Specializing in Natural Health Care with Dr.Christian Jovanovic 

Good morning. And welcome to Green Tea Conversations, the radio show that delves into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine. To bring you the local experts who share their progressive ideas and the latest information and insights needed so you can lead your best life. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, publisher, the Twin Cities edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, and I am honored to bring these experts to you. So today in our studio, we have Dr. Christian Jovanovic, program director and associate professor for acupuncture and Chinese medicine programs at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington.

 

Dr. Jovanovic is an educator and clinician with a background and integrative medicine who has assisted in advancing the broader dialogue concerning the practice of Chinese medicine in Minnesota. Welcome to the show, Dr. Jovanovic.

Thank you, Candi. It's a pleasure to be here.

 

And I am just trying hard to say your name correctly.

 

So you're doing just fine.

 

Well, thank you so much. I'm glad that you're with us today, and I'm really excited for people to learn more about Northwestern Health Sciences University. You and I have been talking a little bit here before the show, and there's just so many interesting things that we can talk about today, and we'll try to get into as many things as possible, but I'm sure we'll have to have you back in order to get in even deeper.

 

I would be happy to.

 

So at the University, you guys provide a lot of different different programs focused on natural and integrative health. What are some of the programs that people could take part in should they become a student there?

 

We have a wide range of natural health care options at Northwestern Health Sciences University, everything from a doctor of Chiropractic program, doctor of Chinese medicine, master's Acupuncture Associates degrees in massage therapy. We have a Bachelor of Science completion program in human biology. We also have a Post- Baccalaureate  Pre-Health option for individuals who have an undergraduate degree that was perhaps not pre Med aligned, but want to have additional training in the Sciences to be eligible to apply to Med school, sit for the MCATs. And very and very recently we are in the process of providing five new degrees from recently closed University, Argosy University here in the Metro, close it stores and sort of left some of the students without an option to finish their degrees.

And so in September, we'll also be taking on five new allied health programs from Argosy.

 

Great. And we're going to get into that and more in-depth in just a little bit. So before we get started, prior to, of course, owning the magazine, I worked in higher education for a long time, and people always ask me, how many students do you have? So how many students are there at any one time?

 

So I would say on average, enrollment sort of ships and changes from term to term. But I would say anywhere on average from about 11 100 plus in institutionally. So across all the programs at the University, in the Acupuncture and Chinese medicine programs right now, probably around 130.

 

Wow. That is a big program

 

spread across the masses of Acupuncture and the doctorate Chinese medicine Dere.

 

Yes. And we're going to get into that one, too, because that's a newer program, isn't it?

 

It is we're very excited for that program.

 

So how long has the University has Northwestern Health Sciences University been in existence?

 

So originally, the University started about 78 years ago in 1941 as the Northwestern College of Chiropractic. In 1999, the Minneapolis Institute of Acupuncture and Herbal Studies joined creating in the Minnesota College of Acupuncture Oriental Medicine. And in 1999, that same year, the College Chiropractic and the Maples College of Acupuncture Onenine kind of merge. And we established ourselves as Northwestern Health Sciences University. So the very, very beginning, 78 years coming. It's original.

 

I didn't have any idea that it was around that lot.

 

Yeah. Absolutely.

 

It's really cool. So you're the program director in the associate professor in the Acupuncture in Chinese medicine programs?

 

Yes.

 

So for a student who is going through that program through the undergraduate program or the Master's program, part of it, what would they what are some of the classes that they take? What do they expect to kind of gain out of that?

 

So here in the United States, for individuals who want to go into the field of Chinese medicine, the entry-level degree is a Masters degree. So a lot of the undergraduate training comes from other institutions. Students come in with 60 to 90 undergraduate credits or four-year degree. New students will expect to take courses in traditional Chinese medicine, theory, and philosophy. They'll take quite a few Western medical biomedical courses, anatomy and physiology, cardiopulmonary courses, gastrointestinal courses, clinical medicine type courses. And we also have offerings in medical law and ethics, practice management, everything that helps create a safe and effective practitioner once they graduate. In Minnesota, students since most graduate standardized national board exams in our field in order to apply for Licensure to be a licensed Acupuncturist, which is governed by the Board of Medical Practice in the state.

