Carrie Louise Daenell, Naturopathic Doctor.

Carrie Louise Daenell, ND is a licensed as a primary care physician in the state of Washington, license # 00000910, conducted her pre-medical studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder and completed her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA.

It is important to us that if we are to work together, that we are a “best fit” for one another.  For that reason we would encourage you to speak briefly with us on the telephone prior to your appointment to make certain that your health goals fall within our areas of expertise, experience and passion in natural medicine.  If for any reason that is not the case, we would be happy to make a more appropriate referral for you.  Please read the following notes on “what to expect when working together.”  They answer just about every question we have ever received prior to working with someone on their health goals.  In this manner you can make a more informed decision about our being the “best fit” for you.  Should we be in agreement, we will move forward!

What can I expect, financially and logistically, when working with you?

Your initial consultation of 90 minutes will be provided for $350.  Follow-up consultations of 20-30 minutes will be provided for $200.  If you are certain that your follow-up consultation will require extensive work that will exceed the 30 minute visit, we are happy to work with you in an extended manner.  Please make arrangements ahead of time in order to respect the time of those who are scheduled after you.

Does Insurance Cover the Cost of Your Care?

Our office does not process any type of insurance, nor is the work we do intended to be processed by insurance companies for reimbursement.  We accept cash, checks, Visa and Master Card.  We are unable to process American Express.  Flexible spending plans and medical savings accounts frequently reimburse for the cost of our care and for the nutritional supplements that come from our office.  We are happy to support you with any necessary letter or documentation to support your reimbursement from these eligible programs.

Can you serve as my Primary Care Doctor?

We practice as wellness consultants and all of our patients retain MDs or DOs as their primary care providers, as we do not provide primary care.  We do not carry pagers and do not practice "acute care."    We work with people on a longer-term basis to correct the underlying cause of their health challenges and never handle any type of emergencies.  We do not perform pap and pelvic exams, school physicals and do not see colds, earaches, etc., on an acute basis as they arise.  We see patients once per month in the beginning, in order to give fair time to the changes that they might be experiencing in accordance with the therapies that they are employing.  More time may lapse in between visits, thereafter. Usually no less time lapses between visits, as we like to give ample time for change to occur and, therefore, allow the patient to give us thorough feedback on what we are doing so that we can make any necessary adjustments.

Is there any additional expense that I should be aware of when investing in my health in this practice?

The most costly aspects of natural care in our practice are the nutritional supplements that we use to support healing.  Supplements are a substantial investment, regardless of quality or potency. We take great care and are able, with our education, experience and expertise, to discern quality, potency, intelligent formulations, bioavailability and the standards met by the manufacturing facilities.

What makes the nutritional supplements in your practice exceptional?

We use practitioner supplement lines, some of which are exclusive to our practice, that “are what they say they are, nothing more nothing less” - and that are designed to be potent and, therefore, recommended and supported by practitioners.  The companies that manufacture these nutritional supplements were created by doctors like us, for doctors like us, whom "know the difference" and they cater to our particular, critical and demanding standards.  There are a wide variety of raw materials and various forms of “the same” nutrients available in this growing market.  Some forms are much better absorbed and much better used in the body than other forms.  It is not a light topic and knowing these differences, and providing these better forms and formulas is part of our effort to provide you with the “best of the best” in guidance and quality “tools” in order to support your healing goals.  These manufacturing facilities may voluntarily meet GMP or FDA Drug Registered standards for manufacturing.  Further, these lines often make available substances and formulas that only doctors, like us, know how to use and can take the time to educate people with regard to their use.  Therefore, they would not be found in any version in the over-the-counter market.  Accordingly, we are able to use quality, potent materials put together in intelligent formulas that produce dramatic results for people working to improve their health.  This is vital to the success of our patients.  We do not engage in the use or sale of multi-level marketed supplements and have no future plans for doing so.  If your interest lies within that arena, we are not the doctors for you.

What is your return policy on nutritional supplements?

Returns can be accepted for unopened product with at least six months remaining until expiration date and may be subject to a 15% restocking fee.  Special order items and opened products cannot be refunded.

Do you use “one of those machines” to figure out what is going on with me?

We use our extensive education and training and sometimes "conventional" laboratory work in order to make assessments regarding someone's path to healing.  We do not have any “magic machines” for "diagnosing" that we use on every patient that walks in the door.  We find that a doctor with strong training is rarely interested in such machines and that the appeal of the machines, beyond helping a practitioner past their lack of training, is their marketing appeal.  This type of work, therefore, is outside of our value system.  Over the years, we have reviewed every type of machine that we have been exposed to.  To date, we are not impressed.  We are certain that practitioners that use these methods do fine work.  We do not think that they are harmful, per se, we simply do not find them necessary.  Some of them, additionally, are quite expensive.

What is a Naturopathic Doctor and what level of care do you provide in your practice?

Naturopathic Doctors are trained to do primary care, including minor surgery and the use of prescription medicines, and in areas that include: physical medicine, counseling, homeopathy, herbal medicine and nutrition.  We use physiotherapy, osseous manipulation, psychological counseling techniques, dietary changes, vitamins, minerals, herbs, glandulars and homeopathy.  Not all Naturopathic Doctors employ all of these modalities.  We practice as wellness consultants and not as primary care providers.  We use vitamins, minerals, herbs, glandulars, homeopathy, bio-identical hormones packaged for over-the-counter sale along with lifestyle and dietary recommendations in order to facilitate health changes.  We do not provide psychological counseling, physiotherapy, massage or osseous manipulation care in our practice.

What about the education and licensing of a Naturopathic Doctor “ND”?

Our education can be completed in no less than 8 years.  Accordingly, we are eligible, upon graduation, to sit for state department of health licensing exams.  The Washington state medical science and clinical board exams (the exams I took and where I hold an active primary care license) involve five 8 hour days of testing and licenses the Naturopathic Doctor that passes these exams as a primary care family physician.  The Naturopathic Doctor, therefore, has prescriptive authority and the right to do out-patient minor surgery and all aspects of out patient family medicine, as any primary care physician would.  Naturopathic Doctors are licensed as primary care physicians in 14 states, 2 territories and Washington, DC.  Colorado is not one of the states that licenses or regulates this profession.

In the states that do license the profession, the law is clear…either a person pursued and accomplished the education or they did not.  They hold a license or they do not.  Creatively educated people cannot legally call themselves Naturopathic Doctors or “NDs” in these licensed states.  (It would be like calling yourself an MD, without having gone to medical school, but having learned about medicine in some other capacity.  Doing so is not legal).  In Colorado (as in many states), however, Naturopathic Doctors are not licensed or regulated, therefore, there are many creatively educated people using the term “Naturopathic Doctor” or "ND" to describe the work that they do.  Some went through the vigorous and thorough Naturopathic medical education and testing that I did, others did not.  The accredited four-year Naturopathic medical programs are as follows:

1. National College of Naturopathic Medicine
2. Bastyr University
3. Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine
4. Bridgeport University
5. Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine
6. Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine

More information can be found on the website for the American Association of Naturopathic Medicine at: www.Naturopathic.org

We hope this brings clarity to any education, training and practice style questions that you may have.  Please feel free to contact us with further questions with regard to the possibility of our working together.  It is important to us that you have those questions answered and that we both make the important decision to work together in an informed manner.  Should we embark on this journey of healing together, it will be an honor to do our best work for you.

Yours in health,