Speaker 1: 0:30

My name is Rachel Bonner. My business name is Rachel B Well, I'm a family nurse practitioner. I've worked in the primary care space for like over 20 years Now. I provide more kind of holistic or integrative care. Most of the clients that come to see me are having issues with some kind of hormone imbalance or struggling with their metabolic health. So you know, we kind of look at them more, like I said, holistically, trying to get all the pieces together to help them have a better plan to optimize their health.

Speaker 2: 1:01

Absolutely. And now, when you say holistically, I'm guessing that that means not maybe giving them as much medication and finding other ways.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Yeah, like a lot of times we're trying to figure out, like the root cause of their problems, right, like not just medicating symptoms, so actually like treating the cause of their symptoms, we're also looking more at, like their lifestyle what they're eating, you know, how much activity do they have during the day, what stressors might be affecting them, like are they sleeping so many other you know aspects of their life that could be contributing to them not feeling well or not as well as they should be.

Speaker 2: 1:37

No, absolutely, and I love that, getting to the root of the problem as opposed to just being. Here's a prescription Go ahead and see if that works for you.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Yeah, I mean, we definitely try to avoid medicines, you know, as much as we can. There's always, you know, some situations where people don't really have a choice right, some situations where people don't really have a choice right. But we try to like optimize our health in other ways so that maybe, if they do require medication, that they're able to use less right.

Speaker 2: 2:03

Absolutely. And then can you tell me a little bit of a backstory about yourself and how you got involved with nursing and all of that good stuff?

Speaker 1: 2:12

Yeah, I grew up in Pennsylvania like very rural Pennsylvania actually Like my family doctor lived in his office, like his house was connected to the office, you know. So we're like sitting in the living room waiting to be seen. When I was young, um, I kind of always knew I was going to be in some kind of science or healthcare. My mom's a nurse, my dad's an immunologist. Um, I always had that drive, I mean it kind of sounds a little bit I don't know, you hear this all the time like I wanted to help people, like I have kind of that drive like in me that is something fulfilling for me is to help other people. My family was very altruistic. You know I grew up that way, but initially I was a biology major and then I decided I wanted to be in healthcare. I eventually moved to like the DC area when I was 23. From Pennsylvania, yeah, and I worked at Georgetown hospital for a while and then I decided I was going to go back to grad school to be a nurse practitioner.

Speaker 2: 3:08

Look at that. Yes, How's the journey been so far for you when it comes to having your own practice, your team building that all up?

Speaker 1: 3:15

Yeah, I mean, I think that I felt like I just couldn't help my patients the way I wanted to. I just had such short amount of time with them, you know, at their visits. All of the things that I really wanted to do with them required longer visits, which insurance, you know what I mean, is not going to pay for patients to sit with you for an hour, like to really go over your symptoms and try to, you know, derive a better treatment plan and help them be well. Um, so I kind of, at that point I was like I can't do this anymore because I don't feel like I'm helping my patients in the way that I should be. Um, I also wanted to have a little bit more autonomy. Um, I kind of wanted to have my own schedule. I didn't want to work like the insane hours that I was working before, Um, and I didn't want to feel like that pressure sensation that you have all the time You're always on call. Um, you're always, you know, kind of a slave to your computer.

Speaker 2: 4:06

Yeah, Um.

Speaker 1: 4:07

I still have that sometimes, but I you know.

Speaker 2: 4:09

I try to kind of keep that in bay as much as possible. I think that's probably the entrepreneur in you, probably, who's just like as much as possible. I think that's probably the entrepreneur in you, probably, who's just like. You know what I want to have my own business as opposed to being part of one.

Speaker 1: 4:19

You know what I'm saying, yeah, I was kind of like I want to and I mean I will be honest, like I feel like a lot of people have made a lot of money off me in the past. Oh, my goodness, I kind of drive that myself. I do feel that people should have access to like the best healthcare that they can. So I don't feel like driving up prices you know what I mean to insane amounts is even respectable, but I just knew that there was no way, like I said, that I could do what I wanted to do in a more what I want to say like Western type setup. You know your standard primary care. So absolutely.

Speaker 2: 4:57

And then, how many people do you have on your team currently?

