Skip to main content

Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

Palo-Santo-Candles

Midwife Opens Holistic Women’s Health Practice in Bridgewater

Women often feel so rushed and uncomfortable at annual women’s health visits that the issues in need of discussion are forgotten. Midwife and Nurse Practitioner Sarah Wallis hopes to change that to a positive experience through helping patients feel heard, understood and validated. Wellspring Women’s Health, a newly opened wellness center founded by Wallis, offers a broad range of services with a gentle, integrative approach. From pap tests, period problems and pelvic pain, to natural fertility evaluation and support, to menopause management and hormone balance, she cares for women throughout the life cycle.

“As women, we notice when something’s not right in our body,” says Wallis, “but we don’t often have the courage to make our well-being a priority, especially if we haven’t been able to find help up till now.” Many women, she notes, go five or even ten years from the onset of symptoms until they finally get the right diagnosis and treatment. “By working together as a team and addressing all aspects of health, from the biochemical and physical, to our relationships and emotional life, to how we are nourishing ourselves, we can begin to find real healing.”

Location: 280 Rolling Knolls Way, Bridgewater. Insurance and Medicare accepted. For appointments, call or text 732-456-6262. For more information, visit Wellspring-GYN.com.

Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

Follow Us On Facebook