EAST LONGMEADOW – Family nurse practitioner Cindy Kennedy and her daughter, registered dietitian Kerah Henebery, recently opened East Longmeadow’s newest spa – Pursue Wellness Integrative Health Center and Spa located at 124 Shaker Rd., Suite B.

“The center is COVID ready,” said Kennedy. “We follow all the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. We have people announce when they come in. We do temperature checks, hand sanitation and have patients fill out a questionnaire to see if they have any particular risk that wouldn’t allow them to be in the center.”

Pursue Wellness’s mission is to focus on improving chronic health issues by categorizing treatment options to foster healing through a combination of functional medicine, nutrition, sauna detoxification, stress relief, massage and mental health therapy. They work to understand how the body works and subsequently determine the cause of illness by factoring in personal genetics, toxin exposures and other underlying medical diagnoses. Additionally, they provide patients guidance and support to live healthy. While they don’t bill insurance companies, Kennedy and Henebery will provide superbills – itemized forms that detail services provided to a patient – that the patient can use toward deductibles and health spending accounts.

“Our approach is focusing on the whole person,” Henebery explained. “That’s what sets us apart from other centers in the area. We’re looking at the whole body. We’re looking at what could be causes of inflammation.” She continued, “My biggest motto is food is medicine. We really promote that in the practice. Whole foods can be used as a tool to nourish the body, boost immune health and offer the potential for deep healing of chronic issues.”

Diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2015, the resources Kennedy explained she needed were not available in the area. With her daughter, they wanted to offer a functional medicine practice that was missing in East Longmeadow. Kennedy expressed, “As an advanced type of thinking. A way I would like health care to become.”

Pursue Wellness Integrative Health Center and Spa features in-office and telehealth appointments, comprehensive blood, urine and stool testing, hormone testing, targeted nutrition guidance, nutritional recipe plans, sauna therapy for individuals and couples, BioMat infrared therapy - a device that aids in pain relief, massage treatment with Stacey Duquette, licensed massage therapy, and mental health services with Mary Crowley, LMHC.

The center also features the only Yoga Wall in the area. A yoga wall – also referred to as a “rope wall” – allows the yoga practicer to hang from the ropes against the wall. This can allow the yoga practicer to get deeper into poses or to achieve a pose that they normally could not do without support. With that said, due to current COVID-19 restrictions, yoga class series are limited to only single or up to three-person classes.

For now, Kennedy and Henebery will be starting their private and semi-private yoga class as well as work on their Yoga Wall.

Pursue Wellness is having an Open House event on Sept. 20. from 1 to 4 p.m. They will be conducting temperature screening prior to entry, masks will be mandatory and they will be limiting the number of people allowed in the center on a rotating basis.

 “I hope our center is an eye-opening thought,” Kennedy replied. “The combination of nurse practitioner and registered dietitian is unique. You're not going to find that kind of partnership that works so well in helping people stay healthy. Our services will bring better health to the community.”

Furthermore, Henebery added, “It’s about empowering people. Patients that are struggling with symptoms that no one has been able to help them with, we go one step further in introducing them to a new way of health and the care they're provided.”

For more information about Pursue Wellness services and practitioners visit pursuewellness.us. Appointments for spa treatments and yoga classes can be made at vagaro.com/pursuewellness/