Eps. #94: East Bay Health Family Medicine with Dr. Naomi Breckon, MD & Dr. Tracy Hu, MD with Kim Evans, Host.

Eps. #94 Welcome Guests, Dr. Naomi Breckon MD; (Co-Founder) Family Medicine Physician and Dr. Tracy Wu (Co-founder) Family Medicine Physicians to Inspired Conversations Podcast with Kim Evans, Host.

Dr. Naomi Breckon, MD and Dr. Tracy Wu both operate and manage a private family clinic along with partners Maha Hana, MD; Pediatrician and Cindy Gershen; Chef Activist. Their medical model is Direct Primary Care.

Our topic: Changing Healthcare with our non-profit direct primary care clinic model, featuring longer visits, direct communication with physicians, culinary medicine, holiday nutrition classes, newborn and mental postpartum group support.
 
Don't miss this exciting, knowledge-filled podcast! EAST Bay Medical Health Clinic will celebrate its one-year business anniversary on November 3, 2024, from 2-4 pm.

Let's give heartfelt congratulations on their successful first year of opening their medical practice in Lafayette, CA. www.eastbayhealthcare.org. East Bay Health is located 911 Moraga Road, Suite 101 in Lafayette, CA [phone]

Kim M. Evans, MA, LE, CMT
Beauty & Business Coach and Podcast Host!

Bit.ly/KMEPodcast
Bit.ly/KMEAmazon
Bit.ly/KMESpotify
_______________________

About Host, Kim Evans MA
Book a Complimentary Game Plan Strategy Call with Kim
Http://Calendly.com/KMECoaching/elevate

IG@KMECoaching and
IG@2Gorjiswellness

About Kim Evans, MA
http://www.kimMevans.com

http://www.kimgems.com
http://www.2Gorjis.com

*YouTube: Kim M. Evans
youtube.com/@kimgems

*Podcast (Audio & Video):
http://www.kimmevans.com/podcast

@Itunes:http://www.bit.ly/KMEPodcast
@Spotifyhttp://www.bit.ly/KMESpotify

Subscribe to Instagram
Instagram.com/KMECoaching
Instagram.com/Nutritionover40
Instagram.com/2Gorjiswellness

*2GORJIS Wellness Spa
www.2GORJIS.com

*Stay Connected:Text 2GORJISbiz to >>21000

Peace, Love & Joy
Kim Evans, MA, LE, CMT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, welcome everybody. This is Kim Evans and we are
on Inspired Conversations. I am very excited to be able
to introduce to you this wonderful new practice here in Lafayette.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's East Bay Health.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
And I have here as my lovely guest today Naomi
Bretton and also Tracy Who and they also have two
other partners, Mahahannah and Cindy Gersham. Welcome to Inspired Conversations
podcast ship.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you, thank you for having us.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, I'm very excited to introduce your practice here that's
located in Lafayette, California. And I hear that you're one
year now. You're getting ready to celebrate your one year anniversary.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Yes, and in fact, we're having our celebration on Sunday,
November three, between two and four.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's kind of open house style.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
We'll just have some appetizers, the clinic and the community
space we'll be open for touring, so people can just
drop by anytime during those two hours.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
So before I get into sharing the audience about your
practice and what you do, I have to just mention
how excited are you too that you have already now
about to accomplish one year in practice.

Speaker 5 (01:31):
We are so excited, and it was definitely a big
journey to get here, and we are very proud of
ourselves for how far we've come and the impact we've
already made in just a year.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Wow, I am so excited. Well, let's get right into it.
I'd like to introduce Tracy May. I start with doctor.
Tracy graduated from Williams College with a double major in
chemistry and studio art. She then worked for a startup
company in Los Angeles while completing training in a variety

(02:02):
of bodywork modalities. Afterwards, she went to University of Texas
Medical Branch and graduated in twenty twenty. Naomi graduated from
UCLA and then managed a surgery center for several years.
She was then accepted into the maternal and Child health

(02:23):
program at the Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. Wow impressive
for two years. Subsequently, she attended Tulane School of Medicine
and graduated in twenty twenty. Okay, now I want to know.
Tell the audience how did the two of you come

(02:43):
together as.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
A doctor team.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Share your story the short version.

