‘Concierge’ focused Connected Health in Pine adds wellness coaching to services

About five years ago, Niki Campbell was still in the early stages of a career change when she did some public relations work for the owner of Connected Health in Wexford and saw where she hoped her new vocation would lead her.

When she met Betty Rich, the CEO and co-founder of Connected Health in Pine, Campbell was looking to leave the long hours, steady travel and day-to-day stress of her PR job to pursue a career as a registered dietitian and wellness coach.

“I was still doing PR after I went back in school to study to be a dietitian,” Campbell said. ”I knew there was something special that Betty was doing with her company and told her that we would work together someday.”

Following graduation, Campbell started her own company, Flourish Wellness, with the aim of helping people reach their health and wellness goals by coaching them about nutrition, fitness and the lifestyle changes they need to make.

Campbell and Rich announced recently that Flourish Wellness has been added to the array of health-care services offered at the Connected Fitness campus in Pine.

“As a concierge medicine practice with an on-site fitness facility, pharmacy, physical therapist and other wellness amenities, our collaboration with Flourish Wellness Coaching adds yet another dimension of support for our patients and clients,” Rich said.

After working as a pharmacist for a company that sold specialty medications, Rich launched Connected Health so she could offer patients a different health-care experience.

“The pharmacy offered things such as biologicals and injectables that you wouldn’t find on the shelf if you went into regular pharmacy,” she said. “But what struck me the most about working there was the relationship we had with our customers.”

Rich said Connected Health’s concierge approach to delivering medical services focuses on the relationship between patients and their medical team.

Rich, 55, of Fox Chapel, said her personal health experiences also helped form the concept of offering concierge medical services.

“About the time I was turning 40 I was having trouble losing weight,” she said. “I went to my primary care physician and told him I thought there was something wrong with my thyroid. But there wasn’t. He told me I needed to find a dietitian and nutritionist. So I went on my journey looking for one.”

Rich said the search for someone who could help her proved costly.

“I spent a whole lot of money and got absolutely nothing out of it,” she said. “The problem was that I didn’t have anybody guiding me. There was nobody to help accomplish what I was trying to do. That’s what lead to my interest in concierge medicine.”

Rich said creating a relationship with a medical team allows them to serve as “the quarterback for your healthcare.”

“Our health-care system is very reactive and mostly deals with ‘sick’ care,” she said. “What we do is the complete opposite. We provide super comprehensive primary care and proactive preventative care.”

To provide the concierge service, Connected Health has a team of physicians along with a pharmacy, physical therapy, sports training, a fitness center — and now with the addition of Flourish, wellness coaching.

Dr. Suzanne Wolf, who is member of the health-care team at Connected Health, said the chance to provide concierge style medical services is a “dream job.”

”Concierge medicine allows me the opportunity to truly get to know my patients, as medicine is not a one size fits all approach,” she said. “I can spend the necessary time with a patient, whether it’s 20 minutes for an acute issue or a two- to three-hour initial visit.

“I have time to contact specialists directly if I have questions or need to research a diagnosis further without feeling that rush of being behind schedule,” she said.

Dr. Chaitali Sarkar said her decision to join a concierge medical practice was simple.

“I want to be able to make a difference in my patient’s life rather than to satisfy the demands of the insurance companies.” she said.

Campbell, 51, of Cranberry said she recognized that Connected Health’s approach to delivering health care fit perfectly with her ideas about promoting nutrition and wellness.

“When I saw the approach Betty was taking I told her: This (concierge medicine) is the model for how we all should be approaching our own personal health care,” she said. “The way I approach health coaching are an extension of that.”

Campbell said while physicians, physical therapists and other medical professionals play a role in improving a patient’s health and wellness, it’s the coach who can help them reach their goals.

“Whether they are here seeing the physical therapist to help recover from an injury or are on a weight-loss journey, there’s a medical component,” she said.

In addition to personal wellness coaching, Flourish also partners with corporations, small businesses, and non-profit organizations to implement strategic workplace wellness programs aimed at improving employee health, morale and retention.

Campbell said one of the missions with the collaboration between Flourish and Connected Health is community outreach with non-profit organizations, especially those focused on young people.

“We want to be part of promoting a healthier community, so it’s important to us that we reach out to young people and provide them with the knowledge they need to help improve their personal health.”