At the intersection of clinical expertise and entrepreneurial vision stands Dr. Donna Patterson, a cardiology nurse practitioner whose medical spa business represents a bold attempt to address one of American healthcare’s most persistent failures: the lack of preventative care in underserved communities. With a focus on weight management and wellness education, Dr. Patterson has positioned herself as part of the solution to a healthcare system she describes as primarily “reactive” rather than proactive.
“In the hospital setting I see that we’re more reactive in the way we treat our patients,” Dr. Patterson explains. “You come in and you’re sick, we will take care of you, but we’re not teaching you how to prevent these diseases.”
This observation, drawn from years of clinical experience treating cardiac patients, reveals a fundamental shortcoming in how healthcare is delivered, particularly to minority populations who experience disproportionately high rates of chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
The pandemic revelation
The COVID-19 pandemic brought these healthcare disparities into sharp focus for Dr. Patterson. When data emerged showing that people with underlying conditions like obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, conditions that disproportionately affect African Americans, were at higher risk of dying from the virus, she experienced what she calls her “aha moment.”
“The milestone for me was seeing that people who were African American, people who had high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol were considered high risk for dying from COVID,” she recalls. This realization prompted her to “do something about it in terms of I want to make a difference in the life of people.”
That “something” became Rejuvenir Health Med Spa, a business specifically designed to help clients achieve weight loss and learn healthier lifestyle habits. Though relatively new, having been operational for only about 18 months at the time of her interview, the medical spa has already guided multiple clients to significant weight loss achievements, with some losing more than 50 or 60 pounds.
Breaking the cycle of medicalization
Dr. Patterson’s approach directly challenges what she calls the “Band-aid” mentality prevalent in mainstream healthcare, the tendency to prescribe medications for symptoms without addressing root causes or providing education to prevent future illness.
“My head hurts, you get a pill, my back hurts, you get a pill. I can’t sleep, you get a pill,” she says, describing the cycle she witnesses in hospital settings. This pattern, while sometimes necessary for acute care, fails to address underlying issues or empower patients with knowledge to manage their own health.
Her medical spa takes a different approach, focusing on weight management as a cornerstone of preventative health. “Specifically, we promote weight loss because it helps the foundation of the majority of the diseases that we see,” she explains. “Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke, diabetes are stemming from obesity.”
Beyond physical health
What distinguishes Dr. Patterson’s approach is her recognition that health encompasses more than just physical metrics. Her practice has become a space where clients can address the emotional and psychological aspects of their health journeys.
“People come in there and they cry,” she shares. “People are going through so much, mentally, emotionally, and you just don’t know just by looking at a person, but when you sit down and start talking to someone, and they just start opening up and crying.”
For a 17-year-old client who lost 57 pounds, the transformation was as much about emotional wellbeing as physical health. “I won’t be the fat friend anymore,” the teenager told Dr. Patterson, revealing how weight loss had boosted her confidence and changed her self-perception.
Other clients celebrate newfound mobility, being able to cross their legs while sitting or walking without knee pain, highlighting how physical improvements translate to quality of life enhancements that standard medical care might not prioritize or track.
The access problem
Dr. Patterson’s insights into healthcare disparities are informed not only by her professional experience but also by personal struggles with access. While in nursing school, she had to reduce her working hours from full-time to PRN (as needed) status, consequently losing her health insurance coverage.
“I could not access the system, because one I could not afford the insurance on the marketplace and two, I was working in a hospital, but I had no insurance,” she recalls. This experience highlighted the paradoxical situation many healthcare workers find themselves in, providing care they themselves cannot access.
This firsthand knowledge of the barriers to care shapes her understanding of why preventative healthcare remains elusive for many in underserved communities, “People are not being educated, especially the underserved communities. They’re not given the resources that they need, they may not be able to afford the insurance that are high cost, and so no one is teaching us as minorities how to prevent disease.”
Building a sustainable model
Unlike many mission-driven initiatives that struggle with financial sustainability, Dr. Patterson acknowledges the importance of profitability in her business model. “Yes, I want to make money, because the more money I make in business the more people I feel I can help,” she states pragmatically.
This blending of purpose and practicality reflects her unique background spanning both banking and healthcare. Having spent 15 years in the banking industry before transitioning to nursing following the 2008-2009 economic crash, Dr. Patterson brings financial literacy to her healthcare entrepreneurship.
Yet she maintains that the financial rewards, while important, remain secondary to her primary goal of helping people improve their health: “The money will come, but I feel that the people that, my clients that I’ve been serving have been assigned to me.”
The path forward
Dr. Patterson’s approach offers a potential model for addressing healthcare disparities through entrepreneurship focused on prevention. By creating a space that specifically targets weight management, a significant risk factor for many chronic conditions disproportionately affecting minority communities, she addresses a critical gap in the healthcare system.
Her experience suggests that effective preventative care requires not just medical knowledge but also cultural competence, emotional intelligence, and genuine commitment to community wellbeing. The “reactive” approach she observes in hospital settings fails to provide these elements, particularly for underserved populations.
As healthcare continues to evolve and the nation grapples with persistent disparities in health outcomes, practitioners like Dr. Patterson demonstrate how individual initiative can create meaningful alternatives to conventional care models. Her medical spa, though small in scale, represents a promising approach to making preventative care accessible, culturally responsive, and holistically oriented.
For communities historically underserved by mainstream healthcare, such initiatives may offer a path to better health outcomes, one patient, one pound, one preventative intervention at a time.
