The medical director at the Nava Health & Vitality Center that opened last week in Chevy Chase says it offers an integrative, comprehensive and detailed approach to health that traditional medicine just can’t.
The center has a team of doctors, nutritionists, sports nutritionists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists and others Dr. Douglas Lord said provide all sorts of service.
Most of Nava’s clients (it has one other location in Columbia) are in their 40s, 50s and 60s, looking for help regaining hormones, losing weight or just feeling more active.
Most of the services, except for the bloodwork done before an initial consultation, aren’t covered by insurance and aren’t cheap. A membership is $79 a month and can cover massages, sessions in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber and some other services. More intensive treatments — such as hormone optimization — can cost upward of $800 a year.
But Lord and CEO Bernie Dancel say there’s a market for those looking for alternatives to the traditional check-up and referrals system.
“We feel like the timing is right. People are getting frustrated. We’re spending enormous amounts of money and not getting as healthy as we should,” Lord said. “Traditional medicine is to try to fix you when you get sick. What we try to do is look at the whole picture to get everything in balance so that a person can be as healthy as possible.”
Nava’s main pitch is that instead of 10-15 minutes with a doctor, clients get a 45-minute consultation that provides a detailed look at a person’s health and a program to improve that health.
And Lord, a longtime OB/GYN, said he’s found that Nava’s Columbia clients are more serious about treatments, a natural consequence of having searched those treatments out in the first place.
“When people have some skin in the game, put their own money up, they’ll really do what they have to do,” Lord said. “What we find is that people that come to us are much, much more motivated than what we’ve found in traditional private practice.”
Nutritionists and wellness advisors are a big part of the so-called “Nava Method,” especially when it concerns weight loss. Lord said Nava prefers supplements over prescription drugs and having a chiropractor regularly meeting with an acupuncturist or other specialists on staff provide a more complete approach.
“It’s not anti-aging, because you can’t stop the aging process,” Lord said. “The term is healthy aging.”
Nava (5 Wisconsin Circle) is one of a number of Friendship Heights medical centers outside the traditional medical model pitching help with the aging process. The NeurExpand Brain Center opened this summer nearby.
Photo via Nava