Speaker 1: 5:00

I really have me. You're like I'm the whole team babes I have. Right now I do have a marketing assistant. She's actually local to Louie's Loudon too. It's Jordan Humphries with Choose Joy, so she's been great. I just started working with her, but otherwise it's pretty much me.

Speaker 2: 5:18

Would you mind sharing a pivotal moment that inspired you to transition from a traditional healthcare role to founding Rachel Be Well.

Speaker 1: 5:27

A pivotal moment. I don't know that I could say that there was like one moment. I will say that, having worked through COVID, you know, which was really difficult in primary care that that actually at that time I was like probably a little bit more motivated to figure out like how I'm going to help people in a different type of setting, only because it was so stressful and, you know, patients felt kind of abandoned, I think to some degree, you know, because everything was virtual, or if they were in the office, we're wearing these horrible masks and gloves and shields. And I do think that the epidemic really did, you know, a little bit spark me to be like I got to think out of the box here because like this isn't going to work for me anymore and like how can I help my patients be healthier in general so that if they get illnesses like this, you know that they can battle it better?

Speaker 2: 6:19

and not suffer long-term consequences? Yeah, Absolutely yeah. No, COVID did that for a lot of people. It made them like rethink everything, Like wait a minute, I don't know that I want to do this. I want to like be able to communicate with my client, my patient. What have you so?

Speaker 1: 6:31

And I think you look more, you think more about your life in general. It's like is this what I want to be doing? You know what I mean For like the next 10 years? Like we don't live that long? We sure don't. People think midlife is 50. It's not, it's 38. So you know, you can't wait to exercise till when you retire. Like that's, those things don't work. You know, we gotta like be mindful of it now and be consistent every day.

Speaker 2: 6:53

Yeah, well, said there, girl, and then would you mind sharing what challenges and opportunities have you encountered in establishing a predominantly virtual healthcare practice, especially in the post-pandemic landscape?

Speaker 1: 7:07

Well, I think initially, like the telemedicine laws, especially in Virginia, were pretty friendly right, so like that part wasn't that difficult and because of COVID and like the changes in telemedicine and it becoming something like gigantic right, like cause we didn't really do that before, like that was a very small percentage of a practice to do any kind of telemedicine, so that part actually was good for me when I was first like starting out my business. I think now, as the laws start to change, it could get more interesting right, because I mean it also was like a way to provide more care to areas of the country you know what I mean that were underserved too, which I mean we still do need that for sure. But I think that COVID actually helped me in terms of, like the virtual piece, you know, getting that established and, like I said, virginia's laws are pretty friendly, so that was great.

Speaker 2: 7:59

Yeah, absolutely. And then integrating holistic and conventional medicine how do you balance evidence-based medicine with holistic approaches in your practice?

Speaker 1: 8:10

I would say you know, like you have to kind of do a lot of research, right, and I think part of it is experience too, right. So if you work with patients for over 20 years, like you kind of start to know what is working and what's not right, like you've seen people try everything, so you kind of know what the outcomes are for a lot of those different types of therapies. I do definitely rely on evidence-based medicine. I just think that, in general, we need way more research, you know, in terms of women's health, especially to kind of provide better treatment and more holistic and integrative treatment. Women's health is one of the least studied, you know pieces, like you know, worldwide. I think there is an awakening for that and I feel like I'm a part of that. So that kind of excites me too. Yeah, but yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:58

Have you seen any trends with like women or women in a certain age, when they come to you for certain like hormones or health questions or medications?

Speaker 1: 9:09

Oh yeah, I mean most of my patients, I would say, are probably between like late 30s to even upper 60s. I do have some younger women that struggle with a phenomenon called PCOS, like polycystic ovarian syndrome, if you've heard of that. But most of my patients are in perimenopause or they're kind of suffering through menopausal symptoms. Women are demanding more information about that now. They're not okay with just suffering and not being treated.

