In her first year of medical school, Dr. Allison Brumley was feeling stressed, wasn’t sleeping well and found it difficult to concentrate. She tried acupuncture for the first time and found she was less stressed and having fewer headaches.
“I thought there must be something to it, why I was feeling better,” she explains.
Seeing how acupuncture could help people with health issues drove her to pursue her Naturopathic doctorate and master’s in acupuncture from National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon.
Starting her own practice in Kaysville, Utah, three years ago was a no-brainer. “I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was just wired for that,” she says. “I found that it was pretty easy because I was passionate about it and excited about it.”
Her business, Aspire Integrative Medicine, combines natural, alternative therapies with conventional medicine with a goal of nourishing body, mind, and spirit.
“In my practice, I see all sorts of conditions of all ages, from little kids to the elderly,” she says. “And in some cases, sick patients. Those diseases can be challenging.” In the case of cancer patients, she works in tandem with the oncologist to integrate her treatments into the overall strategy.
She says the work is difficult, but rewarding. “A patient with seizures, when they come back and say they haven’t had seizures the last six months, that keeps me going,” Brumley says.
But things started to change for Aspire Integrative Medicine when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“We had to come together as a group and decide how we were going to stay open,” she says. “We were an essential business.”
Brumley said she worried about her staff and was sensitive to the fact that some patients didn’t feel comfortable coming into the office. They started scheduling patients farther apart, which impacted her income.
“I heard about the PPP and went to my credit union and applied. I got an email that said the funding ran out and we didn’t get it,” Brumley recalls. “Then I was talking to a patient who suggested I go to Zions Bank. And it was done within 24 hours.”
Brumley said even with the reduced business income, “We were covered, and I thank Zions Bank for that.”
She’s optimistic about the future and hopes to eventually expand and move into a bigger building.
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