 

My goodness. So do you have students that come in with kind of a typical bachelor's degree, or is it kind of across the board across the board.

 

We have students coming in with degrees in the Sciences, degree in Liberal arts, a lot of variety. What I find really interesting, and I think this is somewhat unique to our profession at the University is in our field. We have a lot of second-career individuals. So we have terms to more non-traditional students, students who have perhaps gone down a certain career path at one point in their life and have decided that that wasn't for them in particular. We always tend to have a lot of nurses in our program, nurses who want to stay connected to providing care and serving their communities.

 

But perhaps the nursing practice has just taken a toll over the years because it can be a very high impact, whereas practitioner Chie medicine tends to be quite low impact on the practitioner themselves especially physically

 

And the hours and everything they can kind of choose to do to ourselves. Plus, I think they see I know with a lot of nurses that I work with, they end up seeing a lot of so much benefit with the natural health practices. And after they have been practicing for a while, they really start kind of looking at that natural health.

 

Absolutely.

 

Absolutely. Very cool. And I want to talk about this a little bit because of my background and education, but it's important for people to understand you guys are regionally accredited.

 

Correct. Northwestern Health Sciences University our institutional accreditor is the Higher Learning Commission, which is a regional accreditor. And then the programs also have specialty accreditation or programmatic accreditation to.

 

So. For people who don't understand accreditation or higher education, it's really important to look for a school who is accredited, especially regional accreditation. HLC The Higher Learning Commission is the accreditor for most of the universities and colleges in Minnesota, as well as in many other States, too. But I mean, they are the ones that accredit the universities that we're familiar with. And so you guys have that same accreditation. And it also means that for people who are coming in, you have articulation agreements with other universities in school.

 

So if a student comes through your program, they're able to take those credits that they earn and be able to apply at least some of them into another program.

 

Yes. That's right. And I think that provides an option for students who when they especially if they're looking at transferring from the institution, it's really important that students understand that some institutions might not transfer all those credits. And our institution following all those policies and guidelines that art accreditors require, it really, I think, helps students something to make choices about where they see themselves going. At Northwestern Health Science University, we have a really great admissions team that works individually with students, one on one to look at things such as transfer credits and to really help them see what that path forward looks like if they choose to enroll in one of our programs.

 

And that accreditation also then opens people up for financial aid.

 

Correct. So in all of our programs, students are eligible for a title for funding or financial aid. We have a really awesome financial aid team and Department that provides a lot of really one on one personalized attention for new students and ongoing students to really help them understand financial aid because that can be so confusing. And to help the help the students make better-informed choices and perhaps responsible choices about student debt burden and

 

That's huge. Huge I mean, people are coming out of schools with just so much financial aid debt. It's going to be nearly impossible to get out of that debt. It isn't impossible, but they have to make informed, educated decisions about what to do with that. So that's great. Great to know that you guys have a good Department to help people do that.

 

Well, I think as a University and because of our size, we're not the University of Missile. We're not a huge tens of thousands of students that are teams, and our departments can really provide a lot of one on one attention to individual students. And students are not sort of they're just not a number. Many of the administrators, the staff, the faculty, they know the students names, whether it's the admissions Department, the financial aid, the Registrar, the library faculty. And so there's a lot of that really personalized attention, which I think for students coming in, especially into a health care-related field, whether it's undergraduate or graduate, that level of attention becomes important and helping them be successful students.

 

So if somebody is coming in, if the student is coming in right out of high school. Do they have to come in with a an Sat score or

 

So in the Acumennized Messin programs, students have to come in at the Master's level of a minimum of 60 undergraduate credits for the doctoral degree, a minimum of 90 undergraduate credits. So I'm not as versed on some of the undergraduate like the associate's degree programs, such as our massage therapy program. But admissions will work with students. And if that means developing a plan for here's the admission requirements for this program, here's where perhaps there's some deficiencies the students coming in with.

 

Here's how we can help guide that student into how to get the appropriate prerequisites in place.

 

So you have additional services that at the College itself. So for students who want to maybe take a look at registering for classes or learning more, what is a website where they can find you?

