A few years ago, Selena Wong saw a “gap” in the quality of products the patients she worked with at local medical marijuana dispensaries were receiving — so she set out to fill it.
She said Flower of Life Integrative Health Centre & Apothecary, which she co-founded with Stephen Symons and Carolyn Corrigal, fills that gap while providing an integrative approach to natural health care and wellness.
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Take a tour of Flower of Life Integrative Health Centre & Apothecary
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The centre has been in operation since late 2017, but Wong officially opened Flower of Life in Vernon last week. She described it as a “progressive health centre offering a multi-disciplinary approach to whole health and true healing.”
Flower of Life employs a range of health care experts and practitioners, ranging from medical and naturopathic doctors, nurses, herbalists, counsellors, holistic nutritionists, massage therapists, energy therapists, and spa practitioners.
“As far as I know, the centre is the first of its kind,” Wong said.
But she said the centre’s true “uniqueness” lies in its partnership with the Medicinal Cannabis Resource Centre Inc (MCRCI), a private organization created to assist patients by providing guidance in the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Consultants from MCRCI will be on site at Flower of Life for referral assistance and consultation on cannabis treatment.
Many of her clients at the centre, she noted, also use legal cannabis products, from tinctures to topical creams, to tea, to ease chronic pain or treat serious medical conditions — but not all of them.
Flower of Life, she explained, exists to accommodate “all kinds of people” with “all kinds” of individual wellness needs.
While there is still a stigma surrounding medicinal marijuana use, Wong said research has been moving forward steadily and has found that cannabis use can be beneficial in end of life care.
Terry Roycroft, president and founder of the Vancouver-based company, who was on hand Feb. 15 for the centre’s opening celebration, echoed Wong, adding that although general practitioners are able to prescribe cannabis to patients, many are not “well-informed” regarding dosages and strains.
He says MCRCI has the ability to connect walk-in patients with a specialized doctor, as as to licensed producers throughout Canada — making its partnership with Flower of Life a “perfect fit.”
“A lot of this crosses over, cannabis use and natural medicine and natural healing,” he said.
“The issue for a lot of people is how to become legal when you need treatment — how to get liscenced. We can assist with that.”
He said the impending legalization makes this more and more relevant.
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