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New Kid on the Block: Riverside Natural Health Center

11.03.2014 By: Eliza, MiniBury Founder

Remember when we mentioned the kid-friendly grand opening party of Riverside Natural Health Center? The event was a great success and today we’re doing a follow-up article to showcase all their health services. Be sure to click through and learn more about their office and how their providers can care for your family. Take it away Riverside!

Riverside Natural Health Center: Naturopathy, Acupuncture, Midwifery, Massage

“Team-Supported Natural Health Care”

At RNHC we blend proven traditional techniques with modern science and technologies to provide the best health outcomes for our patients and clients. We are four licensed health professionals offering specialized care for both families and individuals. We each have many years of experience treating acute and chronic conditions as well as providing preventive care. Individually, and in collaboration with each other, we are committed to optimal health and healing.    

How is RNHC different from more conventional health centers? 

The most unique aspect of our services is the range of options we provide to families. Dr. Perch, our Naturopathic Physician, provides comprehensive primary care for the whole family. Chenoa Hamilton, our Midwife, provides complete pre and post natal care for mothers and babies. Nieve Shere, our acupuncturist, services all ages ad works closely with Chenoa to support women in pregnancy and birth. Stephanie Power, provides massage for all members of the community including prenatal and post-natal massage.

At RNHC we believe in a fully integrative approach to healthcare for individuals and families. This means that we value all paths to wellness. We prioritize natural medicine but are also trained and qualified to integrate our natural approaches with more modern interventions, including lab diagnostics and pharmaceutical prescriptions, when indicated. Our Licensed Naturopathic Physician, Dr. Matthew Perchemlides, provides primary care as well as specialized care. We are also open to collaboration between RNHC and our patients’ current medical providers.

Team-supported healthcare is another unique benefit we provide to families in the community. Even patients who choose to see just one of our practitioners benefits from our collective wisdom, as we consult one another on patient cases (with a patient’s permission) to provide the most complete diagnostics and treatment.

Inherent in the natural approach to healthcare is a lighthearted healing energy that allows all family members to feel comfortable and safe in our offices and under our care.

Primary Care, Nutrition, and Chronic Conditions

Our Naturopathic Physician can provide general primary care or specialized services. Dr. Matthew Perchemlides (“Dr. Perch”) was also a registered nurse who worked on the pediatric and NICU floors of two nationally-recognized hospitals. In addition to his Naturopathic training, Dr. Perch has a Masters degree in nutrition as well as advanced training in oncology and specialized training in pediatric vaccinations, endocrinology, and chronic disease. This makes him uniquely qualified to provide families with services such as individualized vaccination consultations, food allergy testing and treatment, natural hormone regulation, as well as medical and nutritional counseling for expecting and postpartum mothers and their children.

Dr. Perch devotes himself to “turning over every stone” in his efforts to empower his patients to achieve their best possible wellness outcomes. To this end, he is dedicated to evidence-based natural medicine, collaboration with other healthcare professionals, and patient education. Along with their treatment plans, it’s not unusual to see patients leaving Dr. Perch’s office with copies of research articles substantiating his recommendations. His goal is to provide his patients with the most accurate diagnostics and the most natural and powerful treatment options available.

But Dr. Perch also understands the power of warmth, compassion, empathy, and spirituality in healing. As a hospital nurse, his gentle and reassuring bedside manner was at least as important as his medical skills. As a child who lost his father to cancer, Dr. Perch understands firsthand that emotional and spiritual support do at least as much for healing as medical treatment. And as a son raised by a single mother, and now a husband and father himself, Dr. Perch can relate to children and their parents on a uniquely personal level. His patients have said that Dr. Perch has a gift for making children and their families feel confident, comfortable, and cared for.

Midwifery, Prenatal, and Neonatal Care

Chenoa Hamilton is well known in Addison County and the surrounding areas for her holistic pre- and post-natal care. Chenoa provides complete midwifery services, including home birth, water birth, VBAC, lab work, newborn exams and screenings, as well as lactation consulting, childbirth education, and newborn education. For expecting mothers already working with a birth professional, Chenoa provides knowledgeable and compassionate doula support.

Chenoa has been dedicated to holistic birth and family care since 1997, when she started attending births. She also has specialized training in water births and lactation. Both her midwifery and EMT training allow Chenoa to knowledgeably and confidently integrate modern medicine and technology into her practice when indicated. 

Most notably, having attended so many births in our community, Chenoa is well-known and well-loved for her caring, strength, wisdom, gentle guiding presence, and complete dedication to her patients and clients.

