No Foolin'! It's April 1 and We're at The Terrible Twos! Let our Providers Know You Hear/Read/See them so we get to THREE!

If you look back on my blogs from the first year I was attending seminars and reporting on them in the blogs, which was something the budding Lumigrate following read and followed.  "I wish I lived in Grand Junction" was the typical comment.  I'd always known that my back yard was the starting point for Lumigrate and since we'd set it up to go world-wide on the Internet (which you DO have control over by the way, some people thing 'Website means world-wide automatically'), the presumed the progression would be to expand to Front Range/Denver, Colorado providers and then national. For example, all my recording equipment went into lightweight plastic boxes; everything I purchased is small enough to load into a trailer which my 'puff tough' Toyota Highlander could pull to wherever I set up a studio next on the Front Range.

That came in very handy on the day my friends helped me pull up roots and pack everything up to go into storage for what turned out to be 'the hibernation' phase with Lumigrate.  We had enough content that I alone could move things along and keep the budget to it's bottom line.  And for those of us who knew me a year ago I was at the bottom line.  But I'm still here!  In the same place!  I survived and thrived, learned and grew.  And we've had MUCH good come since that time in the form of NEW GROWTH, particularly in the supplementation of nutrition and hormones realm.

In 2009 when we launched, due to the wonders of facebook which had caught on with middle aged people in part with the 2008 Presidential election, Lumigrate was almostly instantly connected via the facebook fibromyalgia community getting behind a Chronic Pain Documentary Film Series kickoff event in California, so sooner than expected and bigger than expected, Lumigrate had providers, clinics and programs linking to it.  So it's really GRATE to, here in the week of our two year 'being up' birthday/anniversary, to actually 'be where I thought I was going to be' at the two year point -- which is working with ITC, which is in the Front Range.  I think from my Highlander, sans trailer of equipment as it's all packed up and just resting still, I could see the mountain I grew up 'on' from near their facility.

So 'in the beginning', I had been doing regular seminars via the Fibromyalgia Forum Dr Chris Young and I co-created in my previous conventional medicine building where I provided the OT services to a three story, all inclusive, medical group. Scott Rollins had been one of our guests, so that's how Dr Young and Dr Rollins became acquianted intially. Dr Rollins had investigated IMCs when he was working on whether to and how to start one here, and successful ones would host/present seminars.

So there was going to be a large seminar area at the time I signed my lease -- unfortunately due to demand for other services they subdivided that into a small seminar area which didn't allow for an audience AND lights/cameras x2, my staff, etc, hence the two different looks of our videos -- we moved to a neighboring building and put in a little studio and I had some carefully selected audience members who would come for the tapings.  (Since the seminar area was essentially in the center of all the treatment rooms it couldn't be used except when none of the providers were seeing patients -- and we needed to tape at the same times and they were SO booked up and had so little time it had to literally be right on their way to work I felt.)  Picture dollars on a money tree just flying off into the breeze.... And while they have had a fair # of downloads, it didn't warrant the cost BUT it gets the attention of businesses like ITC who say 'wow, they even have videos' and I'm sure there will always be videos at some level mixed in with podcasts and readable information. 

I'd attend every seminar the IMC put on, which took over half a year for them to get to fibromyalgia (Rollins) and Chronic Pain (Young), because they both do seminars in the allopathically-trained way, which is GRATE -- they study research, cite the research -- and these are people who see patients for about 50 hours a week at the least!  So those missed the timeline we had for producing video , so what I did was have my talented employee and trainers focus on the seminars they did early on which had to do with people with fibromyalgia.     This actually did us a 'favor' and expanded Lumigrate to be about a broader scope of person/health, because we had detox and cleanse, food allergies/IgG, hypothyroidism, supplements, health management, chronic illness, health management -- a really powerful array of videos.  (All FREE now and easy to download, see the videos tab.)

One of those was supplements and disease prevention. (it's over an hour, very informative and $0.00! I suggest people ask their providers to watch it as well IF they are not seeming comfortable with their knowledge about supplements AND listen to the introductory and basics of supplementation and compounded hormones podcasts we have with ITC (we were approved so are on iTunes or at Lumigrate.com.  Forums.  Podcasts are the very top in the long list so you can't miss 'em. In the near future when we do the makeover, podcasts will get their own tab.

Lumigrate also launched with a built in link to Vitamin Cottage on the Products tab, because they are a fabulous resource for people Lumigrate serves as they have online ordering/shipping of foods and supplements, water filters -- just about everything we promote, they sell.  I'm into simplicity and into ethical and good businesses and they're that.  But when I would be working 1:1 with a Lumigrate 'user' related to what to do about fibromyalgia, they'd want to hop online and order something and they needed advise about what to order.  All I can say is what I have taken, I don't advise other people as to what they should do because I'm an OT and that's not what OTs are qualified to do. 