 

The website is www.NWHealth.Edu

 

Okay, so NWS in Northwestern Health.Edu or they could call 952-885-5409. When we come back, we're going to continue our conversation with Dr. Jovanovic, and we're going to learn more about some of the other programs that they have, including their doctorate of Acupuncture and Chinese health. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit NaturalTwinCities.com you can find a podcast of the show on AM950Radio.com on any Apple or Google Podcasts. And anywhere you get your podcasts, we will be back in just a moment.

 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the experts who share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle. And today we're talking to Dr. Christian Evanovich, the program director and associate professor for the Acupuncture and Chinese medicine programs at Northwestern Health Sciences University. So just before the break, we were starting to talk about the different programs that you have and your accreditation and financial aid, that type of thing. One of the things that you and I had talked about just before the show and you kind of alluded to earlier was five programs that you are developing that you're starting in September in response to the Argus School school closing.

 

Correct.

 

So tell us a little bit more about that. How did that come about?

 

Well, there was a national for profit school ages University is that recently, in the last several months, closed it stores. And when that happens, as students who are metrically through the programs are often left with very few options, we have the opportunity to take on five of their health related programs. And we've been working with the Higher Learning Commission to ensure that we have an appropriate pathway for those students who are part of the Argus programs. So in September, we'll be adding to our catalog of programs an associates degree in medical assisting, associate's degree in radiation therapy, radiation technology, associates degree in lab Sciences, and then also a bachelor's degree and also clinical laboratory Sciences.

 

So these are not like little programs that you can just start just order some books and get started on this. I mean, you're talking equipment, you're talking lab space. You're talking a lot that is put into this.

 

What we have the benefit of, though, is that we can teach the curriculum that was being taught at the previous institution. So the students should have a smooth transition from what they were learning at Argassi into the remainder of the program at Northwestern. You know, it's sort of a change of location for them, perhaps. But I think this is a really good opportunity to help serve the students and to help serve the community, because otherwise many of these students wouldn't have not necessarily a lot of options to complete their degrees.

 

And nobody wants to see something like that happen, and especially not the school that it's happening, too. But they're usually if something like that does happen, there's usually very little notice that is going to happen. And so it isn't like the students can kind of finish up their degrees, and then the school closes. It kind of closes rather quickly.

 

Correct.

 

And without something for them to go into, they pretty much lose any of the credits that they had with them.

That's right. They could lose some of those credits from the previous training with what we're able to provide now is that they will be able to just smoothly transition into the completion of the degree they started if they choose.

 

And so you will be able to choose if you want to continue on with those programs or not. So this will be kind of a nice little test run for you, I guess you could say let's see how this all pans out.

 

Well, I think we're pretty good at what we do. And so I'm fully confident that the students who will be coming from the previous institution will have really superlative experience at Northwestern.

 

That is great. Well, Congratulations on that. That is quite the undertaking to take on and very impressive that you are able to do that. The other thing that is highly impressive to me is the fact that you guys were able to get a doctorate of Chinese medicine and Acupuncture that you were able to start that yes.

This has been several years in the making, developing the curriculum, the learning outcomes, the programmatic learning outcomes. We're last fall by the Higher Learning Commission to begin offering a Doctor of Chinese medicine degree. And it's the only accredited doctor of Chinese medicine degree currently in Minnesota. And this will provide a higher level of training for our master's level students and our particular degree. We're really focusing on some of the foundational classical medical texts of Chinese medicine. So there's a bit of a Scholastic component to it, too.

 

We have extraordinary clinical opportunities for our students. And so our doctoral students will also be required to an additional about 180 hours of clinical work above and beyond their master's level. And with the focus on the classical literature of Chinese medicine, it will help students and give them a tool set where they can look at some of those classical texts. Those release sort of scholarly texts from the earliest history of Chinese medicine and apply those concepts in a very contemporary healthcare setting. And it's unique in the sense that very few of the other schools in our profession that are credited to offer doctoral degrees are focusing on that sort of Scholastic aspect of the classical literature.

 

And so you started the degree program in January.

 

Did you say correct. We started by identifying students who met the entrance requirements of the doctoral program, who are currently in one of our Masters degree programs, and those students who are given the opportunity to transition into the doctoral program. And in this September, we'll be taking our first cohort of new applicants into doctoral program.

 

So exciting.

 

That's very exciting. And actually, this December, we will be graduating our first cohort of doctor Chinese medicine students at Northwestern Heat Science University. And these are the students who had started at the Masters level and have transitions to the doctoral degree.

