We take the time to understand our patient's unique needs, and believe in empowering patients and parents with treatment options that will support the healing of the whole person, while nourishing and strengthening each person's inherent healing ability.

We provide limited primary care for the entire family, and specialize in pediatrics.

Initial treatments may include the use of nutrition, anthroposophic remedies, homeopathy, supplements,  western medicine, craniosacral therapy and referral to other therapies and practitioners.

Our vision is to use remedies and medicines that ease your child’s symptoms, helping them to feel more comfortable without suppressing their bodies own abilities to self heal.

Services offered include:

 Preventative and Well care
• Care/consulting in Traditional, 
  Anthroposophical and Holistic
  medical care  
•  Infant/well baby examinations
• Nutrition/supplements for Infants &
   Children
• Physicals for children, adolescents and
   adults
•Adolescent Healthcare
• Vaccine Consultations
• Breastfeeding issues and when to
   introduce ‘solids’ to your infant
• Safe home remedies for common
   conditions
• Strengthening your childrens’ immune
   system
• Pro's/Con's of circumcision


Acute Care
Our vision is to use remedies and medicines that ease your child’s symptoms, helping them to feel more comfortable without suppressing their bodies own abilities to self heal.

• Sick visits: Ear pain, Fever, Cough
  Gastrointestinal illness, Colic, Sore throat
  Upper respiratory infection, Asthma
• Breathing treatments
• Injury Care: including glueing small
  lacerations, foreign body removal, etc.
• Headaches


Chronic Illness Care
Helping you learn and discover options for safely healing yourself and your children.  Preventing new dis-ease is important in the care of Chronic Illnesses.   Treatment recommendations will include options for conventional western and holistic approaches to you or your child’s condition.
• Neurologic Challenges :ADD/ADHD,
  Autism spectrum, Behavioral
  problems, Developmental delays,
  Cerebral Palsy
• Ear/Nose/Throat Conditions: Congestion,
   Ear fluid, Ear infections, Ear pain,
   Sinusitis, Tonsillitis/Adenoiditis, Upper
   respiratory infections, crowding of teeth,
   mouth breathing
• Gastrointestinal/Digestive Issues:
   Abdominal pain, Colic, Constipation,
  Diarrhea, Failure to thrive, Feeding
  problems, Obesity, Reflux
• Immune Conditions: Allergies, Cancer,
   Diabetes, Inflammatory Bowel, Disease,  
   Perceived vaccination injury, Side   
   effects of chronic medications
• Emotional concerns: Learning 
   disabilities, anxiety, sleep problems,
   trauma/stress
• Respiratory Conditions: Asthma,
   Bronchiolitis, Bronchitis, Cough
• Skin Conditions:  Hives, Eczema, 
   Rashes


Dr. Allen will help you learn about the options you have for healing your children and keeping them healthy. They will review your concerns, along with your children's birth, nutrition, emotional and medical histories, and important physical findings. A holistic assessment and overview of family and child health will be made. You will hear about traditional, anthroposophical and holistic approaches to your children's conditions.


FAQ's

How is Center for Living Health different from other pediatric practices?

Center for Living Health offers a holistic approach to medicine that combines the best of Holistic, Anthroposophic and Conventional medicine.  As a board certified Pediatrician and Holistic MD, Dr. Allen addresses not only symptoms but also the physical, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual aspects of health and illness. He strives to identify areas of  imbalance, and then integrates homeopathic, anthroposophic, and herbal remedies, western medicines and craniosacral therapy in his practice, to support and enhance healing with the intention of helping you re-establish balance once again.

We offer longer appointment times and limit the number of patients seen per day so we can take the time to truly listen to you and understand your child’s unique needs.  In contrast, most conventional pediatric doctors usually see 40-60 patients per day with an average visit of only 5-10 minutes.

We  believe in educating and empowering parents with treatment options that will support the healing of the whole child, while nourishing and strengthening each child’s inherent healing ability.

 

Many parents say their children get sensory overload when they go to conventionall pediatric practices. We designed our Center to provide a tranquil and non-clinical environment for your family. The Center

 

Can Dr. Allen be my primary care pediatrician?

While many of our patients come to Dr. Allen as their main physician, we recommend that our families maintain a physician who is in their insurance network as their primary care physician (PCP) as a back-up (for hospitalizations, emergency care, and after hours call).

Dr. Allen is available for consultations, preventive/well care visits and same-day acute sick visits during routine office hours Monday - Friday, 9:30am  - 3:30pm.

