging and elderly population. Grass Valley is known as a retirement community and it is the beginning of my career in long-term care/skilled nursing of 20+ years, leaving for my NP education and coming back as Director of Nurses to this 175 bed-privately owned skilled facility. As Director of Nurses, it was my charge to assess and monitor the care for hundreds of patients. It is here that health and the current approaches towards “graceful” aging illuminated my eyes. Taking 20 meds per day and continuing to deteriorate, seeing gifted individuals fade away, isn’t the right solution. The elderly fascinat me, they have such insight and wisdom. Most younger generations turn their heads not to see, should the older people come their way. After my daughter’s shocking revelation about my change, I began my quest to alleviate and enhance the aging process for myself and others.
UCLA Medical Center’s NP Program was my choice to advance my education and focus on the mature woman. I was asked to note what I hoped to do with my NP, if accepted, and my response was to focus on “the forgotten woman”, because that is how many women feel as they step away from their child bearing and professionally productive years. My preceptor, Brian Retherford, MD, was an icon of a man with the most fantastic bedside manner. His patients looked forward to coming to our office for their care. He guided me into my professional life as an NP.
Men and women all experience changes sometime in their lives. Support should be provided to shore up areas of need as they arise. Fortunately for us, there are current studies that have enabled practitioners to provide this type of care through evidence based medicine. I have been providing this care for 10+ years and travelled the path myself for 20.
Fort Collins is a beautiful place and provides the opportunities to reach out to adults. I’ve recently left a rural clinic in the northern California foothills. My patients ranged from teenagers to 60-80 year old’s. This was one of the few clinics available to people that had no health coverage. I was the only nurse practitioner on site and my patient load was considerable ranging from 18-35 on any one day. Colorado is one of many states that gives nurse practitioners full practice abilities. My license includes DEA and prescriptive authority in addition to my NP. This allows me to fulfill the level of care I have sought to provide.
SERVICES: Naturopathic Medicine is a branch of the healing arts distinct from other branches. Our services include the prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of injuries, diseases, and conditions through education, nutrition, naturopathic preparations, natural medicines, physical medicine, physical agents, and other therapies and modalities designed to support the body’s natural healing processes. Our Naturopathic Doctors (ND) are registered under the Colorado Naturopathic Doctor Act. They are not Medical Doctors (MD), Doctors of Osteopathy (DO), Doctors of Chiropractic (DC), or Doctors of Nursing (DNP) who are licensed under separate practice acts. As Naturopathic Doctors in Colorado, we do not prescribe, dispense, administer, or inject controlled substances (including general or spinal anesthetics) or practice medicine (including performing surgery, obstetrics, or administering ionizing radiation therapy). The only adjustments, manipulations, and mobilizations we perform are naturopathic manual therapies. We cannot recommend against a course of care recommended or prescribed by a licensed provider in another branch of the healing arts. Our office does not provide naturopathic treatment to children less than two years old. Colorado law requires that we suggest our pediatric patients follow the CDC immunization schedule (copy attached) and have a relationship with a licensed pediatric health care provider, however, myself and many other holistic practitioners do not suggest vaccinations be given to children. The scope of Chinese Medicine includes: acupuncture, needling and injections, Chinese herbs, (bulk teas, fluid extracts and patent formulas), moxibustion, and gua sha. Dr. Kelley may utilize one or a combination of the above listed therapies in working with clients and has trained extensively in combining therapies to meet the health needs of the client.
ALTERNATIVES AND COLLABORATION: Alternatives to Naturopathic Medicine include declining such care and consulting with others such as an MD, DO, DC, or DNP. Naturopathic Medicine is not a substitute for other types of health care and we encourage you to seek second opinions, have a relationship with an MD or DO, to communicate with all your providers about the care recommended in our office, and to authorize us to attempt to collaborate with your other providers. If applicable, please identify the provider with whom we should attempt to collaborate: