Age: 47.
Location: Dubuque.
Title: CEO, owner.
Employer: Statera Integrated Health and Wellness Solutions.
Number of years employed there: 17 months.
Educational background: Bachelor of Science in physical therapy, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Institute for Integrative Nutrition and ACE-certified health coach.
Family: Husband Lor; daughter Ayden, 18; son Ian, 17; yellow lab Copper, 4.
What inspired you to create Statera Health and Wellness Solutions? I enjoyed my physical therapy practice but felt limited in the traditional clinic setting to be able to connect with my patients from a mind, body, spirit perspective. I felt limited in being able to consider the person as a whole rather than just as their current diagnosis. While traveling in Oregon with my family in 2013, we passed a storefront advertising for a chiropractor, massage therapist and physical therapist in one building. This really resonated with me that this is what healthcare should be. I left the traditional clinic setting in 2010 and started my business — Better Living With Balance, LLC — combining physical therapy and personal training. Within just a few years, I also earned my health coaching certification. As that business grew, I met a handful of providers who were open to collaborating care with me for patients and clients, and this fueled my passion to bring the dream God gifted me to reality. My narrow vision for renting a few thousand square feet somewhere and partnering with a couple of other providers rapidly grew to the 11,000 square feet of new construction and 25 providers, plus the 12 support staff that we have today.
What need to you see for an organization such as this in the community? Statera brings a new perspective to healthcare in our community, combining traditional medicine, holistic health, as well as fitness and nutrition all under one roof. Our providers work together to provide collaborative care for our clients. Care is focused as much as possible on empowering the client to learn to care for themselves through hydration, nutrition, movement, stress management and sleep.
Since founding Statera, what accomplishments do you believe you’ve made? Opening Statera was a leap of faith for my husband and I and our team, and Dubuque and the surrounding community have welcomed us with open arms, finding our approach to health and wellness refreshing. One of our biggest challenges has been finding ways to share with the community who we are and what we believe in. And now 17 months later, hearing the success stories, testimonials and positive feedback from those clients who were willing to take a chance with us and commit to doing the work is awe inspiring and fuels our passion and energy to keep doing what we’re doing.
What goals do you have for the future of the organization? As our team continues to grow and evolve, we strive to improve our current programming and add new programming to best serve our client needs. Compared to what any one of us could accomplish on our own, what we can create together is exponentially more. Where that will take us, I’m not sure. For now, I’m taking it a moment at a time and enjoying the ride.
Why do you believe that integrated healthcare is such an important option for people to have access to? No one person or discipline can be all things to all people all the time. Bringing multiple disciplines together and encouraging communication among providers allows us to find treatment solutions that work best for each unique client along each step of their wellness journey.
Ultimately, how do you hope to be making an impact in your work? I pray as a team we offer hope and healing for our clients — physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. If we help even one person find more peace, joy and abundance in life, it will all have been worth it.
What advice do you have for other women innovators? Whether the voice you hear is a quiet whisper or a roar from the depths of your soul, if it is speaking life and positivity to you, listen. There is no limit to what we can accomplish when we listen to God’s call for our lives.
When you’re not busy in your work, what else do you enjoy doing? I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling, hiking, biking, trail running, quilting, photography and scrap-booking. My ultimate retreat is time in solitude in nature, enjoying time of connection to the earth away from worldly distractions that sometimes make it difficult to hear my own spirit.