So I kept searching for a resource to help with that and found it with, not only ITC, but also Robin Thomas, who has been collaborating with and writing on Lumigrate back into 2010.  She's a tremendous supporter of Lumigrate and I've also ordered from her as I have ITC so that I can check them out and screen to be sure they're "LumiGRATE" -- and they ARE GRATE.  USANA and Douglas Labs are right at the top in the Lyle Macwilliams "Bible" of Supplements (see Supplements video for information / link about the resource book).

I intentionally held off on having Search Engine Optimization done because I didn't have the resources in place for the critical facets that a website about integrative medicine needs -- "Compounding Pharmacist" is now drawn into the You Model that will go into the upgrate of the website.  .  But I do work to find at most two resources from each realm of health care and sort them out for validity and effectiveness for our followers/users, and sometimes that takes some time to assess.  Not everyone is a fit for us and vice versa.  And so I've been in a process for two years to continually be finding providers of products and services and information to meet the demands.  And it's harder than it sounds because it's getting something else added to their plate.  Lumigrate's being up for two years and having the credibilty it has is now bringing bigger companies to the table of interest, which is a good thing -- then you get to interfacing with marketing people and they've reached a point to have that in their budgets.  However, now the issue is we're the smallest fish in the bigger pond and it's easy to be overlooked for the bigger fish, so what YOU Can do to help, is LET THE PROVIDERS YOU SEE AND LIKE ON LUMIGRATE KNOW YOU SEE THEIR TIME BEING PUT TO GOOD USE.  Purchase something, call and ask questions, let them know you enjoy what they wrote.  Message them, call them, post a Comment on Lumigrate at the very least!  

"Less is more" when it comes to busy people or those who have trouble thinking, right?

This week our focus is really upon supplementing nutrition and hormones and in addition to the longstanding information from Deirdre Rawlings, ND, PhD, I'm wanting people to take the time to listen to the new podcasts from ITC Compounding and Natural Wellness Pharmacy. I find the expertise and customer service with ITC Pharmacy and with Robin Thomas (see Nutrition, supplementation forum) outstanding.  Robin's background is as a scientist -- she's a 'standout' in the world of MLM and works with a tremendous company which I'm appreciating more now that I'm reading the new book The Healthy Home (see information soon at the Lumigrate bookshelf forum about it and in the forum on what goes into your home / work/ environment related to health).   

I have chosen to include MLM when done appropriately and with high standards I expect at Lumigrate.com because MLM is 'everywhere' nowdays and there ARE good MLM companies.  I've done that with some risk to Lumigrate because of the eyeroll you get when "MLM" is brought up typically.  But in the tough economy and with the low cost to get into a business such as a MLM, it's flooded the US with people selling EVERYTHING!  I've even had Avon ladies at my door -- I didn't know they were even in business until 2 years ago when they seemed to come out of the woodwork and the stories were 'my husband was laid off so....'!  And we've had someone with a MLM product who was not respectful nor appeared to want to learn to be, of what Lumigrate and it's followers 'are about' and what type of interaction and business practices I expect.  When people have issues with someone on Lumigrate, it reflects on ALL of Lumigrate and so that's something I very much have to manage.  So in some regards our second year was a tough one that way.  But going into our third year, we're really in GRATE shape.  

Rememeber, I'm 'just a little Colorado mountain girl' that grew up to study but not graduate in business at Colorado State University, work in a now famous air quality research program doing program administration from those skills, and finally graduate with a BS and become an OTR in my mid 30s -- and simultaneously get fibromyalgia. 

Working in the medical industry at a hard time as I have, and persisting to rise to the top of the outpatient provider world in my western Colorado city in my mid 40s and sense the impending collapse of the old system of medicine.  I wanted to provide Lumigrate to ALL people, "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being".  And I'm so very proud of what I created which launched two years ago this week and to be saying this week how far we've come together and have this outstanding repertoir of advisors and providers! So thank you to ALL who have come to read, learn, let the providers know their time and efforts are worthwhile.  I now have a resource which I use in my consulting 1:1 with people related to the 'occupation of health care', which if helpful to me as an occupational therapist and I hope other providers around the country start using it with their patients as well.  

Check back on the next holiday ... I hit the biggies like Ground Hog Day and April Fools Day with the blogs lately JUST FOR FUN, and really have been adding a lot of content to the Forums on almost a daily basis so please check there regularly as well.  And naturally PODCASTS -- such an honor to be accepted by iTunes -- that will increase our 'net' of who finds out about us and we hope to help THEM have GRATE health too.

~~Mardy