 

So the doctorate degree then is an additional year about approximately.

 

So the doctorate degree is ten academic trimesters, and our trimesters run in 15 week segments. And we go year round so we don't have the summers office, so to speak. It is one trimester above and beyond our previous master Chinese messing degree. But the doctoral courses start early in the curriculum. So as they're moving through the curriculum, they are achieving both a Masters of Acupuncture degree, and then they begin working on their doctoral level coursework concurrently at the same time.

 

Oh, my goodness.

 

So our Doctor of Chinese medicine students actually will graduate with two degrees, a master of acupuncture degree and a doctor this medicine degree.

Oh, that's really great. So you have the first cohort that will be graduating. What would people expect to do with that degree?

 

So I think with that degree, it demonstrates an additional level of training above and beyond what sort of the baseline requirements our profession, as I had mentioned before, master's level is the master level degree is the entry level degree here in the United States. And this adds additional training, additional coursework, additional clinical education, clinical experience, additional hands on work working with patients, and that helps create more confidence of more experienced practitioners out in the field. And I think what this will start to do because the doctoral degrees are relatively new in our profession, is that this also starts to create the future leaders, the future teachers, the future administrators of this field.

So, you are the associate professor

 

one of these.

 

Okay. And what is it that you teach in particular?

 

So I teach across departments, and so I teach everything from medical, law and ethics. I teach clinical messing courses. I teach some muscle skeletal soft tissue courses, and then also help support other faculty and curriculum development. And yeah, that's great.

 

So you have a Discovery Day. I see on your web page that's coming up in November November 2. If people wanted to take a tour of the University or to learn more, what is the website that they can find you at?

 

Www NW Health.Edu?

 

Okay. W as in Northwestern Health.Edu, when we come back, we're going to continue talking with Dr Jovanovic about some of the clinics that they have across the Twin Cities. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit Natural Twin Cities com. You can find a podcast of this show on Am 950 Radio com on Apple and Google Podcast. And anywhere you get your podcast, you're listening to Green Tea Conversations on Am 950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota. We will be right back.

 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle. And today we're talking with Dr. Christian Evanovich, the program director and associate professor for the Acupuncture and Chinese medicine programs at Northwestern Health Sciences University. Thanks for being with us today.

 

Thank you.

 

So just before the break, we restart to talk about your doctorate Chinese medicine degree. And I just wanted to get in a little bit more about what some of the classes are, what some of the I guess the classes are that are a part of that program. So people get an idea of what they'd be learning.

 

Sure. So in the what a first year student in the doctoral program, they're going to have classes in anatomy and physiology. They're going to have classes in what's called point location learning where all the 400 so Acupuncture points are on the body. They're going to have clinical observation courses where they actually are observing a licensed practitioner treating real patients in a lab sort of setting. They will be taking a Mandarin course, actually. So learning the basics of Chinese language with a focus on medical Chinese to help support their studies that they go forward, and that's just the first term.

 

And then we start to introduce Chinese medical theory and concepts. They start to learn how to diagnose conditions based on Chinese medical, what's called pattern diagnosis. Then they start to move into pathophysiology courses. So sort of side by side their Chinese medical training. They're also doing Western medical training. And then they're advancing their clinical observation. They are then taking classes in medical law and ethics, safety classes, medical asepsis and risk management to ensure they ought to set up a sterile field, a clean field in order to when they get to the point of learning Acupuncture in the labs, how to do that safely while minimizing risks as part of the doctoral program.

 

They then start to in their fourth term, they start to take doctoral seminar courses, courses in health care policy and health systems, coursework in a clinical research and design, professional development, advanced lab and imaging studies, and continuing to grow their Chinese medical knowledge. And then the Chinese medical diagnostic, acumen and skills, and then also their hands on skills through acupuncture needling courses. And then also we call soft tissue courses. Chinese Medicine has a formal body work called Tuana, or Chinese medical massage, which works with it's a little different than additional forms of massage that I think people are often more knowledgeable about or familiar with you and involves a lot of sort of joint mobilization and moving soft tissue in the body and really helping break up stagnation and adhesions in the body, too.

 

And so that's the curriculum continues to expand, expand. When they hit their second year and their fifth term, they actually start their clinical training, where they actually start treating patients in one of our clinics supervised by licensed faculty members. And that's where they then start their clinical education path for the next two and a half years.

