Speaker 1: 0:00

One good thing that the pandemic did was maybe bring out the telemedicine part of it. I think maybe before we couldn't see how that could happen and with the pandemic that was one thing that I really believe came out of it and stayed. You need to find a better way for yourself so that you can continue to be there for your patients in your practice.

Speaker 2: 0:25

You're listening to America's Healthiest City on Mike King Biz Radio Network on ESPN Richmond 106.1 and Choice 105.3. Good morning and welcome to America's Healthiest City. I'm your host, will Melton. This is ESPN Richmond 106.1. We're on the Mike King Biz Media Network in Richmond 106.1. We're on the Mike King Biz Media Network Today. In the studio I have Dr Tasha Dickerson from WellcomeMD right here in Greater Richmond. We're going to talk about health care and well care today and I'm really excited about this conversation. But if you're tuning in for the very first time, please visit AmericasHealthiestCitycom to learn about our 10-year community partnership to make Richmond the entire community the healthiest in America by 2033. We are inviting everybody to leave ideas on our ideas board, leave comments on others' ideas and look for ideas that you can activate to make our community a healthier place to live, work and play, without further ado. Dr Tasha, dr Tasha. I'm going to say that a few times today.

Speaker 1: 1:23

Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Well, thank you for having me. Will I appreciate the opportunity to be here to represent Well Committee and be beside you today?

Speaker 2: 1:29

Yeah, well, we talk to a lot of different folks from a lot of different pockets of society. We talk about the social determinants of health, we talk about mental health. We don't talk to a lot of direct service care providers and so with, I would say, the changing face of health care these days, there's a lot that we're responding to and there's some new ways of doing business out there when it comes to medicine. So we'll get into all that. But I want to start us off with your background, and I invite everybody who comes onto the show to share with our listeners. Are you native to Richmond or did you move here? And, if so, what brought you here?

Speaker 1: 2:03

Well, thanks for asking. So I am from Richmond. I grew up in the suburbs in Horeco County, but I call myself a Richmonder, went to public school here, graduated from Hermitage High School, left to go to James Madison go Dukes to get my bachelor's degree in biology and pre-med and I met my husband there and we decided Richmond would be a great place to raise a family. So I came back after graduating from JMU, got a degree from MCV at the time they switched over to VCU in clinical laboratory sciences and worked at the hematology department at VCU. And then I went on, got accepted to medical school here, attended medical school and residency here. And we are still here with our family, my two sons, my husband and my dog Bentley.

Speaker 2: 2:56

Well that's. I was speaking with somebody a couple of weeks ago, kelly Delcampo-Marix from Sheltering Arms Institute, from their foundation. She had pursued healthcare you know medicine and quickly kind of realized like ah, this is maybe not for me. She went the fundraising route. What was it that motivated you to go into caring for patients?

Speaker 1: 3:19

Well, yes, I don't know. I think I've always wanted to be a physician. I've always wanted to take care of people or kind of be there for people, but to be a physician is the capacity in which I decided to do so. I've always kind of talked about being a physician. I would walk around, say I'm going to be a doctor one day, even as a small child, and my parents tell the story of how one Christmas I asked for a doctor's bag for Christmas and I think I got a nursing bag and I said that's not what I asked for.

Speaker 1: 3:49

You know I love nurses, you know they rule the world, but I wanted a doctor's bag. And my dad, he kept the doctor's bag and when I graduated from medical school he brought it out. It's a little red plastic doctor's bag, but you know, I just really couldn't imagine doing anything else like. I think it's. It was like a calling, if you will. Um, that's why I wouldn't um force anyone to to do this. I think you're there for people in some of their toughest times in life and they're for some of their good times in life and, um, it's a, it's a wonderful journey to be able to be in my patients' lives in that capacity, and so I'm glad I chose it, and I don't know if I could see myself doing much about anything else.

Speaker 2: 4:32

Well, we'll talk a little bit later in the segment about concierge health care specifically, but I want to talk about, sort of your pathway to Wellcome MD and maybe what, some of the various things that you did from. I'm not going to even try to repeat what your old job was, because I'm not good with the medical terms.

Speaker 1: 4:52

So when I graduated from residency, I worked in a traditional medical practice. It was in the city, at Richmond Community, and I took care of my patients for about 18 years actually A traditional, like I said, super busy practice, but I still felt like I took the time as best as possible to get to know my patients and really did practice family medicine where I took care of, you know, the mother, the father, their children, grandparents. It was truly like a family medicine practice for me. After the pandemic, it was like around 2020. I think a lot of doctors there was a lot of burnout. I think it was an opportunity for people to look at how they were practicing medicine. Is there a different way? And I think it allowed for us to practice medicine a different way, and so I think at that moment I started thinking of other ways that could be more sustainable for myself and allow me to have other opportunities as well.