Speaker 5 (02:49):
So, in the very exciting year of twenty twenty, when
everyone I think was a little well focused and concern globally.
We actually both started residency together in John Muir for
family medicine residency here in Walnut Creek and conquered and
so we actually were in the same residency class for
family medicine, and so we met for our post medical

(03:11):
school training and actually worked together for three years.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
YEP.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
An idea for this clinic was kind of the seed
for it was planted in our first year. I think
it was like three or four months into training that
we decided to start dreaming about this.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
That had to take a lot of courage, a lot
of boldness most doctors. Yet it's just something automatic. You
want to work for some of the top hospitals to
John Years, applaisirs and things of that nature. But very
rarely in this time are doctors coming out from medical
school or from their experience going straight into private practice.

(03:49):
Why do you think that is.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
So?

Speaker 5 (03:52):
I think they're looking at it from kind of a
bigger perspective. There's a lot of reasons. The first one
is the healthcare system in the United States and the
way that insurance, especially reimburse primary care doctors is very
low and it's actually even hard to get the overhead
without seeing twenty thirty patients a day in private practice,

(04:13):
not to mention all of the other expenses and complications
that go with it, and to be honest right now,
for primary care doctors and that's going to be your interness,
your pediatrician, family medicine doctors, all of those were not
trained in residency how to go into private practice. You're
trained to be physicians, to be plugged into big systems

(04:34):
like Kaiser, Sutter, JOm Yure, and to work within those systems.
So it takes a lot of extra work outside of
the training were already set up for to do that.
And then the reason that we decided to do that,
even given the challenges is I actually had to have
two small children, but had two very small children to
children in the beginning of residency in twenty twenty, and

(04:57):
I just very quickly knew it wasn't going to bring
me the fulfillment and joy in my career long term
seeing twenty to twenty five patient today. And I wanted
to be able to feel fulfilled both as a physician
and to feel like I was having enough time with
my patients.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
Yeah, and we both knew, I think even before we
met each other that eventually we wanted to go into
private practice and just have control of our own schedules
and time. But because of the way we were even
starting a medical school, we just had this idea like, oh,
we need to work for a big system for a
few years, get some resources, pay off some debt, and

(05:37):
then start our own thing. But we when we met
and started on this training journey, we quickly realized that
a few years, even just a few years in a
big system would probably kill our passion for doctoring. And
so at the time, I had known about a practice
model called direct primary care, and Naomi had always wanted
to work for an FQHC or a federally qualified healthcare center,

(06:01):
which is usually government funded and serving the underserved in
you know, areas throughout the US, And so I mentioned
this model, the direct primary care model, which we can
get into a little later. And then Naomi did a
little research and actually found a couple other clinics in
the northern California area that kind of combined kind of

(06:23):
the heart of service giving back to the underserved with this.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Direct primary care model.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
So that's kind of how we started dreaming, was we
found a couple places we thought hey, this might actually work,
and then started started from there.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I love that, and we could segue into your mission
statement actually changing healthcare with nonprofit direct primary care clinic model,
which we'll get into a little bit as saying as
having longer visits to direct communication with your physician, you
are also bringing in culinary medicine care for the under

(07:00):
or flow income, new born and breastfeeding support and after
school classes and community education. This is like an all
inclusive this is just a beautiful inspired model. Tell us
more about that. Tell us more about your practice difference
from the Kaiser in the genre. What makes your clinic standout?

