HOLISTIC HEALTH Group offers choices for health-seekers

Practitioners and supporters created a clearinghouse.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
An idea whose time has come often has an energy, a magnetism all its own, to attract the people and situations needed to bring about its fulfillment.
In 1993, an idea united a diverse group of people whose common goal was to create a network of "people working together and supporting each other while weaving a community based on wholeness of body, mind, and spirit."
This became the mission statement of Health Choices Network, the brainchild of massage therapist Marguerite Felice. The first meeting was held in her back yard, under an oak tree that became the emblem of HCN: "... its roots in the soil of our community, its strength, spreading shade and beauty, nurturing our spirits and bodies."
Felice returned to Youngstown from California in 1990, working at the food co-op on Pyatt Street while building her massage therapy business.
The situation
She encountered many practitioners of holistic and alternative health in the area but saw little unity, or even recognition of one another. She gathered a group of practitioners and supporters into a core membership, which included three other massage therapists, Marie Lew and Debbie Cogan, from the Youngstown area, and Kim Fitch Tharp, of Pulaski.
Lew says, "The most significant aspect of the original HCN people was that they had each been born in this area, had left to live in far away places and be trained in health modalities of various cultures, then found themselves back in Youngstown. ... It seemed we had been charged with the cosmic task of bringing this area into the 20th century as far as alternative health traditions were concerned. Just the fact of our being here and working day to day in our own ways held the new energy and well grounded it."
Lew lived in Hawaii until her husband's poor health drew them back to the area to be with her family.
Founders
Not all founding members were holistic or alternative care practitioners. Current president Kathy Frangos of Lowellville and her neighbor Janet Kirns joined as supporters of alternative care after both had a positive experience with homeopathy.
Carol Gottesman began her health-care career as a traditional RN in California 41 years ago, but became interested in holistic healing in 1980 and joined HCN as a founder. "I thought it was a great idea for publicity, credibility, support and socializing," she says.
Charter members Bob and Jacquie Heath, spiritual counselors and followers of Edgar Cayce's teachings, owned the Wick-Pollock Inn when HCN was founded, and made this building available for events such as the Health Choices Expos, first held in 1994.
Since then, there have been four more expos, and HCN has participated in numerous health fairs and community events. HCN publishes a resource guide, which provides information to the public on members and their services, along with the speakers bureau topics.
XThe Resource Guide is found in libraries, or online at www.healthchoicesnetwork.com http://www.healthchoicesnetwork.com. For more information on HCN, contact Kathy Frangos at (330) 536-8972.