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New Years is a natural time to reflect on the past as we walk through the threshold of a new year.
Best decision ever!
Now in January 2025, I am reflecting on the last few months of 2024 after starting my own dedicated Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) practice. I could not be happier. What a great decision to establish our own clinic where we can provide care the way we want to those suffering from debilitating anxiety and trauma. Our goal was to make high quality stellate ganglion block treatment more accessible and more affordable for as many as people as possible who are suffering from anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptoms.
We are absolutely achieving that goal! And this is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. What a bonus!
2024 moved so quickly!
We told our leasing agent in June that we wanted to see patients by August. She said, “Oh you have no idea. It takes a least 6 months to sign a lease on a commercial property.” A little shocked, but not one to shy away from a challenge. We said, “Really? Watch this.” We’ll be ready to go in half that time. In August we signed the lease with the goal of seeing patients as soon as possible, and took possession on September 3rd. By the end of the month, the entire clinic was refurbished, repainted, and reborn.
At the same time, we screened over 100 applicants over 3 days for the position of medical assistant. We interviewed about ten excellent applicants, and then hired Adewunmi. After intensive onboarding and training, she began the next day and has excelled as a valuable member our team since.
Alright, let’s go!
Location. Location. Location.
Step 1 for opening our practice last year was finding a clinic space to create a welcoming environment surrounded by the types of amenities that people appreciate when flying in from out of state. Bingo! We found Suite 200 at 2401 Brandermill Boulevard in Waugh Chapel-Gambrills. Waugh Chapel has a hotel, nice restaurants and shops, and is about a 20-minute Uber ride from BWI Airport. Location really does matter, especially when so many of our patients come from out of state and when driving is not advised for 6 hours after an SGB.
Recently, this location proved to be invaluable when the massive snowstorm on January 5th shut down most businesses and clinics across the mid-Atlantic states. Our clinic remained open. It was extremely important to us to care for our patients who arrived from seven different states for SGB treatment that week. So, we got a hotel room in Waugh Chapel the night before the storm knowing the roads wouldn’t be safe to get to work from our home. Owning my own practice allowed me the ability to remain open rather than cancel appointments for those who flew in from California, Texas, Florida and elsewhere. I would have felt horrible having to tell them that I could not see them and having them fly home untreated.
From seeing our first patient on October 7, 2024, things have not slowed down as we move from 2024 into 2025. Amazingly we filled our schedule quickly and without any dedicated marketing. This is a sign of just how many people are suffering out there. There is despair and loss of hope as many are seeking novel but safe, proven treatments to add to what they have already tried. I believe that many of my patients truly understand the complexity of their mental health conditions and question the oversimplification our medical system has employed to address complex diagnoses for so many. They know there are other treatment options that have not been fully adopted but that hold great hope for their healing. Stellate ganglion block is one of these—with 35 articles in the published literature that support its use in anxiety, PTSD, and TBI treatment alone.
People will travel for expert care.
Patients will travel for high quality care that is reasonably priced, especially when they know they will be treated with respect and not be rushed. They will seek care from someone who will not compromise care based on ridiculous insurance rules. Just since opening our clinic in October, our patients have traveled from many states and from great distances away such as Alberta, Canada. Many have come from as far away as California, Texas, and Florida and as close as Baltimore and Washington D.C. The top 10 states our patients came from last year were: Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Florida, North Carolina, Delaware, and New York.
We treat a diverse mix of patients with backgrounds as first responders, business professionals, clinicians, college students, lawyers, CEOs, retirees, full-time parents… all across the board. The mean age of our SGB patients was 42 years old; however, we treated people across a span of almost 60 years with my youngest patient being 17 and the oldest age 74 last year. Anxiety and PTSD do not discriminate. And we continue to treat younger and younger patients as the mental health of our society worsens with the challenges of our contemporary world.
So, 2025 is underway, and we are more energized than ever before to make a difference!
Calm the body. Calm the mind.
