Emmaline Pratt treats patients as part of her studies to become a naturopathic doctor at Sonora Health Sciences University in Arizona. Posted photo
Rebecca Rivas missouri independent
Emmaline Pratt grew up in Kearney, 30 miles northeast of Kansas City, and has been surrounded by firefighters her entire life.
Her father is the local fire chief, and firefighters have been in her family for generations.
“I have lived the sacrifices they make to be away from their families and risk their lives,” Pratt said. “But they are putting their health at risk.”
That’s part of the reason she decided to study at Sonora Health Sciences University in Arizona to become a naturopathic physician, or primary care physician with a focus on holistic care. Pratt’s dream is to open her own clinic in her hometown and partially help first responders optimize their health outcomes.
But under current state law, Pratt could not establish that practice in Missouri. Unlike Kansas and 22 other states, Missouri has no licensing or registration laws for naturopathic physicians.
Currently, 26 jurisdictions (23 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) have enacted licensure or registration laws for naturopathic physicians. (Map courtesy of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.)
In states where the practice of naturopathic medicine is regulated, physicians must graduate from an accredited four-year residential naturopathic medicine program and pass the doctoral medical examination to obtain licensure or registration. .
Missouri doesn’t have a licensure program, so Pratt could consult with patients but couldn’t write prescriptions, order tests or do many of the other things she’s been trained to do. Ta.
Two Republicans, Sen. Nick Schroer of Defiance and Rep. Doug Ritchie of Excelsior Springs, are proposing legislation to establish that licensing structure in Missouri.
Ritchie said Emmalyn and her father, Kevin Platt, brought the issue to their attention several years ago. He believes this bill will give Missourians greater access to quality health care.
“We continue to talk about the need to increase access to health care in both rural and urban areas, and this is an area of health care that is known to be effective,” Ritchie said. “There are other states that officially recognize it as such.”
So far, he said, Schroter’s bill has received more attention than his own bill because it has been referred to a committee and is getting closer to hearings.
Dr. Emily Hudson, president of the Missouri Association of Naturopathic Physicians, estimates there are more than a dozen naturopathic doctors currently practicing in Missouri who could become licensed under the proposed bill’s prerequisites. .
“Some doctors who practice in other states want to return to their home state of Missouri,” she says.
Hudson also said the bill’s passage is urgent because of the serious shortage of doctors in the country, as announced by the American Medical Association in October. The association estimates that more than 83 million people across the country currently live in areas without adequate access to a primary care physician.
“During this physician shortage, we are well-positioned to step in and help,” she said. “Furthermore, it provides people with safe, ethical and effective options.”
What is a Naturopathic Doctor?
Pratt said firefighters are exposed to harmful chemicals while fighting fires, putting them at risk of contracting the disease.
“Even for that short period of time, the exposure is very high,” she says.
Pratt’s father and other first responders undergo blood tests and stress tests every year to ensure they are fit for the job.
“It should be a form of prevention… so that if the disease is detected, it can be dealt with early,” she said.
However, Pratt sees a gap in having someone guide him in implementing his recommendations.
That’s where her practice helps, she said, “to give them the naturopathic side of things so they can make long-term changes.”
Beyond prescription drugs, Pratt said she focuses on helping them maintain a healthy lifestyle and supporting them with natural ways to help their bodies detox.
At the heart of naturopathic medicine is the idea of ”treating people first,” said Dr. Jamila Owens Todd, a St. Louis-based naturopath.
“You don’t treat the disease,” she said. “When you see the person as they are, you see what the imbalance is.”
Owens Todd currently works with the Bullet-Related Injury Clinic, a community-based clinic in St. Louis that helps people heal from gunshot wounds.
There, she works in partnership with the clinic’s director, Dr. L.J. Punch, who was a trauma surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital while on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine.
“We work from the inside out, so to speak, and Dr. Punch understands that,” Owens Todd said. “And not only did we get that, we built a facility based on it.”
Naturopathic medicine can help heal people regardless of demographic or socio-economic boundaries or severity of disease, she said.
And that requires extensive training, she said.
Hudson said there are currently many people in Missouri using the title “naturopathic physician” who do not have the training required under the licensure framework outlined in the bill. Stated.
If the bill passes, those who do not have the necessary education will not be able to use the title.
“Protecting our titles is paramount to the security of Missouri,” Hudson said. “So that people don’t have to look up and be confused about what kind of practitioner they’re seeing.”
Rebecca Rivas I’m a multimedia reporter covering Missouri’s cannabis industry. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, she has been reporting in Missouri since 2001, including as senior reporter and video editor at the St. Louis American, one of the nation’s leading African American newspapers. As a producer she worked for more than 10 years.