 

And that leads us perfectly into talking about the clinics that you have students at. So you guys have three different clinics on your website that I saw that are in the Twin Cities, right. So the first one is the Northwestern Health Sciences University, the Bloomington Clinic. And this is your integrative health clinic,

 

Correct. This is our clinics open to the community. And so we have practitioners. We have doctors, chiropractic, we have physical therapists, we have massage therapists, we have natural path physicians. We also have license Acupuncture, and particularly for the chiropractic and the Acupuncture practitioners. We also have student interns working in that clinic. So an individual from the community who wants to receive care, they can choose to work with just a licensed faculty member, or they could choose to work with student intern. So they have an option. And there's different fee schedules for the option of working with an intern versus a faculty member.

 

And I found it really interesting. I called the clinic yesterday to get some information, but I found it very interesting that if they are going to be working with one of the faculty members or like sense practitioner, some of the services can be billed to their insurance if it's covered through their insurance. So acupuncture and chiropractic care, so those things can be billed through the insurance company and then the co payer, however, their insurance works would dictate the rest of it. But if somebody doesn't have insurance and it's still the cost is very reasonable, I think for the just regular, I know there's a little bit more involved to the first appointments that they have, but then after that, they said it's running anywhere from $70 to $100 a visit.

 

And that's for working with the license practitioner.

 

Right. And if you wanted to do something even less, this one is not covered by insurance. But if you're working with the student, it's only $40.

 

Correct. And an added perk for individuals who are employees of institution are also our students is we also have another clinic called University Health Science Services or the De Russia Clinic. Our students, our faculty can receive free care there as part of just their overall health and wane strategy while they're at Northwestern.

 

Oh, my goodness.

 

And in addition, I think I believe for $5 more their family members can come to that clinic, too. So we have a lot of options to really encourage our students, our team members, to tend to their own self-care. And then the community clinic, the Bloomington Health Clinic, really serving Bloomington and the surrounding communities.

 

And so what are the other services? So we talked about acupuncture and chiropractic care, but what are some of the other services that people can partake in there?

 

So we have a sort of an integrated physical therapist. There's a naturopathic physician. So some nutritional counseling options, massage therapy, it also comes to and those are the clinic is quite busy and so always encouraging people that there's because it's more of an integrated clinic. There's often a lot of inter referrals. So if you're seeing one practitioner and there's a different clinical service that might be more appropriate for condition, they're going to align you with that provider and sort of essentially refer or hand you off to another provider.

 

So sometimes we have patients who are working with both massage therapist and the chiropractor or the licensed Acupuncturist and the massage therapist to really meet whatever their health care goals are.

 

What I love about it, too, as a learning institution, you're providing that for your students, but you're also providing that to our community. Our community gets to learn about those different practices as well, maybe something that they're not familiar with in another way, and they can come in and do it in a way that is very cost effective. And see if that's something that they want to continue on with either there or with the practitioner outside of the clinic.

 

And it's really about helping individuals establish their healthcare team. You know, we all bring different skills and different specializations to it. And so there's never a us versus them mentality. We help encourage patients to really seek the care that's most appropriate for what their health care goals are or the conditions that are treated. And some some appointments that might be acupuncture, some appointments that might be chiropractic. And so we really have a very so patient-friendly and patient-centered approach to how they can sort of interact with the care that they receive.

 

And so the Bloomington Clinic or the Integrative Health Clinic on the Bloomington campus is located at 25 01 west 84th street in Bloomington. And if somebody wanted to set up an appointment, they could call 952-885-5444. And again, they can find this on your website, which is NWHealth.Edu. You also have the other clinics throughout the Twin Cities. So the other clinics that you have.

 

So we have quite a few, actually, that are utilized in the Acupuncture Chinese Medicine program, but one that we use across programs and often in partnership with other health care institutions or educational institutions is the Integrated Clinic of Minnesota, where we have an amazing partnership with the University of Minnesota Medical School. This is a clinic that provides free care, including chiropractic, acupuncture massage, to the Minneapolis community, especially in the Phillips neighborhood. And on the days that our clinical services not there, the University of Minnesota provide services such as primary care.

