Kelowna Naturopathic Clinic

Kelowna Naturopathic Clinic, led by Dr. Garrett Swetlikoff practices traditional as well as “progressive and interventional natural medicine.” What does that mean?

“Many first time patients who have been exposed to alternative or naturopathic medicine, come with the idea that we are experts in diet, nutrition and herbal medicine – that’s the very traditional,” explains Dr. Swetlikoff. “Conscientious naturopathic physicians across the country provide this traditional part.”

“The progressive part came from being exposed at a very early age to European biological medical approaches. In countries like Germany, Russia, Austria and Switzerland, medical doctors and biological physicians were approaching healthcare, not only on a basic physical level, but also through homeopathy, energetic methods and the autonomic nervous system. So when I graduated, we started incorporating neural therapy, various oxygen and ozone therapies as well as ultraviolet blood irradiation therapies.

The interventional aspect started, Dr. Swetlikoff explains, because, “Early in my career I realized there were a lot of sick people that need help now. Their problems were acute or life threatening and they were not going to respond rapidly enough to dietary therapies. So in the late 1980’s, we started bringing in our IV therapies, our injections therapies like Prolotherapy, our more sophisticated roots of administration to treat cancer patients, chronic pain patients, people with acute infections and other acute pathologies.”

Dr. Garrett Swetlikoff ND has been a tireless advocate for Naturopathy in British Columbia. It’s development is recounted here.

“York Downs Chemists has played a significant role in the development of our practice”

“In the big scheme of things, York Downs Chemists has been a key player in the progression of our profession nationally, as well as provincially in various jurisdictions,” Dr. Swetlikoff states, adding that York Downs has enabled “our patients to get access to these medicines and compounded drugs that are safe, affordable, and effective when they didn’t have them in the past.”

“Boyana [Djokic, Lead Pharmacist] probably attends more continuing education seminars than most pharmacists and is constantly learning, and is constantly training, not only in her field of pharmacology and pharmacy, but in the whole medical field. More importantly, she keeps ahead of the latest research and the latest applications.”

“There’s a ton of competition now. Even in Kelowna here, we have three or four compounding pharmacies. But to this day, 99.9% of what I use comes from York Downs Chemists.”