Is Center for Living Health just for Children?
No. At this time, we offer medical services primarily for children, but Dr. Allen occasionally also sees adults for holistic health consultations. In addition, the practitioners at our center provide therapies for both children and adults. We realize that for healing of the whole person/family, parents need support too. At our Center we make it easy for the whole family to find the services they need, all in one place.

Do you take insurance?

Due to the time intensive nature of holistic consultations, we are a fee-for-service practice and do not accept insurance. After working in a conventional practice with insurance for 12 years, Dr Allen did not like insurance companies telling him how he could practice medicine, or what limited treatment options he could provide for his patients. Being part of an insurance network often means that priority is placed on high patient volume with office visits often scheduled for only 5-10 minutes. Additionally, we would not have the flexibility to offer families treatment plans that integrate the best of conventional and complementary approaches.

Fortunately today, there are many high deductible PPO insurance plans that can incorporate health savings accounts, so families can actually save money on monthly insurance premiums, and then use that savings to pay for the kind of care they truly want their families to receive. We will provide coded claim forms to turn in to insurance for possible reimbursement in accordance with the terms of your plan, or that may count towards your deductible. Insurance options.

 

What form of payment do you accept?

We accept payment at the time of the visit in the form of cash, check, credit card, and Health Savings Account and Health Care Reimbursement Account credit cards (in accordance with your PPO plan).

 

Are we taking new patients?

Yes, we are open to new patients and families who are seeking the balance of holistic medicine and therapies for their health. 

Do you see newborns and children in the hospital?

The current trend is for pediatric hospitalists, neonatologists, and other specialists to take care of patients in the newborn nursery, as well as those admitted to the hospital and intensive care units. The wisdom behind this trend makes sense - the most qualified doctors to take care of children in the hospital are the ones that specialize in hospital care, and are available in the hospital 24/7. Therefore hospitalists take care of kids in the hospital, and pediatricians take care of children in an outpatient setting. With this in mind, Dr Allen does not take care of newborns and children in the hospital, but consults with the pediatric hospitalists and neonatologists, and other specialists as needed. Dr Allen visits the children from his practice who end up in the hospital and maintains contact with the family during the hospital stay. Once released from the hospital, Dr. Allen will see his patients for a follow up visit within the first week. For newborns, once discharged, Dr Allen offers house calls to his patients for the initial visit, and can perform all necessary future followup at our office.        

 

 

How much does a visit cost? 

Fees are based entirely on the time the doctor dedicates to your family. Our fees are $50 for every 15 minutes or $200/hour. Initial consults are usually $150-$300, depending on the complexity and the resulting time spent with the family (the more complex, the longer time usually spent). Follow-ups and acute visits are usually $50-$150, again depending the complexity and time spent. Fee’s and Scheduling

 

How long is a typical first visit?

It really depends on the complexity of the child and current issues. Most first visits are one to one-and-a-half hours, but we allow enough time for whatever is needed. Dr. Allen feels it is of utmost importance to give  parents enough time to be really heard, and to take the time he needs to completely understand your child and family. Our philosophy

 

How long are follow up appointments and how much will that cost?

It depends on the complexity, but the typical follow-up appintment usually lasts 30 min and costs $100. However, many follow up appointments can be concluded in as little as 15 minutes, which will cost $50.00. 

 

The co-pay to see a conventional primary care physician, who's priority is symptom relief, is typically $10-$90 for each visit. The difference in cost is nominal, especially if you consider that Dr. Allen will be looking in depth at the underlying imbalance that is causing the symptoms in the first place, and making sure that both are addressed, which can lead to true healing.

 

 

My child seems healthy, do I still need to come in for an initial evaluation? 

Parents can choose whether to come in for the initial evaluation as soon as they find out about our practice, when their child is due for a well physical exam, or when their child is sick or has obvious symptoms of imbalance.

During the initial evaluation, Dr Allen takes the time to really listen to the parents and patient, and performs an extensive and specialized history and physical exam, utilizing his knowledge of human physical, emotional and spiritual development, to uncover areas of imbalance. Dr Allen also seeks to identify subtle symptoms of imbalance before obvious symptoms are apparent.  His goal is to develop a complete picture of your child and who they are as an individual. This visit usually takes 1-1 1/2 hours. 

If any imbalances are identified, treatment strategies will be developed to assist the child to achieve balance and health once again. Dr Allen believes in educating and empowering parents by offering guidance that will support the healing of the whole child, while nourishing and strengthening each child’s inherent healing ability.