 

I believe they have dental services. Nursing students are their psychiatry services and certainly help serve and support that community.

 

And so is this open to anyone.

Or is it it is it's walk in, first come, first serve during their hours. It's really great for the community, but it's also really great for students in our programs to really see how you can serve the community. I think a lot of people who are drawn to more natural or holistic forms of health care really are passionate about service and service to the public. Service to the community. Being in the field of health care is serving a when we are able to introduce that concept to students in their clinical training by actually providing them real world clinical experiences where they are providing free care to individuals who sometimes do not have access to other forms of care or the ability to pay for other services.

 

This really, I think, opens up our interns eyes to really what this is all about, and it's being service to the community.

And so this is open to anyone. So it's not just the Phillips, right neighborhood. Okay. And the hours are pretty limited, but the hours are Wednesday evenings from 06:00 p.m. To 09:00 p.m. And Saturdays from 09:00 a.m. Until noon. So it's walk in and first come first serve.

 

Right.

 

Very good. And that one is at St Paul's Lutheran Church, which is at 27 42 15th Avenue South in Minneapolis.

 

Yes.

Okay. Another one that you have is the Salvation Army, the Minneapolis Harbor Light Center. So tell us about this.

 

So this is a relationship we've had with the Harbor Light Center for many, many years, where it's a homeless shelter and center. And we have a brick and word clinic on site there. And we provide chiropractic and acupuncture services there once again, free of charge. So first come, first serve to any members of that community who wish to avail themselves of that. And for some, this might be the only type of health care services that they access.

 

And so is this one open to the general public.

 

Or is it mainly for the I think it's mainly for the Harbour Lights community here, but I don't think we have too many people from just the general public coming to that particular clinic.

 

Okay. But what a great service to be able to provide the community there. And again, that one is located at the Salvation Army Minneapolis Harbor Light Center, which is at 1010 Core Avenue in Minneapolis. And again, no appointments are needed. People can write, the people can just walk in.

 

Correct.

 

So Acupuncture is there from Tuesdays from 08:30 a.m. Until 12:30 p.m.. And chiropractic care is Mondays from 830 until 11:30 a.m.. N 130 to 04:30 p.m., as well as Wednesdays at the same time.

 

And depending on the academic term, sometimes there might be additional shifts there, just based on the clinical needs, seasonal needs to so these are kind of the baseline days that were there, but sometimes there's additional opportunities for care, too.

 

So people could just call and find out what's absolutely available. Okay. So to learn more about Northwestern Health Sciences University, visit NWHealth Edu. So NWS in Northwest Health.Edu or call 9528855409. When we come back, we're going to continue talking to Dr. Jovanovic, and we are going to start learning more about the other services that are at the clinic or at the school as well. So to read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit natural Twin Cities com you can find a podcast of this show on am 950 radio dot com on Apple and Google Podcasts.

 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals to share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle. And today I'm talking to Dr.Christian Evanovich, the program director and associate professor for the Acupuncture and Chinese medicine programs at Northwestern Health Sciences University. So before the break, we were talking about all the different programs that you have, but you also have additional programs that aren't necessarily a part of your particular area of expertise, but that are available at the University.

And one of those is continuing education. So I did go on your website that it looks like there were a lot of different classes that were being offered, but not necessarily just general. They were pretty high-end classes that were being offered.

 

Correct. So with continuing education for the licensed healthcare professions, such as the Practition, Chinese medicine factor, chiropractic or licensing boards require ongoing professional development and training every year. And so we have a continuing education Department that helps meet the needs of that. So, for example, a chiropractor in Montana could complete some of the continuing education online through our continuing education programming that we have and receive those requisite professional development or continuing education activities. In addition to that, though, we also almost every week we have various workshops, seminars or activities that are happening on campus geared towards the professions.

 

So whether it's massage workshop or Acupuncture seminar, chiropractic techniques, and all these are geared to help provide a high level continuing training for the licensed professions.

 

So it's really going above and beyond what they would learn in school. It's taking in the other expertise that they've gained, but now taking it to another level.

 

Correct.

 

So you also have some programming that's specific for employers.

So we have a newer program, worksite. Right. Which really helps overall with employee wellness at other businesses, institutions where they can sort of assess via mechanics and ergonomics of the environment and help provide training around that. They've actually worked within our own institution to we had a process where individuals could get stand up desks and the work site. Right. Team come in and sort of in house and help make the appropriate measurements and align the appropriate tools to help that particular individual team member who is using, for example, stand up desk.

