TORRINGTON – For Tracy Richard, ketamine is more than a party drug, or “Special K” as it is best known.
The nurse anesthetist turned business owner administers it to patients as an alternative therapy for people struggling with their mental health or chronic pain. That’s why she opened Wyoming Wellness Center in Torrington.
“For most patients, within hours, they’ll feel better, they’ll notice a difference,” Richard said. “A lot of the physicians around are excited about it.”
There is a requirement for patients who want to receive ketamine infusions via an IV: they have to go to counseling first so their mental health provider and physician can work together with Richard to better treat them.
“I’m kind of holding my own business up by saying no, you have to go find counseling first,” she said. “And then lets start that process and have everybody work together to make your life better, because I want to cure them in some way.”
Richard’s facility on Niobrara Avenue in Torrington is a relaxing space with plush couches, soft music and calming aromas to help patients relax and prepare for their treatments.
Her two treatment rooms and a massage room have an equally relaxing atmosphere for patients to watch television, listen to music or close their eyes throughout their time there. As a nurse anesthetist, Richard offers infusion therapies for “hydration and/or nutrition.” She also offers 5-point ear acupuncture, which is said to help increase relaxation, reduce stress, decrease headaches, improve sleep, reduce cravings, decrease depression and anxiety and more.
Along with foot massages and a foot ionic detox bath with optional aromatherapy, licensed massage therapist Shaina Chagolla offers various types of massages.
But the procedure that sets Richard apart and one she’s passionate about is Ketamine IV therapy.
Currently, Ketamine clinics are a relatively new venture, but Wyoming Wellness Center is one of three in Wyoming. The other two are in Jackson. She said she is part of a ketamine taskforce that looks to have CPT codes assigned to the treatments so patients can be reimbursed by insurance companies.
“It’s amazing how many roadblocks are up,” Richard said. “I’m hopeful we can get more and more of it covered as more of these clinics are opening and us banding together and providing our results.”
The center has only been open since Aug. 3 and the coronavirus has largely prevented Richard from getting the word out.
“I’ve had a lot of people asking what this is and I am because of the Covid thing, normally I would go out and go to meetings and tell people but I can’t,” she said.
She said physicians have been receptive to the idea as an alternative to opioids which are highly addictive. Studies emphasize that these treatments are not a “cure.” Richard said they work best for treatment resistant depression, referring to patients who have failed to respond to multiple other treatments.
Ketamine infusions are said to rebuild synapses in the brain, something antidepressants don’t do.
“For most patients within hours, they’ll feel better, they’ll notice a difference, but the real change happens days later, where the actual new growth happens and firing back up of synapses that hadn’t been activated before in quite a while,” Richard said.
Richard said she is happy to bring these treatments to Wyoming, the state with the second-highest suicide rate according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an attempt to help people with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. In Goshen County specifically, she said she has seen an uptick in suicide attempts and suicidal ideation in patients she encounters at Banner Community Hospital.
“There’s obviously more depression, there’s more anxiety, there’s more heaviness on people,” Richard said. “There needs to be a place to come in if you’re just wanting to get away and relax and treat yourself. That’s one thing, but also a place to come get some treatment if you really need more serious treatment.”
For more information, visit WyomingWC.com.