Speaker 1: 9:36

A lot of my patients have seen multiple providers before. I've seen them because they haven't had a great treatment plan or they've been given medications to treat symptoms like anxiety and sleep and depression and they're not, like I said, it's kind of that root cause thing, like the reason that they're having these symptoms is because they do not have hormones or their hormones are not optimal right. So by band-aiding their symptoms, like we're not really helping them and I mean a lot of people feel gaslated. A lot of women feel gaslated when they go to a provider and they really are just kind of doing that band-aid effect and not helping them treat what's truly wrong with them yeah, I love that you're literally an advocate for them, like quite literally, like no, I understand you.

Speaker 2: 10:17

Let's get to the root of that.

Speaker 1: 10:18

No, figure out why that's happening?

Speaker 2: 10:19

yeah let's get those tests done that they wouldn't do because they said, no, it's not that like how awful is that where's like. Can you please just test me like?

Speaker 1: 10:26

well, and there's multiple patients that come to me saying like I asked them to do this test, but they won't do it, and I really think that you need to have a relationship with your patients and be like well, if there is a test that they asked for and you're kind of like I don't think that's helpful, Like have a discussion about it. Like don't just knock people down and say no, like we're not doing that, Like I've never understood that.

Speaker 2: 10:45

Yeah Right. So that yeah Right. So I'm glad that you're there and now you we've opened this line of communication where people are just like, oh my gosh, I need to go to her because she's she's going to listen to me. I'm not crazy, I'm not just talking to the walls here. Yeah, I hope so. And now for marketing or um, social media. Do you do anything like that online, or are you going to social networking events to get the word out there about yourself? What's working, what's not?

Speaker 1: 11:08

Yeah, I mean I actually do. Like I said, I just hired a marketing assistant and she's been amazing. We discuss topics that are very prevalent in the menopause space or just like metabolic health space, and that's been great. Instagram is my primary platform for that, so even just in the last month, I know I have way more followers and just more people interested, so she's really helped me with that a lot.

Speaker 2: 11:35

Yay, shout out to her. Yeah, I love it. And what have been some challenges when it comes to running a business. I know you don't have like a big team or whatever, but when it comes to like, I guess, keeping yourself on schedule, are there any tips or tricks that you're using that help you?

Speaker 1: 11:51

Well, I mean, yeah, like obviously like making sure, like if you're seeing patients, like kind of making sure you have time if you need you know what I mean between appointments, so that you're on time, right, like preparing for patients before like knowing what's going on with them before you, you know, see them. Obviously, I think, not overschedul scheduling yourself, right Like that's another thing that's really important.

Speaker 2: 12:12

And I'm sure they appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 12:14

Yeah, I mean I want to be on for them. I don't want them to feel like they're talking to somebody that's distracted you know what I mean or thinking about other things. Yes, so that is really important to me. Yes, I do a lot, so I do have to kind of really be cognizant of my schedule and my time. I don't have a lot of issues with like time in terms of like being late for things and so forth, like that's not really a problem, and I guess mostly it's because I can take more time with my patients too now, like I don't have to be like okay, that's 15 minutes I got to get out of here, you know like it's, so that's obviously very helpful.

Speaker 2: 12:48

Yes, absolutely. And um, have there been any issues where some clients will come to you and they maybe feel like, hey, I'm not happy with this result? Like you talked about having that open line of communication, are they? Is it like comfortable where it's like, hey, that's not working for me. Can? We please try, you know.

Speaker 1: 13:06

Yeah, no, totally Like I expect them to tell me if things aren't working. I ask them, you know, are your symptoms controlled? Like, what are you worried about? Are you thinking about something else? You know, is there anything else that you feel like is helping you or not helping you? I am totally open to that. I want them to be better. I don't want them to be suffering with treatment that they don't feel like is really working.

Speaker 2: 13:23

Okay, I love that Absolutely. And then, have you ever thought about opening up a second practice? Or, because it's more you know, virtual in a way?

Speaker 1: 13:33

what are you? Yeah, I mean I am in person, like I have an office right down in town in Leesburg, so I see a lot of people in person too. Um, I have thought about that. I mean it's kind of like one of the reasons that I decided to start my own business was to have more control over my life. So, like, when I think about expanding, I do see you know what I mean A lot more work, right Like it is. It's more work involved, and I'm not sure at this time in my life you know what I mean that that's my drive.