(07:23):
Share more about that.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, and I think first for.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
The big systems like Kaiser, Sutter, Jahm, Muir, Stanford UCSF,
they're very much needed and important, and they're connected with
the hospitals. So if you have to see a cancer
doctor or a kidney doctor, it's important to have those systems.
So we definitely say, you know, want to make clear
that those systems are also important. But the reason that
we can do this type of primary care is we

(07:47):
are the patient's based on medical home and so we're
managing them as a whole person. So what primary care
and managing people in a kind of a holistic way
means to us is first of all medicine as well,
and so a lot of people with obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol,
we need to also think about what's going into their

(08:07):
bodies with food, and so we actually have a chef,
Cindy Gershen that works with them. And also it all starts,
you know, that starts very young, So we have actually
after school classes and kids come to learn how to
do healthy cooking that also tastes good. Then we also
know that mental health is very much part of primary care,
and so we were able to start our first mental

(08:28):
health initiative with this postpartum support group that has an
actual licensed therapist and a pediatrician running the group.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
Yeah, and really the big thing we found missing when
we were training was just not having enough time with patients.
When we started out, we had about an hour to
see our patients, to write notes, to kind of do everything.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
And we were like this is great.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
But within three years we were trained to see actually
twelve patients and a half day instead of three patients
and a half day. And at that point it's like
maybe five ten minutes with the patient and then you know,
if we want to spend the full fifteen to twenty
minutes that meant notes working on notes after after all
of seeing our patients. And so our model with the

(09:11):
direct primary care is that we wanted to have more
time with patients. So instead of just five to ten minutes,
we actually have thirty to ninety minute appointments with our patients,
and they also have direct access to us. They have
our cell phone numbers and can text your call anytime.
And the we don't take insurance because of this increased

(09:33):
access and this increased amount of time, just because so
much money and time needs to be.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Spent on billion insurance.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
Oftentimes a huge chunk of cost for private practices is
people billers and needing to negotiate with insurances, and just
that whole thing can cut a lot of overhead costs
if we just you know, bypass that. So our system
is that patients pay a monthly or yearly membership fee
and then they have access to us to longer appointments,

(10:02):
to same day next day appointments. Usually because we have
a smaller patient panel, and we also offer some other
perks like in house lab testing. We can check things
like electrolytes and cholesterol, blood sugars, covid tests, flu tests.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
We do a lot of that in house for free.
We also offer.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Medications, certain medications like antibiotics, some high blood pressure medicines
just in house of the patient if they're sick, they
don't have to take that extra trip to the pharmacy.
And so the main thing we're offering with the by
bypassing insurance is just more patient care time and with
our nonprofit piece, because we'll have patients paying us and

(10:45):
supporting us, and also we can get donations and have
fundraisers to support our nonprofit. We can give away up
to half of our care for free for underinsured, low
income patients.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Now that is excellent. I actually I'm so glad to
mention it. So how do you taylor your care approach
to meet the needs for the underinsured and low income patients.

Speaker 5 (11:08):
So we definitely do the same quality of care whether
they are paying patients or if they are the free patients.
So they're going to have the same ninety minute first appointment,
same access to us. Everything's going to be the same.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Really.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
The only difference is helping them get into medical if
they are open for that sometimes people are not comfortable
applying to medical for various reasons. But if helping them
get to insurance, helping them find the cheaper cash prices,
helping them get to community services like Operation Access which

(11:42):
does free operations for the uninsured patients. So the big
difference is basically the community resources and support for them.
But our care is the same quality and it's really equitable.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
And also since California expanded the Medicaid program to all
of its residents in i think the January of this year,
we're finding that a lot of people, you know, they
can apply for medical if they wanted, and the weight
can be months before they even get approved for that.
And also once they get approved, they need to go

