Medical practice expands

Medical practice expands

Courtesy Root Functional Medicine

A local practice for functional medicine has expanded into a new urban space.

Root Functional Medicine moved into a 1,700-square-foot space in Grand Rapids' Wealthy Street neighborhood, at 746 Wealthy St. SE.

The alternative medicine practice, which was launched in October 2018 by Dr. Erica Armstrong, moved from two suites totaling 250 square feet at 50 Louis St. NW.

The new space includes three consultation rooms, an on-site lab for blood draws, a plant wall, a kitchen and a meal prep area for events and meal prep classes.

There’s also a retail space containing natural food products, professional-grade supplements and “safer skin care.”

There were renovations to the space to build out two consultation rooms and a kitchen.

Besides the two employees Armstrong had already hired, the business had added four employees over the past several months: Dr. Bethanie Thompson; dietician Amy Masterson; director of client experience Grace Wittbold; and phlebotomist Caitlin Smith.

Root Functional Medicine recently won $10,000 for first place in the growth category at Woman Up and Pitch by Michigan Women Forward.  

“We plan to use this investment to continue to grow in number of clinicians, while still maintaining a personalized experience,” Armstrong said.

The core of functional medicine is looking beyond symptoms to find the root cause for people’s ailments, using individualized care that focuses on the whole person, Armstrong said.

After testing, the team creates a personalized plan focused on nutrition and eastern medicine, as well as on sleep, stress reduction, environmental toxins and gut health.