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Business

An Infusion of Wellness

Elizabeth and Rob Miller opened Alpine Health and Wellness this fall, blending primary care and alternative medicine

By Maggie Dresser
Nurse practitioner Elizabeth Miller of Alpine Health and Wellness in Kalispell on Nov. 23, 2021. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

After working in hospital settings in Wyoming and Arizona throughout their careers, Elizabeth and Rob Miller recently moved to the Flathead Valley to open a primary care clinic with the goal of having deeper patient connections while also using alternative medicine.

Both nurse practitioners, Elizabeth’s passion lies in general health, weight loss and women’s health while her husband Rob, who is also a nurse anesthetist, focuses on the wellness realm at their new primary care clinic, Alpine Health and Wellness in Kalispell.

While the clinic offers general primary care services like acute care, exams, pap smears and diabetes treatments, the Millers also offer unique therapies like intravenous (IV) nutritional infusions to improve energy, immune health and even hangovers.

“We’ve used nutrient therapy a lot,” Elizabeth said. “A lot of people use it to stay healthy and some people come in with illnesses, fatigue or brain fog.”

With several IV therapies to choose from, Elizabeth says they are mostly variations of the classic Myers Cocktail, which includes a mixture of essential multivitamins including calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc and vitamins B and C. Other therapies include an immune defense, which also contains ascorbic acid, an inner beauty therapy containing biotin and a hangover formula with an anti-nausea medication.

In addition to overall “wellness,” they also offer infusions with NAD+, a naturally occurring chemical in the body that’s used as a supplement for a variety of ailments including high blood pressure and fatigue. The Millers have begun using NAD+ to treat patients with COVID long haul — a term employed to describe a range of post-infection conditions — to reduce brain fog.

An infusion room at Alpine Health and Wellness in Kalispell on Nov. 23, 2021. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

“I really like having this IV component,” Elizabeth said. “I see patients in primary care who are actively sick and you don’t always have something to help them feel better quickly.”

With a background as a nurse anesthetist, Rob has experience using ketamine as an anesthetic for his patients, which has helped inspire him to provide ketamine infusions, given in micro doses, for patients with depression, anxiety, PTSD and chronic pain.

Elizabeth, too, has used ketamine in emergency room settings in hospitals, and says it’s used for conscious sedation and to reduce pain and anxiety.

Next year, once they have sufficient equipment at the clinic, Rob plans to begin ketamine therapies for patients who have had an evaluation or have received a referral.

In a separate ketamine infusion room, while music plays in the background, patients are awake while hooked up to an EKG monitor, blood pressure monitor and pulse oximeter with oxygen and medications on hand in case a patient has an adverse reaction. Rob will also offer guided therapies to pair with the infusion.

“During the infusion, you can feel a little floaty,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth calls the wellness aspect of their business an “infusion therapy crossover,” and while she plans to focus on primary care, Rob will exclusively perform the ketamine infusions.

“It’s a really nice complement to primary care, which is above and beyond my passion,” Elizabeth said. “I love primary care and we wanted to be partners in what we did.”

In addition to IV and ketamine infusions, the clinic also provides services for athletes who are seeking muscle recovery formulas and they hope to set up an IV booth at events like the Spartan Race, which is hosted annually in Kalispell.

For more information, visit www.myalpinehealth.com.