(12:15):
in and establish care with a primary care doctor. And
usually that weight lists i think right now is nine
to twelve months. So if somebody is running out of medications,
they just move from out of state and doesn't have
a job and they need care, and so we're providing
that care so that they could see us for a
few months while for medication refills until they can actually
get in to see a provider that takes their insurance.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
Yeah, So I'd say the big difference is a lot
of our free patients eventually get on medical and so
we're basically helping fill that space and time when they're uninsured,
and then we just support them until they can establish
care with insurance, whereas a lot of our paying patients.
So it's going to be more of a relationship that's
going to be over years.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Wonderful. Wow, this is this is so you're hours in
days of availability. Is it extended because you can visit
and see more of your patience or is it more
uniquely designed? Tell us a little bit about your availability
that patients can come into enjoy services with you on.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, So our office hours right now, just what's listed
on our website, just usual business hours nine to six.
We wanted to make it a little later since oftentimes
people want appointments after work and then we're you know,
listed as clothes on the weekends. But once you become
a patient here you have our direct cell phone numbers
that you can text or call, like I said earlier,

(13:41):
anytime of course, you know when typically when we tell
people that, especially our colleagues, they're like, are you.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
Sure that's a good idea?

Speaker 4 (13:49):
Like aren't you getting woken up every night, but no, Actually,
you know, we talk to our patients and they understand
that unless it's something really urgent, they can wait until
the next stay. You know, some patients actually have a
hard time like reaching out to us after hours because
they're like, I'm not supposed to be bothering you, but really,
we are available, especially for emergencies, and if one of

(14:13):
us go on vacation, then the other physician is going
to cover the patients. So even if myself or doctor
Brecken aren't available for their patients, some they'll be able
to reach a doctor anytime.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
Like for example, a patient of mine on Saturday was
having issues and she was vacationing in Tahoe, so I
was able to do a zoom visit with her a resolve.
They get the medications to a pharmacyat there same day.
So we're able to be available when we need to
be for our patients.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
And I think and I think our patients have one
of the biggest feedback and most common feedback is just
they're so surprised at how, you know, we answer the
phone when they call, and also just how quickly we
can see them when they have a concern, and it's
usually within a day or two that we can either
see them in person or at least, you know, same day,

(15:03):
have a phone conversation about what's going on. It really
helps us kind of keep abreast with what's going on
and so that we actually when they do come in,
we don't need to spend a lot of time figuring
out what's going on since we've been keeping close tabs
on them through texts or phone messages. So yeah, I
really I think streamlines the care very patient center.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
That's amazing, it's excellent. I need to bring I'm so
glad you're bringing that back in terms of if your
patients need surgery or a minor operations, what do you
use in terms of access to your local surgery centers?

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Where would they normally get that done?

Speaker 5 (15:41):
So it's less about the center and more about the physition.
So since we trained here, we know a lot of
the John Muir Stanford UCSA physicians. We have a lot
of their phone numbers. So for example, this morning, I
had a patient who had an urgent finding I needed
a call guynecologist to get her in and I got
a hold of her within an hour, got her urgent

(16:03):
imaging same day, and she's going to be seen by
the gynecologists this week.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Yeah, and usually when folks need specialty care, their insurance
will take care of that. Usually patients with a PPO
insurance can go to any specialists, so it's really easy
for us to just refer them to who we like
and then they go ahead and get an appointment and
all of their fees associated with that. Surgery procedures with

(16:28):
the specialists usually is covered by their insurance, and also
labs imaging medications are often covered as well, And so
it's just the primary care piece kind of what they're
paying for with their month. Their annual fee is for
access to us and for things just to happen more quickly.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Nice. Nice.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
So let me also ask you about your community education
programs in your after school classes and how does that
contribute to the mission and bridging healthcare divide you have.
You're also offering after school classes. Share a little bit
more about that.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
Yeah, So we have right across the street is Lafia
Elementary School, So we have primary age kids that come
across the street and we've had several different iterations of
classes over the past year. This fall, we have a
healthy cooking class and then we have a mindfulness class,
we had a science class, and we've had different kind

(17:25):
of cooking workshops where they can really learn how to
cook in a healthy and delicious way. And then we've
also had different classes again for adults, so that way
that we can help basically reach our community and you know,
start getting healthy in the kitchen as well.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
Excellent, excellent, excellent. So what advice would you give families
practicing self care during the busy holiday with your team
that you have there that you're going to have coming
up for the holidays?