Speaker 2: 5:53

So you talked about something that maybe we're tired of talking about, but I think the pandemic is something that a lot of us have kind of mentally moved on from. But I talk to folks and I think that I personally there's something changed during the pandemic, whether it's social or whether there was some kind of biological change that happened as a result of the virus. It's harder to be focused.

Speaker 1: 6:13

It's harder to be organized.

Speaker 2: 6:14

It's harder to get some things done that seemed like they were easier before, and I say that because you know if everybody out there is kind of experiencing something as a result of this life-changing event, I can only imagine what it must be like to be a healthcare professional, and you know that burnout, that grind I mean. Have you do you feel like you've recovered?

Speaker 1: 6:36

from that?

Speaker 2: 6:36

Do you feel like that? There are some lasting sort of trauma associated with being a healthcare professional during this, you know, really monumental time?

Speaker 1: 6:44

It was definitely a different crazy time. I think, maybe even out of that, it just allowed us to. Well, you asked a couple of questions, so, yes, I think I have recovered. There was a moment of. This is crazy. We all need to rest and we do need to rise up from the ashes, but I think that the pandemic one good thing that it did was maybe bring out the telemedicine part of it.

Speaker 1: 7:08

I think maybe before we couldn't see how that could happen, and with the pandemic, that was one thing that kind of, I really believe, came out of it and stayed. It showed us that it was possible, and I guess insurance companies had to come on board with allowing us to be able to be compensated for that and so, but yes, and I think it also helped physicians to realize that you know you don't have to work to that capacity of burnout and you shouldn't do that. We need to find a better way for yourself so that you can continue to be there for your patients in your practice.

Speaker 2: 7:46

So yeah, Well, immense gratitude and just kudos to everybody who endured that and continued to work even though the conditions were not ideal, absolutely. Well, I'm just fascinated by anybody that goes down this path. I think there's definitely a service component to it that cannot be separated from the profession, Right? So we're going to take a quick break and when we come back we'll talk a little bit more about concierge medicine. And welcome MD.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 8:20

Thank you for listening to America's Healthiest City on Mike King Biz Radio Network. Welcome back to America's Healthiest City on ESPN Richmond. Good morning. If you are tuning in today for the very first time, I want you to go over to our social media profiles, whether that's on YouTube or on LinkedIn. We're there. We're also on Instagram. We have short clips from the show that we share there. We also have a podcast that you can listen to this show at your convenience. We release this show on our podcast at the very same time that we broadcast on ESPN, so you can always get this show if you subscribe over there. Today we're in the studio with Dr Tasha Dickerson from WelcomeMD. She's a physician there and we're talking about we're going to have this conversation about concierge medicine and how things are changing in the space of healthcare. So you've we just kind of talked about this shift that you took, kind of induced by the pandemic. You went right into this space of concierge medicine, right?

Speaker 1: 9:20

So it was a slow transition. I think what happened for me was I was looking for another way to continue to practice and still feel fulfilled, and it was like, like we said, it was an odd time. I remember patients started, you know, asking for maybe they have more time, like on Instagram or other outlets, and they were looking for other ways to for doctors to practice medicine. They were bringing, hey, can you perform this test? Can we get this type of testing done? Can we do xyz?

Speaker 1: 9:56

And at my previous practice, which was a traditional practice, nothing wrong, it just wasn't available. So so it definitely allowed me to start looking for other options and I think functional medicine was what I said, my aha, this is what I've been looking for myself. I had time actually to participate in a class it was what was it called Functional Medicine, fast Track and I participated in that program and that kind of set me off on the path of wanting to start focusing more on functional medicine, but realizing that it still wasn't possible in the traditional model practice that I was in at the time. And then this opportunity with concierge medicine presented itself with the ability to do the functional medicine and I'm like sign me up.

Speaker 2: 10:49

This is what I like to do. So we talked about this just before we came on and you were explaining to me what functional medicine is, and I'm a believer after you said what it is so why? Don't, for the sake of our listeners. Why don't you explain what functional medicine is and maybe also what concierge medicine is?

Speaker 1: 11:02

Sure so well, functional medicine is a way of I'd say it's a way of thinking about medicine that's different from the current model that we have. If you think about medicine kind of as a tree with branches, leaves and roots, if you think of functional medicine as being the root, looking for the root cause of what's the problem, I think currently we kind of look at the leaves. You know, hey, you have depression. That's the end point. But what is the pathway that got you there? What are the roots? Have you been exposed to something that maybe is causing the depression? Are you deficient in something that's creating the depression?