 

There are advantages to coming in before your child is sick or has obvious symptoms. Firstly, Dr. Allen can pick up on subtle symptoms of imbalance that may not yet be recognized as a potential problem, and early identification can accelerate the path of healing for your child, before more serious symptoms manifest themselves. Secondly, after the initial evaluation is done, Dr Allen will already have an internal picture of who your child really is. By knowing this, when your child then comes in with a problem or is sick, Dr Allen sees how they have responded or compensated to the challenges or illness they are faced with, which gives him even more information about who they are and how their body works. The clearer the picture he has of your child, the better the recommendations he can make to help them deal with those challenges and symptoms, which lead to re-establishing balance once again, and ultimately to true health. Thirdly, if your child is sick we will do everything possible to see them the same day, but might not be able to do the entire initial evaluation at that time. Good treatment recommendations can still be made, but without the benefit of knowing the whole child. 

Why would I want to pay to see Dr. Allen, versus going to my primary care doctor who is covered by my insurance?

Other pediatricians are trained in Conventional Pediatrics. Dr Allen is fully trained and Board Certified in Conventional Pediatrics AND is Board Certified in Holistic Medicine. He is also in the process of training for Certification in Anthroposophic Medicine. 

Other pediatricians do a history and physical exam and treat their patient's symptoms. Dr Allen takes the time to really listens to the parents and patient, and performs an extensive and specialized history and physical exam, utilizing his knowledge of human physical, emotional and spiritual development, to uncover areas of imbalance. Dr Allen can also identify subtle symptoms of imbalance that are often overlooked or discounted by conventional pediatricians.

Other pediatricians usually spend about 5-15 minutes for their evaluation. Dr Allen's new patient consultation is a comprehensive visit to develop a complete picture of your child, and their medical history, past and current health concerns, nutrition, lifestyle and family life, as well as their emotional and spiritual health. This visit usually takes 1-1 1/2 hours. 

Other pediatricians treat the symptom (i.e. ear infection), not the child.  They look at the symptom and want to get rid of it. If you treat an ear infection with antibiotics you may make the ear infection go away, but if you are not dealing with the underlying problem, the child may get the ear infection over and over again. The underlying problem is only masked, which may then cause further imbalances and progression of symptoms. Dr. Allen treats the whole child, not the symptom. He doesn’t look at the symptom merely as something negative to get rid of, but understands that the symptom is a sign of an underlying imbalance. By identifying these imbalances and developing treatment strategies to restore balance once again, the underlying problem is resolved, the symptom will then go away, and the child experiences true healing.

Other pediatricians use conventional medicines to treat symptoms. Dr Allen creates individualized treatment plans to help nourish and support the child and family on their strategic path back to achieving balance once again. In doing this, he utilizes the best of nutritional, herbal, homeopathic, and anthroposophic remedies, conventional medicine and craniosacral therapy in his treatment plans, in an effort to achieve true healing. 

Other pediatricians have so many patients to see, they have little time for questions. Dr Allen will listen to and answer ALL of your questions, as he feels it is of utmost importance that you understand what is going on with your child, as well as why you will be doing each intervention, and how the treatment plan will assist the child to achieve balance and health once again. Dr Allen believes in educating and empowering parents by offering guidance that will support the healing of the whole child, while nourishing and strengthening each child’s inherent healing ability.

 

Dr. Allen understands that a parent's intuition is so important. He has seen over and over in conventional practices where a parent's “gut feelings” about their child's health were denied, overlooked, or forgotten. I want you parents to believe and listen to those intuitive feelings you have, because no one knows your child better than you do. Just remember, if anyone doubts your intuitive "gut" feelings, you parents are generally right and we doctors, therapists, etc, are generally wrong.

Many parents say their children get sensory overload when they go to conventionall pediatric practices. We designed our Center to provide a tranquil and non-clinical environment for your family. 

The co-pay to see a conventional primary care physician, who's priority is symptom relief, is typically $10-$90 for each visit. The difference in cost is nominal, especially if you consider that Dr. Allen will be looking in depth at the underlying imbalance that is causing the symptoms in the first place, and making sure that both are addressed, which can lead to true healing. 

 

 Do we see acutes?  Same day?

Yes.  We try to work patients in the same day for acute sick visits. If your child is sick, we will try to do whatever we can to get them in the same day.

 

What if I am not an established patient and my child is sick. Can I get an acute/sick appt?

Yes.  If we are busy and the child needs to be seen, we will do everything to try and get you in that day, but may not have time to do the complete initial evaluation. Dr. Allen can treat the acute situation (i.e.   treatment for an ear infection) and then finish the remainder of the initial evaluation later.  See Why do I need an initial evaluation 

Does your office do labs?