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Sure, more about that.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
Yeah, we get that question a lot, especially around this
time of year, and we opened, you know, around October,
so we had the first Thanksgiving and Christmas. One of
the things I tell my patients because oftentimes they're telling
me like, oh my gosh, there's so many social events,
like all the rich, tasty treats are laid out and
I can't resist. And one of the things I often

(18:16):
will tell them is just try to eat something you know,
healthy at home so you're not ravenous when you go
and to these parties and just have a little taste
of a few things so you're not restricting yourself and
you get to enjoy the social part of it, but
you're not also just you know, eating all of your
calories out there. So eating something at home and don't

(18:37):
go to parties hungry is like my common piece of
advice for patients during the holidays.

Speaker 5 (18:43):
Yeah, And I think the other thing that's really common
now is flu and COVID and RSV very much are
going around, and so I would say that the one
benefit of the COVID pandemic is now there's at home
tests for COVID. So I would definitely recommend if you're
feeling sick to get tested for a fluent COVID just

(19:04):
so that you can isolate and not spread it to
the family. And then a big piece of advice, especially
for new moms, is this, a baby under six weeks
has a fever that basically is an er trip no
matter what. And a fever is one hundred point four
degrees fahrenheit. So I think a lot of times new
moms don't necessarily know that, but with the really young babies,

(19:27):
that's why it's so so so important to have that
knowledge and to know kind of how many wet diapers
they need to have, if they're eating correctly, and then
if they get sick, what they need to do and
where they need to bring them.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
Nice nice And also we're starting a new free community
class in November, so I will be teaching kind of
a mindfulness movement breathing class once a week and that'll
start sometime in November, in the beginning of November. Then
for Me will be on our website and sign ups

(20:03):
will be on our website and it's basically an hour
of coming together and doing some mindfulness practices and drop ins.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
You don't have to come to every class, but just
come on when you have time, and.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
Hopefully it'll help with destressing over the holidays. I know
it could be crazy trying to keep up with family
and presence and meal cookings and all sorts of things.
So yeah, we'll have that available free to the community.
A donation is always appreciated since we're a nonprofit, but
that will be available to anybody who wants to drop by.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Is there any other classes that you have coming up
in terms of for yourself care for the holidays that
you would like to share with the audience.

Speaker 5 (20:42):
Well, our post part on support group coohort is currently
going and is going to start again in the beginning
of January. So that's going to be for moms with
babies zero to six months, and so you'll be able
to sign up for that on our website. And again
that is going to run for about a month. It's
once a week and there's a pece pediatrician and a
therapist there to offer both postpart and mental health support

(21:04):
and lactation support.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
So how can new mothers benefit from joining your free
postpartum group? What can they expect when they attend it?
Share a little bit more about that.

Speaker 5 (21:15):
Yeah, So it's set up like a group therapy class,
which means that there's no more than five moms with
their babies in the class, and the therapists and a
pediatrician lead the group together. And up to twenty five
percent of moms experience postpartum depression or baby blues, and
oftentimes it goes undiagnosed and ignored and it can cause

(21:36):
a lot of extra stress, especially for new moms, and
so this is a way to actually start to support
the mental health during this really critical period. And then
the pediatrician, doctor Hannah, actually is one of the leading
experts on breastfeeding in the area and trains all of
the lactationian consultants at a Johnyer Walnut Creek, Sanford location,

