EVERETT — Naturopathic doctor Beth McQuinn opened her practice in March 2010 in her one-room clinic on Hoyt Avenue in Everett. During the last three years, she has happily taken on a room or two to satisfy a growing patient list.
“They always told us in medical school that if you can turn a dollar in your first three to five years, you’re pretty lucky,” McQuinn said.
Despite a recession and her one-room beginnings, McQuinn, 30, and her husband Jason McQuinn, have added a plethora of new staff and expanded the clinic space at 2808 Hoyt Ave. to more than 4,000 square feet.
McQuinn Naturopathic Clinic will hold a celebration of their expansion from 4 to 8 p.m. today and welcomes the community to attend.
“It’s not just for new patients to check out,” McQuinn said. “But for current patients too.”
The clinic has added a yoga instructor, fitness instructor and an acupuncturist. Weekly cooking classes will take place in a top-notch new kitchen and counseling and life coach staff has joined the clinic, too.
The growth and expansion are exciting for Jason McQuinn who was one of 11 people who traveled in a 12-person van in May, from The Rock Church in Monroe to Oklahoma.
Jason McQuinn, also 30, volunteered his time and services to help devastated victims and their families during the aftermath of the tornadoes that left a path of death and destruction. The experience left him knowing that he wanted to make changes in his life.
“It was for me to do something bigger,” Jason McQuinn said. “I had a heavy heart over everything.”
Upon his return to Snohomish County, he spoke with his wife about how the Oklahoma experience had changed his thinking.
“I asked her what her dream list of team members would be” for her practice, Jason McQuinn said. “She made a list of 12 and we got them and one more.”
One person they didn’t have to add to the list was certified medical assistant Nancy Hall who has worked at the clinic since 2010.
Hall moved to the Pacific Northwest from Arizona and went to school to train as a medical assistant. She requested to work her extern role with a naturopath. Hall got the position with McQuinn who kept her on after graduation.
“We will go above and beyond to treat patients,” Hall said. “To give them the lifestyle they deserve.”
She enjoys the family feel and fun of McQuinn’s clinic and how different it is from a medical doctor’s office.
“Beth will take her time,” Hall said. “Patients appreciate that.”
Most insurance companies cover care at the clinic. Medicare does not.
Those with no medical insurance can expect to pay $200 for an initial appointment of 90 minutes. Subsequent visits are $100 and last at least 45 minutes. Appointments are longer so that Beth McQuinn can go over as much medical history and information as possible and educate patients too.
“As a naturopathic physician we have a different perspective of a person,” she said. “We look at the whole body.”
Patients can also talk about stressful events in their lives or their pasts and emotional traumas that may not be resolved. They will talk about food and exercise and what they may or may not be doing that is affecting their health.
“We are trying to get down to the depth of knowing their lifestyle and how it is connected to health,” Beth McQuinn said.
She has been called a “pot doc” and a hippie, but McQuinn laughs at those labels, saying she is far from either. Her goal is to help patients heal in a natural way with all the tools she has, none of which include marijuana.
The next goal for the McQuinns is to continue the success of the clinic and look at expanding further. Until then they both look forward to the festivities tonight that will include a local band, “Waiting On Wendy”, food and door prizes.
“We want people to come on down,” Jason McQuinn said. “They will leave fed and with some new education.”
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