Peace of mind (and body): New businesses bring health, wellness services to locals

A pair of exciting new businesses are hoping to increase the general health and well-being of their local community.

UpNorth Speech & Myology and Aura Aesthetics + Hydration are aiming to provide the community with health and wellness amenities one would normally have to travel out of town to enjoy.

Both businesses are housed inside Breathe Health and Wellness at the Garr Dental building on 740 4th Avenue South in Carrington. Breathe Health and Wellness is a multi-use, multi-practitioner facility which is focused on children's sleep and airway health, as well as women's well-being.

They also have a group fitness room, strength training and cardio equipment and three suites for provider use.

The Garrs and their tenants hosted a grand opening event on Tuesday, March 21, where patrons were introduced to the new tenants, Aura Aesthetics + Hydration, owned by Chelsey Zeltinger and Taryn van Bedaf, and UpNorth Speech and Myology, owned by Gabby Hewitt.

Hewitt, née Volk, has been interested in speech pathology since she was a sophomore at Carrington High School, and now she's bringing that passion to her hometown with a new private practice.

UpNorth Speech & Myology will work to help patients address and overcome any number of speech problems or other issues concerning mouth and facial structure.

Hewitt completed her undergraduate in communications, sciences and disorders at UND, and went on to complete graduate school at Gannon University in Tampa, Florida. It was there that Hewitt said she developed her passion for and specialty in dealing with pediatric eating and swallowing disorders, otherwise known as myofunctional therapy.

"Myofunctional therapy works to essentially bring optimal function to our oral-facial mechanism," explained Hewitt.

"So, what that looks like is maybe we have a tongue restriction or if maybe our tongue isn't in proper rest posture, we can experience symptoms such as snoring, poor sleep, and in some kiddos it looks like ADHD or some behavioral disorders."

Hewitt has worked in a number of settings already, including in Grand Forks, Fargo and in Florida, where she completed her internship. Now, she's excited to begin helping residents from her local community.

"Sometimes we see a dysfunctional swallow pattern," continued Hewitt, "so kids that are super messy eaters, a lot of times food will be all over their face, or maybe we just have lack of control of everything, so maybe we can't drink out of a straw normally ... It all kind of plays into this puzzle of just general well being."

Hewitt said the way to address these issues is essentially "physical therapy for the mouth," which is designed to train and habituate general basic functions for both children and adults.

Hewitt will begin seeing clients in Carrington in the summer of 2023. Anyone interested in the services UpNorth Speech & Myology can provide are encouraged to call or text (701) 786-6077 or email info@upnorththerapies.com. Those interested can also follow UpNorth Speech & Myology's Facebook and Instagram pages.

Meanwhile, Chelsea Zeltinger and Taryn van Bedaf are teaming up to deliver a different kind of wellness to local residents through their new business, Aura Aesthetics + Hydration.

Their new business promises to offer aesthetic and wellness services – such as IV hydration, vitamin injectables, botox injections, and more – which typically can only be found in larger cities.

One of those services, IV therapy, can help patrons by delivering nutrients and hydration directly into the bloodstream for immediate absorption and use by the body. Vitamin injectables can improve immune health, boost energy levels and eliminate toxins.

Chemical peel treatments, meanwhile, are designed to lift pigment, remove sun damage, alleviate acne and scarring and fight fine lines and wrinkles.

Zeltinger added, "One other thing we're offering is weight loss injections. Me, working in family practice, I understand the importance and the role that obesity plays in all the different chronic diseases.

"This kind of gives me an avenue to hopefully help patients a little better in focusing on weight loss options, through more natural things and take my experience and expertise in the family practice world to kind of help patients in an area that sometimes I'm limited in, in a corporate world."

"Honestly, just being able to bring some services that aren't currently available in our community," said van Bedaf about what she's looking forward to with the new business, "just so people don't have to travel and go outside of the Carrington-New Rockford area."

"My focus is on helping people feel like their most beautiful self," added Zeltinger. "Just helping people gain some confidence, whether it be through relaxing some wrinkles in their face, or helping them be more healthy and lose weight, or helping them feel better with some of our vitamins and IV infusions."

Both Zeltinger and van Bedaf are experienced in the medical field. Zeltinger, a native of New Rockford, has worked as a registered nurse at Essentia Health in Fargo for five years and currently works as a family health practitioner at CHI St. Alexius Health in Carrington.

Meanwhile, van Bedaf has done a year of postpartum at a family birthing unit in Grand Forks and for the past four years has been at CHI St. Alexius Health as a registered nurse doing medical-surgery and emergency department nursing.

Zeltinger and van Bedaf will continue doing their current jobs, but are looking forward to providing additional services through their new business whenever possible.

Anyone interested in making an appointment with Aura Aesthetics + Hydration is encouraged to call or text (701) 307-0890.

Tuesday's open house wasn't just for the newest tennants, however. Current tenants, Lisa Weninger and Ilona Puzlo, were also on hand to talk about their services.

Weninger is a registered nurse who offers yoga, reflexology, foot care and other services. Find out more about Lisa at http://www.lisamarie-reflexologyandyoga.com.

Ilona Puzlo, meanwhile, leads group fitness classes each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6 p.m. as well as personal training.

All are housed inside Breathe Health and Wellness, which all started with the vision of Dr. Ben Garr, who wanted a place that could bring necessary services to help sleep and oxygen deprived children to breathe better and live better.

His wife Sonali wanted a place where women could gather for group fitness and group yoga classes. So, Breathe Health and Wellness is a combination of the two. More information and a calendar of events can be found on their website at https://breathe-healthandwellness.com.