(21:58):
and she is there to for breastfeeding support as well
during these classes.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, so the group really helps moms just realize that
they're not alone and their journey, because oftentimes moms will
say like, oh my gosh, like everybody seems to be
doing fine and I'm the only one struggling. And when
they come into this group setting where they can really
share their experiences, and oftentimes there's moms in kind of
different stages of their babies development.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
One who might have.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
A six months old can give a little comfort to
the one who has a newborn about like the sleep
will get better, you will start to get sleep.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
It's just making it through.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
So I think we find that that group camaraderie really
helps people feel supported during this challenging time, especially.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
During the holidays. It could be very and dante for
a lot of new mothers. So this is great that
you're offering, especially at this time and then.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Also with the holiday season. Two.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
The one other thing we did last year that was
really successful was we offered private cooking class slash parties
for folks who wanted to bring their family and friends
for kind of a celebration, but also learn about Colinarium is.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
A big way into Cindy gar Yes, so speak more
about that. Yeah, it's getting to the nutrition piece of it.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
And so folks can reach out to us and book
like a private dinner. So you'll have Cindy Gershen leading
the cooking and one of us will be there as well.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Because we do give a little presentation.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
About healthy food and just general guidelines to eat by.
She comes up with a beautiful menu and it can
be tailored to the guests needs, so vegan, vegetarian, omnivore
or whatever, just let us know ahead of time, and
then she'll actually create recipes and put the guests and your.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
Family to work to cook these recipes.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
So you actually get some you know, knife skills and
cooking skills while you're at this party. And so everybody
cooks together and then share a meal together. And we
hosted a couple of these last year and that were
people were really really happy with the results. So that
is something that's not listed on our website. So you'll
have to contact us if you wanted to book a

(24:13):
private party. Usually we do ten or more folks and
we can host up to twenty people in our space.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
What an amazing team of doctors and professionals that you have,
Cindy Gershon, How did you get Cindy Gershon on.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Staff here with you all? Amazing?

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
So I actually met her in twenty twenty one through
a mutual friend and we had coffee and I told
her about what we were doing and she basically said,
I love it if you can find a space for me.
And so in twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, when
we were looking at physical spaces, she would come with

(24:53):
me into each location and try to figure out where
she could find a space. And she was being very creative.
There was like exam room, like I can work here,
like no, And so that's why we were so thrilled
when we found this space that had and I invite
everyone to go to our website eastpay Healthcare dot org
with a video where you can kind of see what
our space is. But one side is a pretty traditional

(25:16):
primary care clinic. We have a couple of exam rooms.
We have private offices that we're sitting in right now
to have one on one conversations with our patients. Doctor
who also has a body workroom because she does massage.
And on the other side is where we have more
of a community center where we do the different group classes,
where we have the postpartum support group where the kids go,

(25:36):
and it feels much more like a really homey community space.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, and I.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
Think when Cindy first connected with us, she was super
excited about our vision, but a little skeptical.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
You know, we had big dreams. But as we continue to.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Move forward with you know, finding a space and having
a fundraiser. We had a fundraiser that was attended by
about two hundred members of the community when we're still
in residency, and we invited her to that and she saw,
you know, the community support we were getting, and so
step by step she was like, Wow, they're serious about it.
And so by the time we found the space and
was renovating it, she was like, count me in. And

(26:13):
so we're so fortunate to have her and also a
doctor Mahahannah, she was kind of the same. We met
her during residency and told her about our plans and
she's just been following us along and then was like,
when you're ready, I'm.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Ready to help.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
So we're really fortunate to have these folks on board,
so ad they're all powerful women.

Speaker 5 (26:32):
Yeah. Powerful, We just said that, Yeah, I know. And
that has just been what we have found is we've
just had these wonderful, powerful women that have been coming together.
And I will say because in the beginning you were
mentioned being all the different facets of East Bay Health,
and I will say that it's very much evolved over time,

(26:55):
and it's just us saying yes to what the community
needs are and when people step forward and say we
want to help, we say yes. And so we just
have very much been stepping through the open doors and
listening to the community. And we've had just such wonderful,
wonderful support of all, especially a lot of women in
our community that have come forward and say I want

