Every good story begins with a great idea.  Our great idea began its formation during Dr. Leone’s years as a clinician in a busy integrative clinic.  Dr. Leone was meeting too many patients with chronic conditions who were frustrated they weren’t getting better despite the number of doctors they had seen.  Patients complained to him of doctors who didn’t listen, dismissed their symptoms as being “in their head”, or worse, simply told the patient to go home and live with it.  In the best of these situations, patients reported some temporary relief from their superficial symptoms but did not experience true wellness as symptoms returned, persisted, or got worse, sometimes to the point of being debilitating.  These patients simply had no answers and nowhere to go.  Why was this happening over and over again; what was the reason?  It’s simple.  The underlying causes of their illnesses were going unidentified and undiagnosed ultimately rendering their treatment plans ineffective.

 

Drawing on these early experiences and his roots in Naturopathic Care, Dr. Leone began developing a new vision for the care of complex cases using a compassionate, cross-disciplinary approach.  His goal was to do more than provide patients with temporary relief of superficial symptoms.  In his vision, these patients would have the opportunity to achieve meaningful wellness by identifying and treating the true underlying cause.

 

FOCUS Health was established to put this vision into motion and it began to blossom over time as Dr. Leone delved headlong into full-time treatment of complex cases.  His greatest teacher, however, would ultimately be his own personal experience when his wife was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and a host of co-infections that brought debilitating symptoms including the full loss of use in her right leg.  Being thrust into his wife’s diagnosis and treatment he found himself in a position to more deeply understand chronic illness from the perspective of the patient, an education that rounded out his professional experience.   He saw first hand, the ups and downs, frustrations, sadness, and loss chronic disease can cause, as well as the gaps in support and treatment options available to these patients and their families. 

 

Through these professional and personal experiences, Dr. Leone recognized the importance of providing a comprehensive approach to identifying and treating complex chronic illness that also honored the human side of illness.  We call this Patient Focused Care.  To learn more about how we put this vision into action please click HERE.

 

Welcome to a healthier you.