Speaker 1: 11:41

So traditionally it's called root cause medicine. I think some people think of it more like naturopathic. It's not so much because I think with functional medicine we have the ability to use herbal supplements. We still have the ability to use pharmaceuticals. We have the ability to use, you know, other modalities. Kind of put it together, but look at the person as a whole and kind of ask questions. We have time to talk and ask questions about how did you get to this point of where you are sitting in front of me, versus a five minute visit of yep, those symptoms, that's depression, take this medication and move on.

Speaker 2: 12:15

So you could potentially be giving somebody medicine, they've got an environmental factor that's causing their depression and maybe the medicine does something. But come to find out they could have just shifted something in their life. They could have just changed something in their environment and never had to take the medicine and dealt with the depression or whatever that is, or in conjunction, maybe you know maybe they need both.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Maybe you know. Maybe they do need the medication, but maybe we need to now. Do we have a mercury issue? Is there a vitamin B12 deficiency? Is there a vitamin D deficiency? Are there other comorbidities? Have you been exposed to some environmental toxin when you were growing up? You know, did things that your mother were exposed to when you were in utero. So all of those things play a part.

Speaker 2: 12:53

And concierge medicine is a departure from sort of like going to the doctor's office and kind of having these brief visits and kind of seeing all these different professionals. Tell us a little bit about what the patient experience is like in concierge medicine.

Speaker 1: 13:06

Yeah. So with the functional medicine you need time. So concierge medicine provides the time not just time for me, but time for the patient to talk and time for us to get to know each other. I don't think I really realize how much like just talking to patients, like just relax and we just have a conversation, how much information you get from a patient that's useful in their care. You know, finding out, you know, something that they may not think is important, is critical in providing a healthcare plan. So Concierge Medicine One provides time to spend with doctor, physician, with the patient. It allows us to create a plan together. You know, I want the patient to be a part of their care. I don't want it to be hey, just do this, I want it to be a partnership. We it's there's privacy. You know our waiting room is very small. You don't have, you're not sharing an appointment time with five other people, so you can come on in and we can come up with a plan together and maybe even help you to get to a specialist if that is necessary.

Speaker 1: 14:14

We do different labs that maybe aren't available with your primary care physician. That also can provide additional information that you may not have had otherwise. Whether it's like the functional medicine labs or just more additional cardiovascular labs to kind of see what path are you on as far as your cardiovascular health. So there's a lot of options that are available. And then just exploring other things I was telling you earlier about, like HBOT or just other things that are available. We don't do those at our practice, but just having that discussion I think a lot of physicians may not even know what they are. So patients want to know like they'll come and ask questions. What do you think about this? So just even having that discussion about other modalities is a wonderful, I think, a good thing to help with their care.

Speaker 2: 15:01

I can imagine, like you, have a patient that bases all their choices of you know how they live their life and their choices about their health care, what they intake, based off their horoscope or something like that and they don't tell you that You're like well you know, maybe we should know this detail.

Speaker 1: 15:15

Exactly, exactly, so it's good.

Speaker 2: 15:18

Well, let's, you said, spend a lot of time. I think one of the things I'm interested in here is the component of trust and building up trust, because it's not just about discovering those things that the patient may not realize is important, but it's also getting the patient to trust you enough to tell you the things that maybe they're embarrassed about or they have dealt with for a long time and they really just don't want to talk about it, but they really probably need to if they're going to actually see their condition improve.

Speaker 1: 15:46

Absolutely so I think. So with concierge we have time. So it's it's, if you don't have time to tell me what's going on in that 10 minute visit, you know we can come back and we can. We can build that relationship because it's not like hey, I have an appointment today and I won't see that doctor again for another year. It's. You know, if you need to come back next week, we usually have a space for you to come back and we can continue the conversation.

Speaker 1: 16:11

So I think time doesn't seem like it's important, but it is, and I think having that time allows us to build the relationship, to develop the trust. It's very important. To develop the trust. It's very important. I think I'm still trying to develop like the family situation with a concierge practice. So it's also how. That's important, how when you take care of a family, when you see the mother and then the child, it's like you're trying to develop that relationship between the two and get in there and kind of get both of them to buy in and trust you at the same time. But yeah, it's very important. Trust is very important and I don't take it lightly. I really respect that and I understand how it can be difficult if you don't trust someone, if you don't know them, to give that information to them.

