Growing integrative health enterprise opening new downtown D.C. center
‘Knowing how to build a business combined with an interest in alternative therapies and holistic approaches to medicine, led to the establishment of Nava Health and Vitality Center,’ said CEO Bernie Dancel.
By MARK LEE
Healthcare delivery is rapidly changing and Washington-area Nava Health and Vitality Center is building on success by expanding its number of locations. The newest opens next week in downtown D.C.
The enterprise’s respected health and wellness centers are responding to growing consumer desire for innovative and comprehensive approaches in supplementing standard medical care and treatment, as well as the rapid treadmill of doctor appointments and limited-survey diagnosis. The group provides in-depth and multiple discipline evaluations utilized in designing an individualized wellness plan for clients.
Nava physicians, chiropractors, acupuncturists, nutrition experts, massage therapists and life coaches are keyed to both addressing immediate physical problems and developing a preventative plan for achieving and maintaining long-term health goals.
Similar to the genesis common to many businesses, CEO Bernie Dancel founded the company as a direct result of personal experience. When his wife became very ill they searched for answers in addressing a confluence of serious ailments that had weakened her immune system. Frustrated with bouncing from specialist to specialist without solution, “we were lucky, finding a medical doctor in Florida who had traveled the world looking at holistic remedies,” says Dancel. “She helped us get to the root cause with a multi-dimensional approach.”
Dancel, a nationally prominent and pioneering debt relief industry leader and innovator was in the self-described “business of helping people who are sick financially.” Alongside his wife he had encountered others with similar frustrations in tackling health problems, prompting the 51-year-old former college athlete and football coach to survey the medical marketplace.
He discovered that harried physicians overwhelmed by patient volumes and with specific-purview training were often able to provide symptom-only remedy for complex and interrelated health issues. Dancel knew that a more integrative and inter-disciplinary approach was what medical patients needed and wanted.
“Knowing how to build a business combined with an interest in alternative therapies and holistic approaches to medicine,” he says, eventually led to the establishment of Nava Health and Vitality Center.
“When you come through our doors the healing begins,” Dancel points out, noting the decision to be in consumer-friendly retail locations and providing welcoming spa-like environments. “We offer the best of a combined East-meets-West medicine,” he points out, “utilizing a team approach.”
Nava Centers are focused on working with clients to achieve their individual wellness objectives and plan preventative strategies for maintaining health over a lifetime, offering remedies and regimens for physical ailments and body stress. The process begins with an initial assessment of health history and personal goals, followed by a second appointment to review a Custom Vitality Plan with a team physician.
Central to both Nava’s client acclaim and physician respect are these initial steps. To aid in identifying individual medical issues, standard physicals and limited blood work are deemed insufficient. Utilizing advanced testing protocols that examine more than 65 different biochemical markers allows for the ability to get at the sources of physical symptoms and distress. The broad range of Nava diagnostics impress client primary care physicians, often resulting in referrals.
Nava Health and Vitality Center serves both the sick and the healthy, as well as those in between. Nava offers diagnosis and treatment in the areas of aging and vitality, weight management, and pain and performance.
“What we do is make bodies stronger,” emphasizes Dancel, “improving health from a cellular level. We address current conditions and prevent future problems, optimizing the body’s ability to rejuvenate.”
Confident that “in another 10 years this is going to be the way people approach their long-term health,” Dancel is enthusiastic about helping lead the way with an accessible and affordable option today.
The newest Nava Health and Vitality Center, in downtown D.C. at 1800 M St., N.W., opens on May 15.
Questions? Contact us today.