(27:17):
to join and be part of this. And that's really
how it has evolved into what it is today. And
I'm going to say that next year, I think you're
going to have even more things to mention to the
list because it continues to evolve.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
I love it. Food is that medicine, and medicine is
thy food. And when a patient comes to your practice,
they are getting a holistic approach to healing and wellness.
If you all are living that you're exemplifying that in
the community. That is just so totally awesome. What do
we have to look forward to for twenty twenty five

(27:54):
in terms of in January? What are some of your
classes that you have coming up or are they on
calendar yet for January? So I'm already speaking January four you,
I'm already speaking into coming up.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Yes, so we definitely still have to update our website
with these offerings. But we will continue to offer the
after school classes that has been a huge hit since
we you know, started them a year ago, and so
they are open to kids from elementary school and even
through middle school depending on the level of interest. We
can also take high schoolers as well, but that will

(28:31):
be on our website soon. Since we know the moms
love to sign up for things ahead of time.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
I'm speaking it forward.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
Grew Yeah, yeah, and then yeah, doctor Who's mindfulness class
will be going the postpartum support group. And a big
goal we have for twenty twenty five that you mentioned
it is we really want to expand our mental health
services and have other support groups. We're more of the
broader community, and so a big goal we have is
to get enough donation this year so that we can

(29:01):
start offering more support groups. So I invite anyone who
wants to support our cause. We have a donation page
on our website, and then you can help support that
goal of really having more accessible and equitable mental health
care services in our community.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Excellent.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
And to add on to that.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
Next year, I think at some point I will be
offering another class more focused on the elderly or even
just middle aged folks who want to learn about fall
prevention and healthy movement for their joints, because oftentimes the
wear and tear of the joints of the body can
can use some help with that. And I've been taking

(29:41):
classes in terms of healthy alignment for joints and just
balance and fall prevention. So I'm hoping that twenty twenty
five will be when I can start offering some of
these as well.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
I could just imagine what twenty twenty five is going
to be, because you are already to a great start
as you're getting ready to celebrate again, congrad relations your
party that's coming up, your anniversary on November to third,
All is welcome. I'm assuming in the city of Loca
at that time will be between one and three.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
I like to also doing four, two and four.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Okay, two and four. I'd like to also just one
last thing. How can people give to you? If they
want to give to you private donations, should they go
to your website? So how can people give to your practice?

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (30:25):
So we our website is east Bay Healthcare dot org
dot org and we actually have a donation page show
on the top. It just says donate and you can
donate recurring or one amount. You can do ach or
a credit card if you want to have a check,
come and visit us, and we are happy to give
you some healthy muffins. And what I will say is

(30:47):
we're a nonprofit, so that means that this is a
tax right off tax deeduction for that season coming up,
and we can give you that letter for the irs
as well, and then you'll be helping support the community
and what. Like I said, the goal for the donations
this year is I hope that when we're on your
podcast next year, we'll be able to talk about the
additional services that we have at that time.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
I love it. Doctors Mayami Brickman and Tracy Who, doctor
Mahannah and Cindy Gersham. What an awesome, awesome team is
there anything you would like to lastly to mention and
share with the podcast audience before we close the show.

Speaker 5 (31:27):
I guess it's you know, just to the general community.
If there's any people who are studying to become physicians,
if you're pre med, if you're in medical school and
feeling a little burnt out or uninspired, please feel free
to reach out to us. We have many pre med students,
medical students, and residents that have worked with us because
sometimes the system can be really overwhelming, so we definitely

(31:50):
want to offer our support to them. And then for
any patients again, reach out to us on our website.
If that's a column, We're here for you, okay.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
Yeah, and then our email is info I n FO
at EASTPA Healthcare dot org. So folks who want to
drop us a line, that's also all listed on our website.
We would love to hear from you all.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Well, thank you, it has been a pleasure. Wishing you
the best of success and also in twenty twenty five
and everyone, thank you very much for listening. I am
Kim Evans, I am your host to Inspired Conversations. Thank
you very much.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
And have abri day.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Thanks