Meet exceptional providers of nutritional products and dental, ear, nose, throat, eye care, and other services.
GERBER MEDICAL
During these uncertain times, everyday stressors seem to be at an all-time high. Dr. Michael Gerber with Gerber Medical Clinic in Reno encourages everyone to incorporate supplements into their diets and apply a few specific practices to maintain optimal health during stressful periods.
“Vitamins are extremely helpful, no matter the time, but especially now,” he explains. “It’s important for people to get the right minerals and nutrients into their bodies to support the adrenal gland. This is the stress gland that sits on the kidneys.”
Gerber recommends taking daily supplements of vitamins B, C, and D.
“You should consult a medical professional to determine how much of each one,” Gerber says, “but each of these vitamins plays a very important part in keeping you healthy, boosting the immune system, and ensuring your body is functioning correctly.”
In addition, Gerber suggests adding several minerals and amino acids to the regimen.
“Magnesium glycinate is one of my favorites. It’s very relaxing. Other amino acids are good, such as 5-HTP and tryptophan, which help make serotonin. Add in adaptogenic herbs, including cordyceps, rhodiola, and ashwagandha. These all help to keep the body out of ongoing stressful, adrenalized behavior.”
To calm the body, Gerber recommends topical bioidentical hormones, including natural progesterone. Rubbed on the forearms and wrists, this cream can be used by men, women, and children to relieve stress, panic, and anxiety.
“There are many lifestyle aspects of stress reduction, including yoga, meditation, and adequate sleep,” he notes. “Meditation and taking a melatonin supplement are extremely helpful for good sleep and immune boosting.”
Stress affects nearly all aspects of bodily activity, from energy production and poor sleep to muscle tension and brain function. In order to have everything work together and reduce stress, speak with an integrative health provider to determine the correct combination of vitamins and supplements, diet, and lifestyle components that will work for you.
With treatments for a spectrum of conditions, from short-term illness and aging to cancer, Gerber Medical Clinic offers exceptional solutions for restoring, building, and maintaining optimal health. Open since 1984, the practice offers family-oriented medicine to help patients nurture, strengthen, and detoxify the body. Gerber Medical Clinic, at 1225 Westfield Ave., now has a redeveloped second floor in its building, making it energy efficient and green.
For details, visit Gerbermedical.com.
COOLSCULPTING BY MARCI
With CoolSculpting® Elite, you can target exact trouble spots where you’d like to reduce fat. The treatment is FDA-cleared for nine different body areas, from double chins to back fat. Losing weight doesn’t always lead to a more sculpted appearance, but eliminating treated fat cells can change the shape and contours of your body.
At CoolSculpting by Marci in Reno, your treatment is completely customizable. The staff will work with you to create a plan that’s quite literally made for you.
For details, visit Coolsculptingbymarci.com.
VITAKINETICS
Opiate addiction continues to affect nearly every community in the country, and one of the primary ways abusers gain access to dangerous medication is through unsuspecting contacts’ medicine cabinets. Choosing a safer alternative to manage soreness, such as VitaKinetics, is better for your body and reduces the exposure risk.
“VitaKinetics is good for you and loved ones around you because it provides an option for injury recovery without bringing opioids into the equation,” explains Carolyn Dolan, owner and developer of VitaKinetics in Reno.
VitaKinetics enhances your ability to recover by supporting better sleep, optimizing inflammation, and balancing your gut-brain connection.
For details, visit Vitakinetics.com.
SAINT MARY’S
In the U.S., one in two men between the ages of 51 and 60 have benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), commonly known as an enlarged prostate. This constricts the urethra, making it uncomfortable to urinate, and affects everyday activities and intimacy. Traditionally it has been treated with medications or other invasive procedures, but Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center offers another option: aquablation therapy. This groundbreaking technique serves as an advanced, minimally invasive BPH treatment that uses water delivered with robotic precision to remove part of the prostate.
“We are so excited to offer aquablation therapy to our patients,” says Tiffany Coury, CEO of Saint Mary’s Health Network. “This is an innovative technique that provides our patients with the highest standard of care, offering improved outcomes and shorter recovery times.”
Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center is proud to be the first program in Nevada to offer this treatment. Aquablation therapy provides long-lasting BPH relief without compromise. It is precise, consistent, and offers long-term relief no matter how large the prostate has become.
As a resective procedure, aquablation therapy is performed under anesthesia and typically takes less than an hour. there are two key steps to aquablation therapy:
Step 1: Creating a Surgical Map
Every prostate is unique in size and shape. Aquablation therapy enables surgeons to customize the procedure to the patient’s specific anatomy. Through the use of ultrasound imaging and a standard camera, surgeons view the entire prostate in real time. A surgical map is created pinpointing parts of the prostate for removal and areas to avoid. This mapping negates the removal of the parts of the prostate that cause complications such as erectile dysfunction, ejaculatory dysfunction, and incontinence.
