About Summit Total Health
Summit Urgent Care and Summit Occupational Medicine were opened in September of 2001. Summit Urgent Care and Occupational Medicine has opened its doors every morning at 9 am since that date! Summit Urgent Care and Occupational Medicine is available to deal with minor emergencies every day of the year, without appointments and without the long waits common to the emergency departments at hospitals. The founder, Dr. Morgan, says, “Service is a priority. We realize that patients have many choices. We try to do the best job at what we do. We try to make people feel welcome when they come to our facility. When they leave we want them to think that they have received quality care in an efficient and compassionate manner.”
Dr Morgan’s interest in occupational medicine began over twenty years ago when he was asked to be a medical advisor for a local aluminum extrusion plant. As that interest grew, he later became instrumental in the development of an occupational medicine program at the hospital where he practiced emergency medicine. Understanding the importance of good communication between the provider and the company representatives was instrumental in the success of that program. Dr. Morgan believes a provider should know the employer and the worksite and the types of injuries that might occur. Over the past decade, Summit Occupational Medicine has forged strong relationships with over 1000 local businesses.
Early in Dr. Morgan’s career the AIDS epidemic began. He realized that he had significant risk of exposure to that virus due to the nature of emergency medicine. Blood splatters and even a rare needle stick were “part of the job”. He concluded that his best defense was to have a healthy immune system. This led to a passionate search into another aspect of the world of medicine. It has variously gone by many different terms. Initially the term “alternative” was used. Later and more recently that became integrative. This led him about ten years ago to an organization and a newer term, “functional medicine”. He is a member of the Institute of Functional Medicine and has attended their certification trainings and meetings for the last ten years. He collaborates with practitioners of this model of medicine from across the country. He remarks, “in the early days I had to travel to the west coast for all the meetings but now they come to Florida and even occasionally Georgia.” Over the last two and a half decades he estimates that he has spent many thousands of dollars traveling to meetings and subscribing to periodicals with the intent of educating himself in the finer details of acquiring health. Allopathic (or traditional medicine) takes the approach of “finding and stamping out disease.” “This model of functional medicine takes the approach that we are a complex organism with many aspects that interrelate. You can’t change one area without changing the entire organism. We aren’t separate systems that don’t communicate. Our gut and our genital systems have a relationship. If one isn’t functioning well it will impact the other.”He goes on to say,” For example, if you eat too much refined carbohydrates this will stimulate insulin secretion, promote insulin resistance over time, lead to abdominal obesity, etc. etc. Now this disease progression is well known in the traditional medical model. What functional medicine would do differently is to look at triggers that might account for the initiation of the cascade and ways to change the effect it is having. It might seek to detoxify toxins that have accumulated and impact the way are enzymes are functioning and signaling in our body. Functional medicine might discover (BY LOOKING) that this unique person doesn’t have the ability to metabolize like most individuals. We are unique and our different biochemical characteristics and genetic propensities are just beginning to be sought out and modified.”
This passion for educating in this new paradigm has led Dr. Morgan to establish Summit Total Health. There are several aspects to this new endeavor. We are working with our corporate clients to establish wellness cultures in their businesses. We also work one-on-one with individuals who desire the testing and advice to establish the individual protocols for renewed health in their lives. “Anti-aging” is a new buzz in medical circles. Dr, Morgan has attended their trainings as well. Although he doesn’t believe that we can truly stop time we can make changes to dampen the effect of time. This is another aspect of the functional medicine approach. Summit Total health wants to partner with corporations and individuals that want to live vibrant, energetic and creative lives.
With any organization, the key to success lies within the people. It is with this philosophy in mind that Dr Morgan has carefully assembled his staff (job opportunities). He says that he is always looking for quality additions to the team.
