WellQuest Medical | Tulsa, Oklahoma
One of my favorite things about running JustTulsa.com is that I occasionally get a chance to get a little deeper look into Tulsa businesses.
Most recently, I was contacted by a full-service medical clinic called WellQuest (8005 East 106th St. S. — right at 106th and Memorial) in South Tulsa who graciously offered me (or really, my wife) a complimentary “test drive” of an intriguing piece of technology: Skinprint.
With this system, WellQuest (you can also find them on Facebook here) utilizes several specialized pieces of equipment that scan a person’s face and analyze the dermal tissue for bacteria, oil production, hydration, barrier functionality, elasticity, and PH. Wellquest’s aesthetician is then able to perform a customized “jumpstart” facial on the patient and prescribe a scientifically-based treatment plan, too.
I’ll get back to how that all went down in just a minute… I want to talk about what I personally did while I was at WellQuest.
While I did take some photos and videos of the process of the Skinprint and facial treatment process, I managed to sneak out for a little while to check out what WellQuest was really all about. As many of you know by now, I like to use companies and services that offer the highest value for the best price.
I was pleased to find out that this is, indeed, one of those places.
Co-Pays and Effectiveness of Treatment
I knew from the start that WellQuest wasn’t a typical urgent care center or medical spa or anything like that. WellQuest is a full-service medical clinic (per their website) that practices something called integrative medicine.
“What the heck is integrative medicine?” Think of it this way: integrative medicine takes the best practices of traditional/conventional medicine and integrates them with the best practices of holistic medicine.
Let me give you a real world example: let’s say you have high blood pressure.
If you go to an urgent care center, they’re going to prescribe you something like Lisinopril (it almost sounds like I’m talking from experience, doesn’t it?) and send you on your way.
At WellQuest, after they diagnose your issue, the doctor decides whether a prescription is necessary or not (see: conventional medicine), followed by a visit with an in-house dietician who uses the doctor’s diagnosis or bloodwork to help you develop the proper lifestyle changes or figure out what medical-grade supplements will help you the most (not the kind you get at Whole Foods or Sprouts.)
Most importantly, when your WellQuest’s physician refers you to their in-house dietitian for treatment of the diagnosis, your insurance pays for this service. I think that is extra important.
On top of this more effective treatment, WellQuest is also considerably cheaper to visit than an a regular urgent care, too. Since they’re also a primary care physician, my insurance co-pay is $25 there, as opposed to the $75 I have to pay anytime that either of my kids or I have to go to our regular urgent care center. Don’t get me started on my insurance’s co-pays…
The BCA Machine
When I got a chance to stop and chat with WellQuest dietician Jasmine Walker about the “nutrition angle” of WellQuest, something caught my eye. It looked like a Segway without wheels.
Ms. Walker explained to me that this highly-technological wonder is called a BCA machine. You stand on it (with bare feet) and put your hands on the two grips. Over the course of a minute or so, this machine tells you your weight and more:
- intracellular and extracellular water composition in lbs.
- lean mass in lbs.
- body fat mass in lbs.
- skeletal muscle mass in lbs.
- body fat mass in lbs.
- body mass index
- percentage body fat
- a lean analysis of every arm, leg, and your trunk in lbs. and percentage
All of this information is printed off and given to you, but the data is stored so that you can track your body composition history, too, on a chart at the bottom of the print-out. Pretty nifty stuff!
Now, I’m no student of medicine, myself, but I could tell that Ms. Walker was not only very knowledgeable, but she was really friendly, too. Probably the kind of personality you want in a dietitian, right?
The Full Tour
After talking to Ms. Walker for a bit about how WellQuest’s diet program dovetails with WellQuest’s medical side, Mrs. Jessica Rice (who had originally contacted us about the Skinprint scan and treatment) offered to show me around the facility. As a person that loves business, technology, and science, there was no way I could turn that offer down!
I noticed the presence of several diffusers that were billowing a light aromatic fog into the building. Mrs. Rice explained to me that they use these diffusers with essential oils to help patients feel more relaxed. That sentiment is something that I’ve noticed that WellQuest is particularly big on; they want their patients to feel relaxed. Not a bad idea. Even the waiting room itself is pretty relaxing.
Mrs. Rice gave me a full tour of the medical area, which included an impressive “no-cost-spared” X-ray machine, a state of the art bloodwork lab, and exam rooms that all had that same “help the patient relax” motif.
After that, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Steve Swift, president, CEO, and co-founder of WellQuest. I sat down with Mr. Swift in his office and we spent some time talking about the concept of WellQuest, as a whole, and how the vision that he and his wife, Judy, had for a medical center that would not look, act, or smell like a doctor’s office. With a growing clientele in Tulsa and Bentonville, Arkansas, it’s plain to see that people have caught on.
After we left Mr. Swift’s office, we passed by Dr. Reed, one of WellQuest’s board-certified family practice physicians, who I also had the pleasure of meeting.
Before heading back to the Skinprint lab, we stopped by to see one more feature of the WellQuest facility that I found particularly interesting. This happened to be a big, gorgeous meeting room that Mrs. Rice explained to me that WellQuest uses to hold small clinics and seminars.They also rent it out to other companies and organizations, who frequently hold their own clinics there.
Back to The Skinprint Lab
Concluding our tour, we stopped back by the Skinprint lab to see how the session was going.
Molly O’Meara, WellQuest’s lead aesthetician and Skinprint technician, went through the process of how they would photograph Liz’s (my wife) face using ultrasound technology to find out if there were any concerns that would need to be addressed.
It was certainly interesting to see how Ms. O’Meara used the Skinprint technology and software to pinpoint exactly where any issues existed, all while the entire process remained completely non-invasive. We certainly are living in the future. The results are sent off to another laboratory where they’ll further break down the results to let Liz know exactly what else can be done, via skincare treatment, to bring her facial tissue to its full potential.
Next, they had Liz move into another room where the repairs that could be done in this session were performed. Liz said the whole process was very enjoyable; the lighting and music were right in stride with the “relaxation” theme.
Later on, as we were driving home, Liz said “I think I could go back and do that again.” I was thinking the same thing… I guess I’ll have to find the right time to tell her we’re switching primary care physicians!