We do not do labs in our office.  However, if you have PPO insurance, we can provide you with a lab slip to take to the lab contracted with your insurance, and the lab will fax us the results. If you have HMO insurance, you can have the labs we recommend, done through your primary care physician and request the lab fax us a copy of the results as well.

Does Dr. Allen see adults? 

Dr. Allen is Board Certified in Holistic Medicine and sees adults for holistic consultations, but not for specific medical conditions. During the holistic consultation, Dr Allen really listens to you and performs an extensive and specialized history and physical exam, including your overall health and lifestyle, life experiences, your constitution and temperament, and emotional and spiritual health. Dr Allen utilizes his knowledge of human physical, emotional and spiritual development, to uncover areas of imbalance.  After developing a complete picture of who you are, he then creates individualized treatment plans to help nourish and support you on your strategic path back to achieving balance once again. Part of that plan involves helping to guide you to look at who you are, why you are here, and the reason for the challenges in your life.

Do we do immunizations in our office?

Not at this time. However, we offer vaccine consultations to help parents better understand vaccines and can recommend modified vaccine schedule friendly pediatricians if requested.

 How is Dr Allen different from other pediatricians?

Other pediatricians are trained in Conventional Pediatrics. Dr Allen is fully trained and Board Certified in Conventional Pediatrics AND is Board Certified in Holistic Medicine. He is also in the process of training for Certification in Anthroposophic Medicine. 

Other pediatricians do a history and physical exam and treat their patient's symptoms. Dr Allen takes the time to really listens to the parents and patient, and performs an extensive and specialized history and physical exam, utilizing his knowledge of human physical, emotional and spiritual development, to uncover areas of imbalance. Dr Allen can also identify subtle symptoms of imbalance that are often overlooked or discounted by conventional pediatricians.

Other pediatricians usually spend about 5-15 minutes for their evaluation. Dr Allen's new patient consultation is a comprehensive visit to develop a complete picture of your child, and their medical history, past and current health concerns, nutrition, lifestyle and family life, as well as their emotional and spiritual health. This visit usually takes 1-1 1/2 hours. 

Other pediatricians treat the symptom (i.e. ear infection), not the child.  They look at the symptom and want to get rid of it. If you treat an ear infection with antibiotics you may make the ear infection go away, but if you are not dealing with the underlying problem, the child may get the ear infection over and over again. The underlying problem is only masked, which may then cause further imbalances and progression of symptoms. Dr. Allen treats the whole child, not the symptom. He doesn’t look at the symptom merely as something negative to get rid of, but understands that the symptom is a sign of an underlying imbalance. By identifying these imbalances and developing treatment strategies to restore balance once again, the underlying problem is resolved, the symptom will then go away, and the child experiences true healing.

Other pediatricians use conventional medicines to treat symptoms. Dr Allen creates individualized treatment plans to help nourish and support the child and family on their strategic path back to achieving balance once again. In doing this, he utilizes the best of nutritional, herbal, homeopathic, and anthroposophic remedies, conventional medicine and craniosacral therapy in his treatment plans, in an effort to achieve true healing. 

Other pediatricians have so many patients to see, they have little time for questions. Dr Allen will listen to and answer ALL of your questions, as he feels it is of utmost importance that you understand what is going on with your child, as well as why you will be doing each intervention, and how the treatment plan will assist the child to achieve balance and health once again. Dr Allen believes in educating and empowering parents by offering guidance that will support the healing of the whole child, while nourishing and strengthening each child’s inherent healing ability.

 

Dr. Allen understands that a parent's intuition is so important. He has seen over and over in conventional practices where a parent's “gut feelings” about their child's health were denied, overlooked, or forgotten. I want you parents to believe and listen to those intuitive feelings you have, because no one knows your child better than you do. Just remember, if anyone doubts your intuitive "gut" feelings, you parents are generally right and we doctors, therapists, etc, are generally wrong.

Many parents say their children get sensory overload when they go to conventionall pediatric practices. We designed our Center to provide a tranquil and non-clinical environment for your family.

What is your philosophy on Vaccines

I try to be unbiased and neutral about vaccines. Throughout my 18 years of practice I have seen children die from vaccine preventable illnesses, and I have seen children suffer pain, seizures and developmental losses after receiving vaccines.

 

The most important issue, I believe, is that parents understand that vaccines are one of the options available, and whether to do them or not, should definitely be a parent’s choice – not mandated by the medical establishment. If you want to do them great. If you don’t, that’s great too! Life is all about making informed choices and then living with the consequences – we can only do the best we can with the information we have in the moment. No one can tell you what is the “best” decision for any one person – because no one knows! I honor and support parent's intuitive "gut" feelings about their children. I always tell my parents to pay close attention to these "gut" feelings, because they are usually right, and those of us in the medical profession are often wrong, if we believe otherwise.