Family Acupuncture

Nieve Shere, our acupuncturist, has worked collaboratively with Chenoa Hamilton, her twin sister, to support women in pregnancy and birth. As a sister team, they have spearheaded the founding of RNHC and now Nieve continues to make acupuncture services available to all RNHC patients. In addition to her training in three styles of acupuncture, Nieve is an ethnobotanist and a trained doula. Her diverse education and experience gives Nieve a specialized understanding of the particular needs of pregnancy and childbirth. Through her training and experience, Nieve has created signature treatment protocols to help women achieve fertility and healthy pregnancy and delivery outcomes.

“RNHC has a unique perspective on families. Starting with a holistic model of care, we emphasize that optimal health and wellness begin before conception and continue throughout pregnancy and birth. A healthy beginning can lead to a healthy long life,” says Nieve.

Nieve makes pediatric acupuncture practices available to children when indicated. For children, her emphasis is “simplicity, gentleness, effectiveness.” Her techniques include cupping, gua aha, acupressure, dietary wellness and lifestyle counseling, all of which are excellent for any age. For children under 10, Nieve uses acupressure (instead of acupuncture), cups, and a technique called sho-ni-shin, which is a specialized form of treatment for infants and children that became renowned in the 1700s and is still used regularly in Japan.

“Children’s bio-energetic systems are not fully formed and, being at the most “yang” phase of their existence, their energy (Qi) moves extremely rapidly. Consequently, children’s systems can be easily over stimulated, and health problems can quickly progress.”

For children, Nieve’s approach focuses on gentle, specialized, mostly non-inserted treatment techniques, which may involve rhythmic stroking, rubbing, tapping, and pressing the skin to give different kinds of gentle stimulation. These techniques harmonize and fortify the child’s vital energy, and strengthen the child’s constitution. Offered in the presence of the parent, these treatments are comforting and even soothing to children. Dramatic results can be obtained even with very light treatment. Treatments for children are very brief: a typical treatment lasts only one to five minutes, and the older the child, the longer the treatment. It’s particularly important that the practitioner develops a touch and a heart that a child responds to!

Massage, Prenatal Massage, and Post-Natal Massage

RNHC’s massage therapist, Stephanie Powers, rounds out the collaborative’s health and wellness offerings. Stephanie takes pride in creating an atmosphere that supports the body’s natural ability for healing, relaxing, and rejuvenation. She believes in attention to detail, awareness of her clients’ individual physiology, and creating a true benefit in the lives of all whom she serves.

For expecting mothers, Stephanie offers a signature prenatal massage, nurturing mother and child. One unique service Stephanie has offered new mothers is a “Mommy and Me” option, during which mothers of newborns can time their massages with their infant’s nap and have the sleeping infant accompany her in a carseat or stroller while she receives a massage.

Stephanie’s treatments enable clients to let go fully, turn inward, and be present, allowing them to enjoy a meditative state during treatment. This restorative state is especially important to expecting and new mothers. As a mother herself, Stephanie has an understanding of the intense physical and emotional demands of motherhood and can therefore better meet the unique physical needs of pregnant and new mothers.

What is your vision for RNHC’s future?

We have made a special effort to select a beautiful and convenient location as RNHC’s home because we hope to be more than a health center. Located in the Star Mill, RNHC is easily accessible by car, bicycle, bus, or on foot. Our waiting area is bright, spacious, and beautifully decorated, as are our consulting offices and treatment rooms. Otter Creek can be seen and heard from our reception area and treatment rooms, providing a soothing natural atmosphere. The beauty, size, and location of our space make it ideal to offer health-centered community gatherings, classes, and lecture series. Our vision for RNHC is ultimately that our center will become a family and community resource for wellness education and empowerment.

How do I reach RNHC’s practitioners.

Each practitioner has an individual website and contact information, but can most efficiently be reached by calling the center’s reception desk at 802-989-7669. RNHC is currently working on a unified website and social media pages that will provide the community with easier access to practitioners as well as health education.

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Eliza, MiniBury Founder

Hello, I’m Eliza. I founded MiniBury in 2012 because I had a hunch that I wasn't the only parent in Addison County missing fun family friendly events. I love the challenge of finding and sharing information about our community to other parents.

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Vergennes Parent/Child Playgroup @ Vergennes Congregational Church
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7:00 pm Mount Abe Presents ‘Mean Girls’ @ Mount Abraham Union High School
Mount Abe Presents ‘Mean Girls’ @ Mount Abraham Union High School
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7:00 pm Mount Abe Presents ‘Mean Girls’ @ Mount Abraham Union High School
Mount Abe Presents ‘Mean Girls’ @ Mount Abraham Union High School
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Actors from Mount Abraham Union High School perform the musical version of the classic Lindsay Lohan movie.
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