Dr. Michel Moreau, a seasoned practitioner of osteopathic, functional, and naturopathic medicine, shares the captivating journey that brought him from France to Virginia Beach. Discover how he strategically chose the ideal location for his new integrative medicine practice using cutting-edge AI technology, ensuring its success in a vibrant community. Tune in to hear about his unique approach to holistic healthcare, where traditional methods seamlessly blend with alternative practices to cater to patients of all ages. His deep-rooted passion for osteopathic medicine shines through as he elaborates on its hands-on benefits, especially for those who prefer non-pharmacological interventions.
Beyond the clinic walls, Dr. Moreau finds joy and rejuvenation in Virginia Beach's natural beauty, embracing outdoor activities like kayaking and biking. With the picturesque coast as his backdrop, he balances his professional dedication with personal leisure pursuits. This episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, Virginia Beach, promises a rich exploration of how personal passion and professional expertise come together in a thriving medical practice, contributing to a healthier, happier community. Join Denise Taylor and Dr. Moreau for an inspiring conversation that reveals the heart and soul of integrative medicine right in the heart of Virginia Beach.
Integrative Medicine
Dr. Michel Moreau
1004 First Colonial Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
intergrativemedicinevb.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Denise Taylor.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, welcome to Good Neighbors Podcast, Virginia
Beach.
This is Denise Taylor.
I am here today with Dr MichelMoreau from Integrative Medicine
here in Virginia Beach.
Welcome, Dr Moreau, to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good morning Denise.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good morning, I'm good.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Tell us a little bit about yourlocal business here in Virginia
Beach.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Right.
So this is a new office.
We've been here for about acouple of months, open for a
month, and this is integrativemedicine, combining general
practice or family medicine withosteopathic medicine and also
functional and naturopathicmedicine.
So that's a lot of medicine.
It's about three specialties inone.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Tell me a little bit about your background.
I know you just moved here.
Tell us a little bit about whyyou chose Virginia Beach.
I think that's such aninteresting story.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Right, so I'm originally from France and I
trained as an osteopath inEngland, then I retrained as a
medical doctor between Englandand the US and then I also
trained as a naturopathicphysician and I was for many
years I was in Vermont.
Then we moved to NorthernVirginia, always in integrative
(01:40):
medicine, and we decided toexplore the south of the state
and we fell in love withVirginia Beach and we decided to
open up a practice Very simple.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
When I first met with you, you said something about
using some new technology toactually pick the space that
you're actually located in.
Can you share a little moreabout that?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
The space itself.
Oh, we explored different areasof Virginia Beach and we had to
do a business plan, so welooked at the socioeconomic
aspects of Virginia Beach andFirst Colonial Road,
specifically by the hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I love that, and you used actually some AI to help
with some of that not being partof the area that's right.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Like many other people, we try to use AI to gain
time and also to get morespecifics, more details.
It usually takes so long to puta proper business plan together
.
Ai was very useful in thematter, very useful.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
We're glad that you're here.
Tell us why osteopathy is soimportant to you.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Right.
So, as I said, I trained inEngland, so it's a bit different
from the US.
It's a very hands-on technique,very applied and it's a very
nice way to have a great contactwith a patient.
For those who cannot takemedications, it's perfect.
For those who have takemedications, it's perfect for
those who have chronic painissues.
(03:25):
It's also very important to beable to deliver therapy in a
gentle fashion, so there arevery little contraindications
with with properly appliedosteopathic technique.
It can go from kids to pregnantwomen to elderly, so it's a
(03:49):
very easy way to treat people.
And, I said, it can be combinedwith other modalities of
treatment, such as injection ormedications, depending.
But osteopathic medicine is anold-fashioned way to treat
people, so people love itusually.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think we're seeing a trend in coming back to those
ways of treating people.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
What do you do outside of your business?
I know you're passionate aboutwhat you do and treating
patients.
What do you like to do outsideof the business for fun?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
For fun, so we have limited amount of time at this
right now.
Kayaking is great, biking isgreat, walking hiking there's so
much to do in Virginia Beach aswell.
Just walking by the beach iswonderful.
Weather is quite nice comparedto the Northeast, so there are
(04:54):
very just some limitations toall the things you can do here,
so there's plenty to do outside.
(05:26):
I feel very lucky that we are inbusiness owners as they're
building their business is key,because you want to implant your
business in a location that isgoing to be conducive to you
know doing good business.
People have to be able to reachyou, depending on what you do.
You need a good, good economicenvironment, so the logistics is
(05:49):
very important.
You need a good parking space.
You need good roads to accessyour practice.
Whatever you do and I meanwe're lucky we have the hospital
next door.
It's not by chance.
It was a decision in our case,just to make sure for safety If
something happens, we have thehospital next door.
