News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Kevin Pett, PhD.
Kevin Pett took a long and winding path to the practice of Asian medicine in Central Oregon.
At age 38, he left a successful career in the telecommunications industry to pursue a passion for healing. He went to graduate school and secured a PhD through the International Institute of Chinese Medicine in New Mexico, and studied further at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland.
"It took me nine years to get to Central Oregon," he said. "Unfortunately I invested in real estate back East."
After untangling himself from his commitments in Virginia, he chose Central Oregon for his practice.
"I really liked my time in New Mexico, and Central Oregon has a similar feel to the high desert in New Mexico," he related.
Pett's background in Virginia provided him with a challenging test-case for the uses of Eastern medicine - one he worked on in his PhD program: Lyme disease.
"I actually wrote my dissertation on Chinese or herbal medicine for treating Lyme disease," he told The Nugget.
Pett actually relishes taking on challenging chronic conditions - 0which he believes are particularly amenable to the Eastern approach, which is to seek the root of a condition, not just treat or manage symptoms.
"Asian medicine is really about why the body is doing what it's doing," he said.
"Almost all chronic conditions are going to be better served by Asian plant formulas."
But it takes a knowledgeable guiding hand to find an effective treatment -you can't just throw plant formulas at a problem willy-nilly or in isolation.
"Individual plant components work better together than they do independently," Pett said.
Pett works with chronic pain, sciatica, lupus, Crohns disease, rheumatoid arthritis and a host of other chronic ailments. He also helps people experiencing mental and emotional turmoil, depression and insomnia.
"When life throws you some curveballs, it can really take you out," he observed.
Pett is currently practicing a couple of days a week at Hawthorne Healing in Bend and on Wednesdays at Bigfoot Wellness in Sisters. He is hoping to expand his work in Sisters Country, where he feels very comfortable and welcomed.
He enjoys exploring the area, and recently ran Black Butte.
"I've met a lot of people up here," he said.
For more information, contact Kevin R. Pett, PhD at 541-640-9788.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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