Aligning Healthcare with Personal Values

Erica MedinaMy mission as a family nurse practitioner is specific: help people align their healthcare with their values. I specialize in working with people who trust their immune system, who value supporting the body’s innate healing, and who want a healthy microbiome.

I support people who don’t want to wait for health research to become mainstream. I help people to understand and find wisdom in their bodies. I have a decade of experience in family practice, and a lifetime of the experience in learning the ingredients of a healthy, satisfying life.

Humble Beginnings In Heath Food Stores

In childhood, our worlds get bigger as we explore, and my world was rocked by the oddities in health food stores. My curiosity about nutritional yeast and seaweed were unleashed. I had to find out: who eats these and why? In the process, I found my people: people who question everything, live intentionally, and chart their own course through life. People who love the richness of our world and people who cook, who make these ingredients into nourishment.

I also tuned in to the idiosyncratic language of feelings. It took time to learn their signals and to have the confidence to listen. So psychiatry eventually became an area of expertise.

I was becoming a very specific person – myself – and finished nursing school in 2008. I didn’t mind working 9 years as a nurse doing inpatient care and three years as a primary care provider for inpatient and residential psychiatry. These were diversions that showed me that hospital work is crisis management and an attempt to take control from the body.

Building My Medical Practice

Eventually, I built a fellowship to connect my medical practice with my knowledge of nutraceuticals, herbs, and the wisdom of mind-body unity. And I fell in love with meeting people and hearing their stories. My doctoral project, a deep dive into the physiology of autism and practical strategies for improving life quality, highlighted universal principles of restoring balance to the body. And my most exciting project was securing investor funding for developing a brain health program. My most rewarding work is much more daily: seeing people flourish as they take control of their health decisions.

Outside of Work

Life feels complete with a Sunday afternoon cooking project. Health, cooking, and gardening have become inseparable in celebrating life. Getting chickens have been the latest venture. In addition to them and a new husband, I have two children, stepchildren, cats, dogs, and fish.

So, my gift to you is the journey I’ve taken.

What I Can Help With

  • YOU as a whole person
  • Primary care
  • Chronic conditions
  • Medical mysteries
  • Autism, with a biomedical approach
  • Gut issues, with a functional medicine approach
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Physical pain
  • Emotional pain, as a prescriber and health coach

How I Treat

  • Curiosity
  • Testing
  • Teaching
  • Connecting
  • Partnering. Getting your input.
  • Coaching, troubleshooting, and hand holding

Contact and Scheduling

To schedule an appointment, please call (503) 956-9396, email [email protected], or schedule online below. Online scheduling is available for return patients only and not all available appointments may be shown online. When scheduling online, please include a reason for your visit so your provider can serve you optimally and continue to offer an online option for scheduling.

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