Speaker 2: 13:58

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Like I'd rather just improve my care. You know what I mean To my patients and be there for them. You know as much as I can. I don't think that my focus right now is on expanding. I mean the only way. I do have a colleague that works with me. Now that's not true. I have a nurse practitioner, but she's pregnant and so she's kind of fading out. But yes, I would be open to someone else working with me. You know, in the future I don't know if I would have another site.

Speaker 2: 14:22

Okay, cool, cool. And then are there any services maybe that you plan on bringing to like or adding to your, or do you think you you're like this is what I have and this is what I'm happy with no, I mean, I do think about that a lot.

Speaker 1: 14:36

Um, I'm trying to do more writing so that I can have things that are kind of already available for my patients. You know, online on my website, on my portal, like, since my electronic medical records have a portal, you know what I that we're using all the time Contemplated having a functional nutritionist work with me. I feel like that's really hard for patients to find sometimes and especially, you know, sometimes you don't want to do virtual, sometimes you really want to see the person in person. I try to see my new patients in person, but I do feel like, you know, having a nutritionist working with me would be definitely an asset to my practice. I have people, obviously, I refer to, but you know some people need to be in person to talk to their provider and I think that's, you know, very valid.

Speaker 2: 15:19

Yeah, and it would be nice too because, like, if they're in house as well, they don't have to go somewhere else and it's just right here, you know, yes, so I think that would be an asset to have so hopefully maybe someone out there who's a nutritionist and like when you want someone to work with you, what are the qualities that you're looking for in a person?

Speaker 1: 15:35

Honesty, that's an important point.

Speaker 1: 15:38

I think that's the most important. Um honesty, I think. I mean, obviously I am kind of a more of a type A personality, like I have a lot of drive in general, so I like to work with people that really are want to be proud of their work. Um, that's really important to me. Um, obviously, someone who's reliable, right, Like you know, when you're working in healthcare you don't want to be canceling appointments all the time with patients and um so, like those are probably the biggest things. Honestly is honesty, being proud of their work. You know, being willing to kind of like think out of the box to, you know, help me figure out programs for patients or treatment plans.

Speaker 2: 16:17

So, yeah, very nice, and now I know I keep touching on this. But so, since you wear all the hats, how do you set boundaries for yourself? Maybe somebody else is listening and they're like, hey, that's me too. Maybe they're like what's working for other people? I don't know. Am I doing this wrong? Am I doing this right? Maybe there's a right or wrong answer.

Speaker 1: 16:33

No, it's easy to work like way too many hours, right.

Speaker 2: 16:36

I know.

Speaker 1: 16:49

Well, you're talking to do something, right, but, like, for me, exercise is really important, so, like I'm doing that in the morning and I'm not going to let anything interfere with that, right, so like that is something that I do really try to protect. And my sleep. You know I talked to my patients all day about how important sleep is. So I can't really, you know, I talk to my patients all day about how important sleep is, so I can't really, you know, I try to live the life that I'm advising Right, and there are many people that that is not the case, right, so I do, I really try to protect my sleep. I think that you know health is very, is very. What I want to say that you know sleep. If you're not sleeping well, that you really will have a very hard time. Like optimizing your health right, like sleep is the most important thing. I tell my patients that if I can't help you sleep, like I don't know how to help you. You know what I mean feel better, like this is the first step.

Speaker 1: 17:33

So those are probably two things that I would say for me that are very important. I try to do like one day on the weekend where I'm not like you know as intense, or yes, you know as intense, or you know on, but yeah, like you do, you got to have to. Setting boundaries has not been easy for me. I will be very honest. I am not good at that, but I am getting better.

Speaker 2: 17:53

Yeah, that's what I want to hear. Yeah, it absolutely is. And like you just live and learn, you keep going and you're seeing like okay, that was crazy. I think I need to like put my foot down. I'm sure I'm learning too. So I totally get where you're coming from and saying Right, and you can't get angry.

Speaker 1: 18:09

you know when things happen that you don't want to happen, when you know that it was because you were not setting the appropriate boundaries, you know what I mean With whatever it is that you're, you know, trying to accomplish.