For other businesses, I wouldsay definitely contact your bank
(06:14):
, contact the SBA.
They have plenty of resourcesallocated to entrepreneurs.
It's very, very important tosit down and do the job when it
comes to the business plan,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
What do you think would be one misconception about
your particular sort ofpractice?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So I think the, especially in this, in this area
, medical practice is veryconventional overall, pretty
much dictated by the medicalinsurance business, insurance
(06:58):
business, what we do inintegrative medicine, especially
when this is a boutique cashpractice we don't take insurance
, so we have more freedom ofmovement.
We can do a little more thanconventional practitioners.
So I think people may have alittle misconception when it
comes to the services we may beable to deliver.
(07:18):
We have more time for ourpatients compared to
conventional medicine and wehave more tools to treat people.
So there again you haveconcierge practice, boutique
practice like our office, but wehave more to give to patients.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I think you hear that a lot patients and people who
are frustrated with that kind offeeling that they're kind of
being pushed through the systemwithout being heard and we know
that that is really based on thepressure from the physician to
see enough patients in a daytime.
And I think that's what yourpractice is going to be able to
(08:02):
offer is more of that one-on-oneexperience, really getting to
listen to the patient and do youwant to share a little bit more
about?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
you know, yes, I I mean compared to the
conventional system.
I mean usually, if you're in,you work for the hospital or for
a large practice, you limityourself to maybe 15 minutes max
per patient.
You discuss one problem whenpeople do come with more than
(08:32):
one problem.
So it's uh, it's very difficultto for a patient to just limit
the, the, the complaint, to asimple headache when there is
neck pain associated to it.
So, uh, this is what we we ableto offer more time, more
dedication to the uh, to thepatient, care and, as I said,
(08:53):
more uh, more differentmodalities of treatment that
they don't have access tousually the conventional field.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I love looking at the comprehensive, the view of the
human you know, how it's allworking together, rather than
one complaint, um, because itcould be so many other things
that are really attributing towhatever.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Whatever is happening , that's right, and also one
thing to mention is the physicalexamination is very important.
This is very old-fashioned andyet this is this is crucial for
crucial.
To do a good treatment, gooddiagnosis and treatment, you
need to be able to examine yourpatient properly.
So you need time and thereagain, this is hands-on.
(09:39):
You need to listen to the heart, you need to look at the joints
, look at the skin.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
All this takes time and you may not get this in a
conventional system that muchand you may not get this in a
conventional system that much,so we're talking about 15
minutes in a traditional office.
Can you share what a patientwould expect as if they come
into your office and have theirfirst exam Typically?
What does you know the time andwhat kind of procedures happen
(10:06):
in that first visit?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Right, so the first appointment is at least an hour.
This is the time I need toquestion the patients and then
to do a proper physical and thenI always try to start the
treatment.
Especially if this is physicaltreatment or someone who is in
pain, I'm always going to trysomething to alleviate the pain.
(10:30):
So this this takes uh 60 to 90minutes for the first session
and then, depending, thefollowing sessions are usually
around 30 minutes, depending onwhat, what is needed, we take
the time um.
(10:55):
You know we're talking prettybroad, but typically, who is
coming to see you?
Well, it's a very wide varietyof patients.
It's not just the people youthink would have enough income
to pay service cash.
It's absolutely everyone.
When people cannot find theanswer to their questions out
(11:17):
there, they will come and seeyou.
They will try because they'redesperate for solutions.
So it's absolutely everyone.
You would be surprised,actually.
Who comes to the practice,which is nice, which is nice,
and we try to keep the feesmoderate enough so people can
have access to us you know, andthey say that, that if you don't
(11:39):
have your health, you don'thave anything.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So it's that's right, that's right you can't really
put a price tag on uh.
I worked with a scientist ateastern virginia medical school
and she's she would always everytime she presented.
She would always every time shepresented, and I was always in
a lot of her presentations withdonors she would talk about
Steve Jobs.
All the money in the world didnot save him from pancreatic
health.
(12:01):
When we're trying to get answers.
It's nice to have people likeyou in a community that we can
come and and hopefully get someof those answers, when in the
regular health system that wehave right now it's sometimes
very difficult to kind of lookat the entire approach and get
some of those answers right.
How can our listeners learnmore.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's pretty, pretty easy and convenient.
You can go online, of course,and look at
integrativemedicinevbcom.
You can come to 1004 FirstColonial Road.
There will be someone at thepractice.
So I do a lot of the virtualconsults as well.
So sometimes I'm not availableto be at the door, but I mean,
(12:44):
this is pretty easy to get usand there are brochures outside
the practice for people to knowa little more about us.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And what are your typical hours at the practice?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
So I would say typically 9 to 5.