And so the importance of economics and posture, especially in workplaces, where we tend to have a more sedentary environment, is becoming increasingly important towards overall good health promotion.

 

So any business could reach out and talk to somebody about seeing if they could come into their business and do that. And, of course, there's a fee for that.

 

It's not my field. I don't know, to be honest.

 

Well, I'm assuming there would be. So is it too late if somebody wanted to get started this fall, like they're listening to this program and they're like, I want to get into that program. Is it too late for them to get started with the September?

 

So it's not too late. Time is slowly or quickly moving by for summer, our first orientation the first week of September, and said we have a really amazing admissions team, and they would be happy to answer any questions. If an individual is considering applying, they would be happy to work with them in ensuring that they meet all the prerequisites and to go through that onboarding process. So it's not too late, but but we are times times taken.

 

Yes. So they want to get in as soon as possible so that they can get everything in line as far as financial aid, that type of stuff as well. Okay. And well, if they didn't have enough time or they just think I'm interested, but it seems like it's too quick for me. You also have what's called Discovery Day on November 2.

 

Right. So Discovery Day is an event where all the programs kind of host interested candidates or applicants of the program or just interest in members of the community to come in and sort of learn more about the programs. So an individual, for example, if they're interested in the Acupuncture, these medicine program, there's programming for the whole morning. They come in, they meet with myself and the faculty members. We talk about what the profession is as a whole. We talk about what the training is in the profession.

 

And then there's an opportunity in our program. We've been taken into one of our labs, and we actually let them experience things such as acupuncture that's been demonstrated, Chinese herbal medicine, Chinese medical-massage. They can actually see our interns demonstrating these techniques, and they can participate up to the level of comfort with that. And this is a really popular admissions event. And we also encourage individuals who, if they're interested in applying to the program, they're free to bring their friends or family members also, because it's really important, especially in grad school, that you have a good support structure.

 

And we want their friends and family to also kind of see all the cool things that we're doing in the programs of the type of training that we provide that usually ends with a luncheon and tour the University and an opportunity to meet with our student ambassadors and sort of talk with actual current students to about what their experiences and the programs. And that really gives, I think, a lot of insight into, hey, is this something that I I want to do right now? Is it something that I can do right now? And while I look at all these other students who are being successful at this.

 

And so that is on Saturday, November 2, and they can register, you want people to pre-register for that?

 

Register through the admissions process. And they'll give some more program-specific information to the registrants, and it's free, no charge.

 

That is excellent. So in order to do that, they can just go to your website. Which, again?

 

NWHealth.Edu /admissions.

 

Okay. NWHealth.Edu/admissions, or they can call 952-885-5409 so I saw when I was doing some research for this interview, I saw that you are also the adviser of the student organization on campus.

 

So we have a lot of student clubs and organizations, which is great because these are student-led and student-run through student affairs. But there are faculty advisors, and so various faculty will sort of play a role in that providing mentorship as needed or also is helping students be able to sort of administrate their own organization or club. What's really great about Northwestern is that we have a really active student affairs program. And so students have a lot of activities and events and options. And in addition to that, the student clubs and orgs receive a budget from the university each year and their student-led.

So the students appoint a President and a vice president, and they sort of help govern that own club. And that in itself creates another skill set that students can learn. So they choose to participate in.

 

That is really good for leadership, but understanding their community, what types of activities do they do?

 

So depending on the club itself, it could be everything from clubs that are really focused on aspects of the curriculum, really provide curricular support. I know at one time we had, like, a Kungfu movie club. We have everything from techniques. Focus clubs. We have an herbal medicine club. We have an herbal garden club. We have clubs that are focused on community service.

 

And so there's just a multitude of same students can do when they join

 

yoga club basketball clubs. Badman E sports really wants too

 

Great. So if you're interested in learning more, visit NW Health Edu or you can call 952-885-5409. Dr.Jovanovic, thank you very much for joining us today and thank you for joining our conversation as we awaken the Natural Health. To read the online edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, or to check out our complete online calendar of events, visit Natural Twin Cities Com. I'm wishing for you a lovely day!