 

It is very important to me that parents understand what each vaccine does, and that there are options in when to give the vaccines, and how many to receive at one time. I often do vaccine consults where I meet with the parents, listen to what their decisions are regarding vaccines, and then formulate a strategy for them to be able to accomplish their chosen goals. I also recommend that it is always best to do vaccines when the child is healthy. Most of my parent’s that choose to do vaccines, do them on a modified schedule. I do not offer vaccines in my office, but if your child’s conventional doctor will not allow you to receive vaccines on a modified schedule, I know pediatricians that will.

Do you sell remedies and supplements?

As a convenience to our patients, we offer a full line of remedies and supplements available for purchase in our office. All products retail for the same or lower than remedies sold in the area. We are proud to feature products by:

Uriel Pharmacy

Weleda

Boiron

Hyland

Liddell

Blue Lizard

If you are interested in purchasing or are running low on any of the supplements we offer at Center for Living Health, you may purchase those at our office during normal business hours. 

 

We offer the highest quality holistic medical care without an insurance middleman restricting the type of care or length of time you spend with a medical provider.

We are not a full-service primary care practice,  and recommend families remain under the care of a primary care provider (PCP) for: emergency care; hospital admissions; and after hours call.

Newborn  and After Hours Care
As an added service to our patients, Dr. Allen offers newborn home visits within a reasonable distance from the office.

Although Dr. Allen is not on call after normal office hours, when available he may see existing patients as needed for acute care on weekends and after hours. 

At this time we will NOT be offering routine vaccinations, suturing, or other emergency care.

Appointments
Dr. Allen is available to care for patients during scheduled office hours. 

Charges for appointments are based on the actual time spent with Dr. Allen


•  New Patient Consultations: usually 1
   hour long, but can be longer/shorter 
   depending on complexity approx. $200

•  Simple Acute Visit (one problem): 
   Approx. $50-$100
 
•  Complex Acute Visit (multiple
   problems) approx. $50-$150
  
• Follow-Up Visits: (simple-complex) 
   $50-$100

• Infant/Well Baby/Child Physicals: approx.  $50- $100 simple exam

• Newborn Home Visit
   approx.  $100-$150

• Simple Sports Physical: 
  $50 (existing patient)

• Comprehensive School/Sports Physical
  [Physical, Hearing, Visual Screening)  
  approx $50-$100

Payment Policy

Due to the time intensive nature of holistic consultations, we are a private pay only practice and do not accept insurance.

However, we will provide coded claim forms to turn in to insurance for possible reimbursement in accordance with the terms of your plan or that may count towards your deductible. 

By choosing to bring your child to us your health insurance needs will change, and you may find it advantageous to alter your current plan. See below for strategies and suggestions on how to minimize out-of-pocket expenses to pay for Holistic care, that may even save you money. Our goal is to offer holistic medical care to all those who seek it.

Increasing your health insurance deductible
Many healthy families have a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) health plan, with a relatively low ($500-1000) deductible. The premiums for such a service can, however, be quite high.

By increasing your deductible, monthly premiums may be reduced by almost half, resulting in significant annual savings to you.

Using a Health Care Reimbursement Account (HCRA) to pay for services
As an employee, you may have access to a Health Care Reimbursement Account as part of your benefits package. Such a program lets you set aside a predetermined amount, pre-tax, for use for qualified medical expenses. Individuals may generally direct a maximum of $5000 per year to such an account, but if their spouse is also an employee, then together they may contribute $10,000. Note, however, that you must carefully track your health expenses as the IRS requires that you forfeit any unclaimed money in your HCRA account after the closing date of the plan year.

Using a Health Savings Account (HSA)
New in 2004, and providing opportunity for the self-employed, the Health Savings Account is a combination of tax favored savings account and a qualified high deductible health insurance policy. To qualify you must have an approved plan with at least a $1000 deductible for an individual or $2000 deductible for your family. Each year you and/or your employer can contribute enough to cover 100% of your deductible (up to a maximum of $4000 for an individual or $8000 for a family). As with a Health Care Reimbursement Account, the money goes in before taxes (or is tax deductible), but unlike an HCRA, accrues interest tax free, rolls over to the next year, and is never taxed if used for qualified medical expenses!

What if I have an HMO?
While a HMO will not reimburse for our visits,  co-pays for many HMO's range from $15-$75 per visit, plus up to a $6,000 deductible.  If you are pursuing holistic health for your family, visits to our practice may not cost much more than your co-pays.