HEALTHY LIVING: Palisades Urgent Care Treats Acute Illness With a Holistic Twist

By Lila Seidman | Reporter

The Palisades Urgent Care and IV Vitamin Center on Via de la Paz doesn’t feel like a doctor’s office. The exam tables are repurposed massage tables. The walls are adorned with serene pictures of rocks and sand. A back room houses three comfortable lazy chairs, where patients receive IV vitamin drips. A floral aroma pervades.

It’s a physical representation of clinic founder and medical director Dr. Van Nguyen’s belief in treating both mind and body to promote long-term health and healing. “Why should it be that you do conventional medicine, and then you can’t do anything else? I truly believe in expanding options for the patient,” she said.

It’s also her second local practice; in November 2007, Nguyen opened Holistic Medical Clinic in the Pacific Palisades. As her family and alternative medicine practice grew, patients complained that it was becoming more and more difficult to schedule appointments—a problem that plagues many of the primary care providers in the area. “Lucky” patients might be able to score an appointment in two week. Unlucky ones had to wait a month or more.

Nguyen realized that Palisadians need a reliable option for same-day care. She explained, “If you have a bladder infection, you’re not going to want to wait for two to four weeks. If you fall and hit your head and crack your head open, you’re not going to want to wait for two to four weeks.” Palisades Urgent Care offers same-day appointments every day it’s open. “We make time,” Nguyen said.

The focus of the urgent care center is treating the gamut of acute injuries and illnesses—infections, cuts, falls, surfing-related injuries—with conventional medicine, “but even within the realm of conventional medicine, I believe that we can certainly bring in non-drug approaches,” Nguyen said. “Why not start expanding patients’ consciousness when they come in for their acute illnesses?”

Palisades Urgent Care is the only local provider of IV vitamin drips and vitamin shots. Nguyen said that the shots and drips have almost no adverse side effects because they’re comprised only of “nutrients that are essential to your health,” including vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin D and antioxidants. (Nguyen geeked out a bit describing the popular fat burning shot, which is a metabolism-boosting cocktail of B complex, three amino acids and carnitine, a shuttle molecule she described as “phenomenal.”)

Nguyen said Palisadians are a particularly inquisitive and “conscious” bunch, and and are excited by the clinic’s holistic twists, including the vitamin drips and shots.

Patients who have tried the cutting-edge therapies have reported a boost in mood, mental focus and clarity and metabolism—and fast. The promise of a rapid fix appeals to Hollywood types and stressed execs who have limited time to relax, she said.

“The majority—I would say almost all patients—have nutrient deficiencies and they don’t even realize it,” Nguyen said.

The clinic’s holistic bent benefits patients beyond those seeking alternative or natural treatments. To ensure a quality, thorough visit, the clinic schedules appointments every 20 minutes, which Nguyen said is “unheard of.” Most clinics, including her former employer Kaiser, schedule appointments every 10 to 15 minutes.

She said that the commitment to providing top-notch care—emblemized by fiercely guarding the 20-minute time slot—is shared by the clinic’s three physician assistants and two medical doctors (including her).

But Nguyen wasn’t always in the holistic fold. Before launching her private practice nine years ago, she started out practicing conventional medicine, which she ruefully referred to as “factory medicine.”

“I was basically a drug dealer for some of the big clinics,” she said. “Every patient was like a faceless entity because I only had five minutes with them. They’re on a conveyor belt, and I’m supposed to figure out what drug to throw at them as they pass me by.” Disillusioned, she left institutionalized medicine and set out on her own.

Her commitment to providing clientele with a spectrum of healthcare options won’t stop at the urgent care center; she is already gearing up to open a local wellness center. Although she isn’t ready to reveal details about the project, she said that the forthcoming locale will offer an array of cutting-edge holistic therapies.

Palisades Urgent Care is located on 910 Via de la Paz, St. 101. Clinic hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 310-454-4544 or visit palisadesurgentcare.com.