Step 2: Removing the Prostate Tissue
Following the surgical map, a robotically controlled, heat-free waterjet removes the specific prostate tissue that was identified. This robotic technology minimizes human error and ensures the prostate tissue is removed precisely, consistently, and predictably.
“Aquablation leverages state-of-the-art technology to deliver a safe, efficient, and extremely effective treatment for men suffering from symptoms of enlarged prostate,” adds Dr. Matthew McCormack, a urologist with Urology Nevada. “My colleagues and I are thrilled to welcome this technology to Northern Nevada.”
For details about Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center and aquablation therapy, visit Saintmarysreno.com/our-services/urology-mens-health.
ADVANCED ENT SINUS CENTER
March and April are prime time for early seasonal allergies, with area grasses, trees, and sagebrush beginning to fill the Sierra air with pollen and dander. Stacey Hudson, MD, FACS, and Theresa Birchfield, PA-C, with Advanced ENT Sinus Center in Reno specialize in treating ear, nose, and throat ailments, including the persistent symptoms that accompany seasonal allergies.
“We can help with the nasal congestion, running nose, itching eyes, head pain, pressure, eustachian tube dysfunction, and other symptoms associated with seasonal allergies,” Birchfield explains. “We’ve noticed people experience a significant increase in allergy symptoms when they move here from more humid places, such as the coastal regions in California, because of our high desert environment and new allergen exposure.”
To get started, Dr. Hudson and Birchfield take an inventory of each patient’s symptoms and design a customized treatment plan.
“If the symptoms warrant, we have the ability to perform a CT scan in our office and can differentiate between seasonal allergies, non-allergic nose problems, and chronic sinusitis,” Birchfield says.
Patients with seasonal allergies are typically treated with a mix of over-the-counter and prescription medications and nose sprays.
Since 2003, the Advanced ENT Sinus Center team has been working hard to help Northern Nevadans achieve optimal health. A fourth-generation Nevadan born in Reno, Hudson began the practice after graduating from the University of Nevada School of Medicine and completing surgical residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Also a fourth-generation Nevadan and graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, Birchfield joined the practice when it opened, as a medical assistant, and went on to complete UNR’s School of Medicine Physician Assistant Studies program. She graduated in 2021 and rejoined the practice as its first physician assistant.
Dr. Hudson and Birchfield work primarily with adult patients, and Advanced ENT Sinus Center is one of the only practices on the West Coast offering balloon sinuplasty — an in-office procedure used to alleviate chronic sinusitis.
For details about relieving chronic sinus issues, seasonal allergy symptoms, or treatments for ear, nose, and throat conditions, visit Myrenoent.com.
EYE CARE PROFESSIONALS
Is it dry eyes, allergies, or both? This may be a question you are asking yourself as spring and its pollens permeate our area. Spring allergies are very common. More than 35 million Americans suffer from some form of seasonal allergy. Symptoms often resemble dry eye traits, which is why it can be a challenge to decide which condition is making you suffer.
It is important to distinguish whether you are suffering from spring allergies or dry eyes because the treatments are different. Dry eye disease occurs due to a breakdown of your tear film, which is the thin layer of tears that coats your eye’s surface. This can prevent your eye from getting the right amount or type of tears it needs to properly function. Allergy medicine won’t replace this film, so it won’t fix your dry eyes.
But a breakdown of your eye’s film also makes it more difficult to deal with outside allergens. If the tear film is low, it does not effectively wash away the allergens. You could actually be dealing with both conditions.
“If a patient is suffering from irritated eyes in the spring, it is a good idea for them to come and see us,” says Dr. Matthew Mills of Eye Care Professionals. “We can diagnose if they are suffering from allergies or dry eyes and recommend the proper course of treatment.”
For details, visit Renoeyecare.com.
SIERRA SMILES
As we celebrate Earth Day and are mindful of practices harming the ecosystem, it’s also important to consider how some of our actions within the environment can affect our everyday health. The use of pesticides on crops not only diminishes the nutritional values of the food we eat and causes havoc on the soil, but these chemicals also are linked to many health issues.
“Our society needs to shift our mindset to fueling our bodies with organically grown produce, meats, grains, and dry goods,” explains Dr. John Bocchi of Sierra Smiles in Reno and Lake Tahoe. “Avoiding fruits and berries that have been treated with pesticides and antibiotics and growth hormones in meat and dairy products is paramount. When it comes to preventing or treating those with cognitive decline, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease, choosing organic foods is key for decreasing toxins in the body that contribute to these diseases.
Bocchi and his team of dental professionals at Sierra Smiles have been certified in the RECODE Program, in which dentists and physicians work together to prevent, stop, or reverse the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Part of the program includes nutritional plans with health coaches, and patients are urged to remove amalgam fillings that are known to release toxic mercury into the body.
For details, visit Sierrasmiles.com.
