When those we love face a health crisis it often leads us to look outside of what we have always known and search for better alternatives. For Dr. Jennifer Gramith, that is exactly what brought her to where she is now.
Twenty years ago, Dr. Gramith was a nurse working in gastro-intestinal medicine, cardiology, internal medicine and even oncology. She was putting in to practice all that she had learned in nursing school and enjoying her work, until her father was diagnosed with lymphoma.
“My father had been a smoker most of his life and had worked as a crop duster so he had the chemicals sprayed right on him. That’s where they thought the lymphoma developed. When he received his diagnosis, we did chemo and radiation because that was all we knew to do,” said Dr. Gramith. “The treatments destroyed his heart and the doctors gave him less than two months to live. So, I was praying and reaching out to everyone and even sent him to Dallas for a second opinion but he was told the same prognosis there. That was when I started researching other options and just trying to find some way to help him.”
Her medical director, at the time, was very interested in holistic medicine and had a few ideas and connections. So, he suggested that, with no-where else to turn, she should give the alternative route a try. They began taking her father to see an Herbologist and soon his health began to turn around. He lived past the two-month point, began to get stronger, at two months the tumors had gotten smaller and one year later he had no trace of cancer in his body.
Having seen first-hand the life changing effects of alternative medicine, Dr. Gramith decided to return to school and become a Naturopathic Doctor. She finished her education with Trinity School of Natural Health and began working with cancer patients and patients with chronic illness. Along the way, she found there to be a tremendous emotional connection to illness and this knowledge led her to return to school again to pursue a Bachelors in psychology which she now puts in to use to help clients heal physically and emotionally.
Now, Dr. Gramith operates Rightway Health and Wellness in Canton, Georgia where her focus is on helping clients rebuild their immune systems through specialized work with the lymphatic system. She offers biofeedback testing, lymphatic therapy, LED, ozone saunas, vibration plates, Evox sessions as well as diet and nutrition consultations. The goal is to work alongside the client as they work to improve their health and wellness.
Additionally, Dr. Gramith has connections with the Scottish Rite Hospitals and Cancer Centers of America where she works with them in helping patients who are choosing traditional treatments but understand the importance of keeping their immune systems strong and their lymphatic systems functioning.
“For me, the most amazing part of what I get to do is see people get well,” said Dr. Gramith. “When I was working in oncology I would see the same people coming in and getting more and more sick. I even would ask how we could help the people build their immune systems or why we were feeding them sugar during treatments and I would just be laughed at. They didn’t believe that food had anything to do with cancer. That mindset didn’t make sense to me and really bothered me. I got in to the medical field to help people and I wasn’t able to do that but now, I see people come in to my clinic so broken emotionally and physically and I get to help them turn that around and just watch them blossom.”
On the flip side of that, Dr. Gramith admits that it is often difficult to change the mindset of clients who are so used to the traditional route that they believe they have no say in their health. Often, they come in with a list of symptoms and simply a desire to receive a prescription that will make them feel better. She believes that helping them switch their mindset to understand they have control over how they treat their body, what they put in it and how they think, has often been the most challenging aspect of her profession.
Dr. Gramith has been associated with ACIM since it first began and has been a friend of Dr. Cowden’s for 15 years. The two first met when she was speaking at an event in Arizona and they instantly shared a bond over health and wellness. She now considers the members of ACIM her family and always looks forward to the opportunity to attend a conference or event where she can gather with like-minded colleagues and learn from them.
“You know I’ve been a member of other integrative organizations but I never felt so closely connected as I do to the members of ACIM. It’s as if I’m coming home, every single time we meet,” said Dr. Gramith. “Learning from each other and the fact that everyone is so willing to share their knowledge with each other is priceless. If I had to choose 8 years of traditional medical training or two years of fellowship with ACIM, I would choose the fellowship without a doubt.”
Born in Germany, Dr. Gramith was a child in a military family and moved around extensively. Her father’s family was from Texas and her mother’s family was from the Georgia, Tennessee area so the family would bounce back and forth between those states. When Dr. Gramith was around 12 years old the family settled in Georgia allowing her to complete her education there. She now enjoys serving that area by bringing clients the opportunity to be healthy and well.
With six children still in the home, Dr. Gramith stays busy, outside of the clinic, as a wife and mom. She and her husband homeschool their kids and she enjoys teaching all things health and wellness such as anatomy and physiology while her husband, who is an engineer, takes on the other subjects. Their children are involved in Immersions home study program where they study other languages and as a family they enjoy traveling and allowing the kids to experience first-hand the cultures they are learning about. Dr. Gramith raised three of her own daughters prior to marrying her husband who had nine children of his own so together they have 12 ranging in age from 9 to 30 years old. Additionally, Dr. Gramith has nine grandchildren and as a family they all have a wonderful time together.
Along with parenting and operating her clinic, Dr. Gramith enjoys traveling and training other therapists throughout the country. She also has plans to obtain a Master’s of Psychology degree and perhaps even a doctorate in the same field of study.
If you would like to learn more about Dr. Gramith and her clinic in the Atlanta area, visit their website at rightwayhealthandwellness.com.