The Bluedoor Approach
Bluedoor is the first urgent care and wellness center of its kind in Los Angeles. Created to serve as an oasis of simplicity within a chaotic healthcare ecosystem, we practice intentional, trauma-informed care that combines the best in western, eastern, and holistic medicine.
There is a simple need that bluedoor seeks to fill:
provide a safe space for people to feel better.
While we refer to ourselves as an urgent care (and offer all of the services/benefits of one), bluedoor is evolving that concept to provide more to visitors.
Bluedoor’s approach to medicine is holistic – and goes far beyond the traditional urgent care model of symptom treatment. We are founded on honesty and transparency and implement those ideals across every leg of the healthcare journey. We believe that stress and anxiety are the foundations of so many physical ailments and have structured our practice to not only treat the symptoms but also work to treat the cause.
Healthcare is a complicated topic. There are many opportunities for the industry to do better by the people it was built to serve. Through our unique approach, we aim to give patients agency over their health by providing honest, proven and multifaceted options. Understanding their health empowers patients to view their health from a new perspective.
The Problem
It is no secret that the American healthcare system is broken. From skyrocketing insurance prices and murky coverage, to rising rates of chronic illness and obesity – there are more problems to fix than can be accomplished by any one person or institution. And, despite having some of the highest healthcare costs in the world, Americans have much lower life expectancy rates than nations spending far less. There are many reasons for this, but one factor is a lack of emphasis on preventative care. The CDC reports less than 2% of American healthcare dollars are spent on preventative care. More than 75% of all health care costs are due to chronic illnesses (National Health Council, 2014).The treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and osteoarthritis account for a huge portion of American healthcare costs totaling over one trillion per year (CDC, 2016).
These issues are unfortunately perpetuated by bloated insurance companies who are forced to operate for profit. This trickles down to providers, who are in turn incentivized to prescribe treatments based on their reimbursements by insurance companies. The capitalist healthcare ecosystem ties the hands of healthcare providers and is not in service of the actual health of the patient. The result? A deeply flawed system has proven itself to be not only unsustainable but also unsuccessful. It prioritizes profits over patient health, disregards individualized needs and encourages miseducation.
Unfortunately, not all healthcare decisions align with the goals of the patient or even the proven effectiveness of treatments (JAMA, 2017). As the industry continues to operate in this way, the trust between provider and patient continues to erode. The system does not give providers the opportunity nor the proper tools to treat patients beyond their symptoms. In primary care settings in the U.S.physicians spent around 12 minutes total with patients and less than 5 minutes actually discussing symptoms with patients. The lack of time spent between physician and patient is due to two larger issues at play within the broken American healthcare system and that is; a lack of primary care physicians coupled with medical care facilities needing to see hundreds of patients a day just to keep their businesses afloat.
Traditional western medicine often looks at illness as an isolated present event rather than taking a more systemic approach to health. Preventative care has not been prioritized and we are seeing the weight of that problem now with 60% of adults having a chronic illness and 40% of those having two or more chronic illnesses (CDC, 2021). However, the current operating procedure of traditional medicine in the US is still to treat, medicate an discharge patients.
Urgent care facilities were created to support this burgeoning load of the healthcare industry. Full emergency rooms, long appointment waits at doctors’ offices – urgent cares offer a local, efficient and affordable option for receiving healthcare. As a result, urgent care is emerging as most patients’ preferred primary care setting, as well as insurance companies’ preferred destination for their subscribers due to lower costs. The Urgent Care Association reports that 29% of all primary care visits take place within urgent care clinics.
Unfortunately, conventional urgent care centers are only solving part of the problem. While they do provide affordable and convenient care, often they too solely employ high volume, turnstile approaches that focus on presenting symptoms without considering causal aspects of a patient illness or injury. Bluedoor bridges the gap by not only treating the presenting problem but by utilizing a combination of eastern, western, and holistic medicine to develop a preventative care plan for the future. Our integrative model of care and collaborative approach empowers our guests with treatment options that best suit their lifestyle.
Our Solution / The Bluedoor Approach
We know we can’t be the solution to every problem. Our approach is to move intentionally and thoughtfully, to make impactful steps in the direction of health. Bluedoor is an experiment – we approach traditional healthcare in an untraditional way and constantly work to evolve our concept of what medicine can be.
We appreciate the value of traditional urgent care – the convenience, accessibility and cost. But we want to move beyond that. Bluedoor was created with all of the benefit of a traditional urgent care -- but that offers far more. We look at healthcare through an ecological and cultural lens and have adapted every aspect of the experience – from service and staff to lighting and plants, music and more – to reduce anxiety, promote wellness, and secure safety. We are powered by experienced medical providers curating impactful treatments focused on allowing our guests to feel better.
From the moment a patient enters our care, it is important for us that they feel not only physically protected but also emotionally protected. As a black and veteran owned, family operated business, we work to create a safe space for all humans. We believe it is essential that everyone feel understood and respected in order to truly feel better. This belief is reflected in our staff -- a multicultural/multilingual (six languages spoken fluently) group – and our dedication to creating an LGBTQI+ safe space.
Our space serves as the entry point for people to understand our approach to healthcare. We have seen that often presenting physical symptoms can reflect a deeper trauma cycle that exists within a person. Most people don’t realize their symptoms are a manifestation of a self-perpetuating trauma cycle. But trauma can mean many things. From acute and severe – abuse, violence, neglect, car accidents, major illness, pregnancy loss - to subtle and constant – social media anxiety, pandemic PTSD, relational issues, work related problems etc. Cortisol, the primary hormone released when the body is experiencing stress from a traumatic reaction, can increase inflammation and lower the immune system. If cortisol levels remain spiked for long periods of time, it can bring with it illness, injury and difficulty recovering from them. Research shows that those living in urban areas have higher activations in their amygdala, which is linked to our internal response to stress and threat. At bluedoor, we offer therapies that are designed to not only treat the current symptoms, but also work to end the trauma cycle altogether.
Why Trauma Informed?
Our approach to integrative care is rooted in the trauma informed model. Trauma-informed care is defined as practices that promote a culture of safety, empowerment and healing.
Research by SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) shows that trauma histories not only impact overall health but also overall responsiveness to treatment. This approach takes into consideration the presence of trauma related symptoms and recognizes that trauma can continue to cycle unless properly addressed.
Often, the power of the mind is overlooked when it comes to its influence on physical health. When health is approached through a trauma-informed lens, it allows providers, staff, and, in turn, patients to look to understand the root cause of symptoms as they present. When this extra layer of attention is folded into the healthcare process, it has been proven to result in longer lasting health results.
There are many reasons for this but one important one is that it demands active participation from both patient and provider. When patients are passive in their treatment (i.e. going to a doctor, receiving a prescription, going home), they are relying entirely on something external to heal them. We have found that when patients actively participate in their treatment, the results are extraordinarily more profound, lasting results.
OUR MISSION
So many aspects of the healthcare experience are familiar everywhere. On one hand, this gives everyone (patients, staff, providers etc.) a sense of reliability, predictability and comfort. But, on the other hand, it can result in a passive experience and missed opportunities for improvement, advancement and ultimately, health. Our goal at bluedoor is to interrogate these standard operating procedures - from the check in process to the furniture in the lobby, from the music we play to the providers we hire - to encourage all who enter our doors to be present and active in their healthcare journey.