Speaker 2: 17:04

Understand how it can be difficult if you don't trust someone if you don't know them to give that information to them. So I know nothing about the healthcare space other than just that. We have these professionals that we need when we need them, and when we don't, we probably need them then too. How does the pay model work? I know you mentioned specialists. You talked to primary care providers. How does it fit into the overall model, and what can patients expect when they seek out care from a concierge professional?

Speaker 1: 17:30

So say that again as far as paying, or Like the pay model like how does it financially does it work?

Speaker 2: 17:35

Does insurance cover that? I misunderstood yes.

Speaker 1: 17:38

So there is a fee that the patient or the family member will pay for the service. It allows us to have the time, but we also use insurance to pay for your lab work or if you need imaging or the specialist, because usually they don't participate in the concierge model. So we haven't gotten enough of the specialists on board to kind of participate.

Speaker 1: 18:00

So they still accept the insurance. But we do accept most of the insurance plans. But yes, that's kind of how it works. So it's usually you can pay it up front or you can pay it over quarterly, I guess.

Speaker 2: 18:14

So it's a membership, basically.

Speaker 1: 18:15

It is a membership?

Speaker 2: 18:16

Yeah, Absolutely. Well, I guess that's from a business model perspective that allows the patient to feel confident that they're going to see their same healthcare professional and they're going to be there when they come back in a year when they come back in a week.

Speaker 1: 18:31

So we have a meet and greet, which is something that I was I had to get used to when I first started working at Wellcome, because I'm used to the patient kind of having your name on their insurance card and they kind of show up and it's kind of like, okay, this is who I'm seeing today. But we do a meet and greet so that we can get to know the patient and they can get to know us and we can both decide if we want to continue on with the relationship. So it's awesome. It allows both of us to kind of see do we want to move forward? So that's the beginning of the relationship, right there.

Speaker 2: 19:00

We do that with our dog sitters every single time.

Speaker 1: 19:02

Why do we not do it with?

Speaker 2: 19:03

our doctors Wow.

Speaker 1: 19:04

So if we don't like each other, then we just don't even get involved. But that doesn't mean anything.

Speaker 2: 19:08

Yeah Well, I think that it's all part of the trust building. Well, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back we'll zoom out, talk a little bit more about Richmond's health. Thank you for listening to America's Healthiest City on Mike King. It's another Thursday morning and you're listening to America's Healthiest City on ESPN. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We appreciate your support, we appreciate you listening, we appreciate you participating in making Richmond the healthiest region in America by 2033. We're in the studio today with Dr Tasha Dickerson. I don't know why I'm having a hard time with the doctor. Part of this today From Welcome MD, right here in Richmond, just so I don't forget where is your practice located.

Speaker 1: 19:51

We're located at Gaskins and Three Chop. It's on the corner of Gaskins and Three Chop and it's in that medical complex right there.

Speaker 2: 19:58

And I was looking at your website earlier. It's not just Richmond, you guys have some other locations as well.

Speaker 1: 20:02

We have one in North Carolina, so we have two physicians there.

Speaker 2: 20:06

Great, and you guys have six physicians here in Richmond, right?

Speaker 2: 20:08

We are getting two more, so yes, it'll be six by the end of the year. I should say, yes, wonderful. It's great to see that growth. I think Richmond is a growing community, so we need more doctors and we need more pathways to healthcare.

Speaker 2: 20:20

I want to talk a little bit about Richmond, because we talk a lot about the social determinants of health on this program, but we don't often talk about the individual and the individual's health, and so there's a lot of different places that we can go with this. But one of the things that we hope to be able to leave people with is the the belief that Richmond can be a healthier place, but also the understanding that it takes each of us making some decisions about how we live our lives to contribute to that bigger picture. But also, you know, how do we end up being healthy ourselves? So I'm curious you talk to a lot of patients. You've got a lot of advice to give people. What are some thoughts that come through your mind when, if you had to write a broad prescription for somebody to live a healthy life, what would be a couple of things that you would say should be included in that prescription to? Maybe it could apply to everybody?

Speaker 1: 21:12

Well, we kind of spoke about it earlier it's nutrition is like the biggest thing. I think that's the biggest focus right now with even functional medicine is we are what we eat. So just getting sustainable, get rid of the food deserts Like you know, where I used to practice, there probably were more deserts there. So just working on that, but then just for all of us just to try to eat healthier and make better choices, whether we're using local you know, we're in a great city for different climates, we can grow lots of different types of produce, and so I think just nutrition is just the biggest thing. So focusing on that, getting active, that's always.