Speaker 2: 18:18

Yeah, absolutely. Is there anything that I have not touched on that? Perhaps you want to get out there and share with your audience, whether it's about your practice, maybe some misconceptions that are out there, maybe there's something in your industry new innovation, technology you want to talk about, or maybe you've got a service that you're like. Not a lot of people know about this. Let me put this to the forefront.

Speaker 1: 18:38

Well, I think a lot of people think of me as kind of like the hormone provider, just because I've done it for so many years. Like kind of like the hormone provider, you know, just because I've done it for so many years, I do have a really vested interest in metabolic health. So I really do love to help people with changing their lifestyles, with weight loss, with, you know, improving their blood sugar and cholesterol, you know all of those things. So that's kind of like my side gig. I would say, like I don't think as many people know that I'm as interested in that.

Speaker 1: 19:02

You know, also kind of like the longevity piece of that as well, like, really, I'm more about like trying to figure out ways to improve people's health span, not just their lifespan, right Like so we want to live a long time, but we want to be healthy, you know, during those years. So I think that's probably something. Maybe a lot of patients don't know about me. I think they hear about the hormones and menopause, and you know that's Rachel but maybe there's some other things that I might be able to provide them with, just to optimize their health overall.

Speaker 2: 19:30

Absolutely, that's awesome. I do have a question about the weight loss thing. If that is okay, I read something online where and I'm sure, with the weight loss would that include, I guess, compounding like trisepatide and then the OnBrand and then semaglutide, all that stuff I mean yeah, there are patients that take all of those things right.

Speaker 1: 19:51

I mean, there's so many different ways to address weight loss right and like, and that is a conversation you really have to have with people, because you know there's patients that have never really tried just even kind of the more. You know more recognized modalities right, like maybe they're not exercising as much, maybe they're really haven't been focused on their nutrition and you know the importance of protein in their diet. So there's so many things that we work on. So even if they do choose to start one of those types of medications, we're working on the whole person. Not just that, because, as we know, not just one thing works right, like we have to be on all of these other different aspects really for weight loss, for health maintenance, for optimizing your health, like all of it is important. We know just taking a drug is not going to be the answer no.

Speaker 2: 20:37

No, you have to actually make that lifestyle change. Yeah, there's so many pieces to that Absolutely and I see, and now like we're getting that awareness out there that you do offer, that it's more than just the hormones and the menopause. We've got you, rachel's got you here.

Speaker 1: 20:48

Where can?

Speaker 2: 20:49

people find you.

Speaker 1: 20:50

I often see my. My website is wwwrachelbulcom. You can find me on Instagram. It's just at Rachel BNP. That's where I'm most prevalent. I do have a Facebook page, but most of my business you know media I do on Instagram.

Speaker 2: 21:12

Beautiful and any last parting words or anything before I get to my last question for you Anything else you want to get out there, perhaps?

Speaker 1: 21:15

Just that? I think that if people are, you know, seeing a provider and they're telling them there's nothing wrong with them and yet they're having, you know, fatigue and hair loss and loss of libido and hot flashes and night sweats and not sleeping, it doesn't have to be like that. There are people that want to help you Like.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Rachel right over here.

Speaker 1: 21:32

But I'm just saying in general. We shouldn't be, especially as women. We've been taught to ignore symptoms and that is really to our detriment. If we're experiencing these symptoms truly, there is generally something wrong. It is not just in her head and that I think a lot of women struggle with that.

Speaker 2: 21:50

So no, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. I love that. You're like our advocate, so we appreciate that. All right, my last question Is there anything that someone has ever said to you that has stood out? Um, do you have maybe like a mantra or a saying that you like to live your life by Anything, that you would just like to leave the audience?

Speaker 1: 22:09

with. Honestly, this probably could relate to anyone for anything, but since I was very young, my father has always said to me MWD. And you may wonder what is MWD, but basically it's make wise decisions, right. And so that, honestly, has been my mantra. Have I followed it perfectly? No, right, but since I was really young, that was driven into me and I do think that's a great way you know what I mean to live in general.

Speaker 2: 22:37

MWD Love it. We're going to leave you guys with that. Well, rachel, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It was a pleasure having you here and getting to talk to you and knowing that there are people out there especially providers, doctors who are advocating for you and are willing to listen to women especially. So thank you Absolutely. Thanks.