We're going to open on Saturday8 to 2, like I used to before.
This is flexible.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
At the moment Some people have to come a little
late in the evening, okay, soyou're flexible to that and
getting the practice up andrunning here in Virginia Beach,
that's right, we are so excitedto have you here.
Have your expertise here in ourcommunity.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And we appreciate you being on the show today.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Thank you, Denise.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Thank you Again.
It is integrativemedicinevb.
com, as in virginiabeachcom.
Thank you so much, dr Moreau
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Thank you, Denise.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpvirginiabeach.
com.
That's gnpvirginiabeach.
com, no-transcript.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Denise Taylor.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, welcome to Good Neighbors Podcast, Virginia
Beach.
This is Denise Taylor.
I am here today with Dr MichelMoreau from Integrative Medicine
here in Virginia Beach.
Welcome, Dr Moreau, to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good morning Denise.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good morning, I'm good.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Tell us a little bit about yourlocal business here in Virginia
Beach.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Right.
So this is a new office.
We've been here for about acouple of months, open for a
month, and this is integrativemedicine, combining general
practice or family medicine withosteopathic medicine and also
functional and naturopathicmedicine.
So that's a lot of medicine.
It's about three specialties inone.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Tell me a little bit about your background.
I know you just moved here.
Tell us a little bit about whyyou chose Virginia Beach.
I think that's such aninteresting story.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Right, so I'm originally from France and I
trained as an osteopath inEngland, then I retrained as a
medical doctor between Englandand the US and then I also
trained as a naturopathicphysician and I was for many
years I was in Vermont.
Then we moved to NorthernVirginia, always in integrative
(01:40):
medicine, and we decided toexplore the south of the state
and we fell in love withVirginia Beach and we decided to
open up a practice Very simple.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
When I first met with you, you said something about
using some new technology toactually pick the space that
you're actually located in.
Can you share a little moreabout that?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
The space itself.
Oh, we explored different areasof Virginia Beach and we had to
do a business plan, so welooked at the socioeconomic
aspects of Virginia Beach andFirst Colonial Road,
specifically by the hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I love that, and you used actually some AI to help
with some of that not being partof the area that's right.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Like many other people, we try to use AI to gain
time and also to get morespecifics, more details.
It usually takes so long to puta proper business plan together
.
Ai was very useful in thematter, very useful.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
We're glad that you're here.
Tell us why osteopathy is soimportant to you.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Right.
So, as I said, I trained inEngland, so it's a bit different
from the US.
It's a very hands-on technique,very applied and it's a very
nice way to have a great contactwith a patient.
For those who cannot takemedications, it's perfect.
For those who have takemedications, it's perfect for
those who have chronic painissues.
(03:25):
It's also very important to beable to deliver therapy in a
gentle fashion, so there arevery little contraindications
with with properly appliedosteopathic technique.
It can go from kids to pregnantwomen to elderly, so it's a
(03:49):
very easy way to treat people.
And, I said, it can be combinedwith other modalities of
treatment, such as injection ormedications, depending.
But osteopathic medicine is anold-fashioned way to treat
people, so people love itusually.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think we're seeing a trend in coming back to those
ways of treating people.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
What do you do outside of your business?
I know you're passionate aboutwhat you do and treating
patients.
What do you like to do outsideof the business for fun?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
For fun, so we have limited amount of time at this
right now.
Kayaking is great, biking isgreat, walking hiking there's so
much to do in Virginia Beach aswell.
Just walking by the beach iswonderful.
Weather is quite nice comparedto the Northeast, so there are
(04:54):
very just some limitations toall the things you can do here,
so there's plenty to do outside.
(05:26):
I feel very lucky that we are inbusiness owners as they're
building their business is key,because you want to implant your
business in a location that isgoing to be conducive to you
know doing good business.
People have to be able to reachyou, depending on what you do.
You need a good, good economicenvironment, so the logistics is
(05:49):
very important.
You need a good parking space.
You need good roads to accessyour practice.
Whatever you do and I meanwe're lucky we have the hospital
next door.
It's not by chance.
It was a decision in our case,just to make sure for safety If
something happens, we have thehospital next door.
For other businesses, I wouldsay definitely contact your bank
(06:14):
, contact the SBA.
They have plenty of resourcesallocated to entrepreneurs.
It's very, very important tosit down and do the job when it
comes to the business plan,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
What do you think would be one misconception about
your particular sort ofpractice?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So I think the, especially in this, in this area
, medical practice is veryconventional overall, pretty
much dictated by the medicalinsurance business, insurance
(06:58):
business, what we do inintegrative medicine, especially
when this is a boutique cashpractice we don't take insurance
, so we have more freedom ofmovement.
We can do a little more thanconventional practitioners.