Speaker 1: 21:56

Once again, our environment is awesome. We have the four seasons so we can participate in winter sports, we can participate in summer sports and even spring and fall those are always available. We can walk outside, so we don't need a gym, right, we don't need to go inside. So staying active as long as we can and stretching, weightlifting and lightweights that's my new thing. I need to do some more lightweights because as we get older we get weaker, so that's important. So, nutrition working out, it's the basics, it's, and then hydration, hydration, hydration, hydration is so, it's so important and you have your water and the different types of water we talked about that early with hydrogen water and then your alkaline water and um, so, but those basic things, they are a lot and we've gotten away from them, um, and I think we as a society are turning around.

Speaker 1: 22:46

I think we need to probably get more nutrition taught in class so that we can get the younger generation bought on and to buy in with getting their health, taking care of their health early with good nutrition. But I think that's the biggest thing. So, nutrition, hydration and keeping moving. It's the basics, it's nothing fancy. It's consistency too right Doing it consistently.

Speaker 2: 23:06

I think about our cars, right, you know like we go to the gas station, we put gas in. We know we can't put diesel in there. It's going to ruin the engine Absolutely. You know. We know that if we don't turn the car on every once in a while, eventually the battery is going to die. It's not going to run the same way anymore. So we've got to.

Speaker 1: 23:20

We've got to we are what we eat. I mean like else's medicine. You wouldn't do that.

Speaker 2: 23:28

Well, and they all feed into each other. You know, I started going to the gym more regularly than I had previously in my life late last year. And one of my favorite things to do. I don't ever want it any other time, but when I come home from the gym, I want a protein shake with lots of vegetables and fruits in it. It tastes great. It makes me feel better. I'm still hungry when it's over, Right.

Speaker 1: 23:48

But you gave yourself the protein. You gave yourself the muscles, the protein. You need.

Speaker 2: 23:52

Yeah, it's a good habit to be in, it is, it's the basics, though, yeah, the basics, the basics, and they're virtuous.

Speaker 1: 23:59

They kind of give us a little bit of action Never goes out of style. No.

Speaker 2: 24:03

But the alternative does it, does it really does so share with me if you would. We'll talk about some more ideas if we've got time left over, but we're always looking for folks out there in the community and who better to ask than somebody who's giving great advice? Who's somebody who we should talk to, who's making a difference in the community, who will help us to hopefully shape the future of our community health?

Speaker 1: 24:29

I'm biased, but if you speak with Linda Nash, she is our founder. She kind of is the person that I guess brought Concierge to Richmond, so that's kind of a forward-thinking person.

Speaker 1: 24:42

That was what almost 20 years ago when she started Concierge Medicine. So she's continued on with Wellcome MD and made it a little bit smaller and a little bit more boutique-y I guess. But I think it takes a forward-thinking person to think about that. At that time she was the only one that was doing that and then I think, like I said, with telehealth, I think that kind of just kind of helps the progression and, I guess, evolution of concierge medicine to continue on and become what it's become today. So she has some wonderful ideas and I think she's she's a good person to kind of talk to. She started several businesses and two of them were medical practices.

Speaker 2: 25:25

So Well, I love creative people and it sounds like she's very creative, so thanks for that recommendation. I want to give our listeners an opportunity to find out where they can find both Welcome and you. So where can folks find you guys out there?

Speaker 1: 25:38

So we are at. What do you want me to make my?

Speaker 2: 25:41

Well, why don't you give the domain and spell it out, because I know it's not what it sounds like.

Speaker 1: 25:44

So it is WelcomeMD with two L's. It's W-E-L-L-C-O-M-E-M-D, welcomemdcom. You just Google that and you should get the Richmond location and you can schedule a I guess it's a visit. You can speak with our coordinator, jodi Wright. She gets you in, she gets you signed up, you can tour the facility. It's wonderful, and you can meet with one or two or three physicians if you like, and we'd love to meet and greet with you and tell you about our great services and take you on and take care of you.

Speaker 2: 26:16

Yeah well, I encourage everybody out there to check them out, and next time you have a meet and greet with your dog sitter, remember that you want to have that same relationship with your doctor too. Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 26:27

We want to do that right.

Speaker 2: 26:28

Yes, well, we want to feel like the decisions that we're making are sound and our own, but also rooted in good advice.

Speaker 1: 26:38

Absolutely, I agree.

Speaker 2: 26:40

Well, this has been a great conversation. I wish we had more time. Thank you for coming on the air with us.

Speaker 1: 26:45

I really appreciate this Thanks for inviting me.

Speaker 2: 26:48

I appreciate it. This was America's Healthiest City on ESPN Richmond 106.1. Catch us each week here on the network at 6 am, Also on socials podcasts, wherever you get them. We'll see you next week.