So I think people may have alittle misconception when it
comes to the services we may beable to deliver.
(07:18):
We have more time for ourpatients compared to
conventional medicine and wehave more tools to treat people.
So there again you haveconcierge practice, boutique
practice like our office, but wehave more to give to patients.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I think you hear that a lot patients and people who
are frustrated with that kind offeeling that they're kind of
being pushed through the systemwithout being heard and we know
that that is really based on thepressure from the physician to
see enough patients in a daytime.
And I think that's what yourpractice is going to be able to
(08:02):
offer is more of that one-on-oneexperience, really getting to
listen to the patient and do youwant to share a little bit more
about?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
you know, yes, I I mean compared to the
conventional system.
I mean usually, if you're in,you work for the hospital or for
a large practice, you limityourself to maybe 15 minutes max
per patient.
You discuss one problem whenpeople do come with more than
(08:32):
one problem.
So it's uh, it's very difficultto for a patient to just limit
the, the, the complaint, to asimple headache when there is
neck pain associated to it.
So, uh, this is what we we ableto offer more time, more
dedication to the uh, to thepatient, care and, as I said,
(08:53):
more uh, more differentmodalities of treatment that
they don't have access tousually the conventional field.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I love looking at the comprehensive, the view of the
human you know, how it's allworking together, rather than
one complaint, um, because itcould be so many other things
that are really attributing towhatever.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Whatever is happening , that's right, and also one
thing to mention is the physicalexamination is very important.
This is very old-fashioned andyet this is this is crucial for
crucial.
To do a good treatment, gooddiagnosis and treatment, you
need to be able to examine yourpatient properly.
So you need time and thereagain, this is hands-on.
(09:39):
You need to listen to the heart, you need to look at the joints
, look at the skin.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
All this takes time and you may not get this in a
conventional system that muchand you may not get this in a
conventional system that much,so we're talking about 15
minutes in a traditional office.
Can you share what a patientwould expect as if they come
into your office and have theirfirst exam Typically?
What does you know the time andwhat kind of procedures happen
(10:06):
in that first visit?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Right, so the first appointment is at least an hour.
This is the time I need toquestion the patients and then
to do a proper physical and thenI always try to start the
treatment.
Especially if this is physicaltreatment or someone who is in
pain, I'm always going to trysomething to alleviate the pain.
(10:30):
So this this takes uh 60 to 90minutes for the first session
and then, depending, thefollowing sessions are usually
around 30 minutes, depending onwhat, what is needed, we take
the time um.
(10:55):
You know we're talking prettybroad, but typically, who is
coming to see you?
Well, it's a very wide varietyof patients.
It's not just the people youthink would have enough income
to pay service cash.
It's absolutely everyone.
When people cannot find theanswer to their questions out
(11:17):
there, they will come and seeyou.
They will try because they'redesperate for solutions.
So it's absolutely everyone.
You would be surprised,actually.
Who comes to the practice,which is nice, which is nice,
and we try to keep the feesmoderate enough so people can
have access to us you know, andthey say that, that if you don't
(11:39):
have your health, you don'thave anything.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So it's that's right, that's right you can't really
put a price tag on uh.
I worked with a scientist ateastern virginia medical school
and she's she would always everytime she presented.
She would always every time shepresented, and I was always in
a lot of her presentations withdonors she would talk about
Steve Jobs.
All the money in the world didnot save him from pancreatic
health.
(12:01):
When we're trying to get answers.
It's nice to have people likeyou in a community that we can
come and and hopefully get someof those answers, when in the
regular health system that wehave right now it's sometimes
very difficult to kind of lookat the entire approach and get
some of those answers right.
How can our listeners learnmore.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's pretty, pretty easy and convenient.
You can go online, of course,and look at
integrativemedicinevbcom.
You can come to 1004 FirstColonial Road.
There will be someone at thepractice.
So I do a lot of the virtualconsults as well.
So sometimes I'm not availableto be at the door, but I mean,
(12:44):
this is pretty easy to get usand there are brochures outside
the practice for people to knowa little more about us.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And what are your typical hours at the practice?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
So I would say typically 9 to 5.
We're going to open on Saturday8 to 2, like I used to before.
This is flexible.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
At the moment Some people have to come a little
late in the evening, okay, soyou're flexible to that and
getting the practice up andrunning here in Virginia Beach,
that's right, we are so excitedto have you here.
Have your expertise here in ourcommunity.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And we appreciate you being on the show today.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Thank you, Denise.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Thank you Again.
It is integrativemedicinevb.
com, as in virginiabeachcom.
Thank you so much, dr Moreau
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Thank you, Denise.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpvirginiabeach.
com.
That's gnpvirginiabeach.
com, no-transcript.
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