Co-founders

Dr. Keitha: Founding Priority Health Initiative together is like us spreading our wings. A lot has changed over the past 35+ years we’ve been together, but some things haven’t – like our commitment to each other, staying connected to family and friends, and taking good care of ourselves. That last piece really influenced the start of the organization. It’s about us extending our care and concern for personal health and wellness into the community.

​

Coach Nate: Starting Priority Health is really just an extension of who we are when it comes to health. Bottom line is, if you want to be healthy, you’ve got to work at it. We’re a retired military family, so we want our health coaching to reach anyone who wants the support, no matter where they are. We feel just as strongly about being a resource for our surrounding community. So, we’re excited about providing coaching services both online and locally.

​

Dr. Keitha: Our vision and mission is highly influenced by the World Health Organization’s definition of what health is. The World Health Organization says, ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ – infirmity relating to physical or mental weakness. So, you see, this idea of total health has been around for a while now. At Priority Health, when we say we’re your total health team, that’s what we mean. In other words, let’s be proactive or restorative to address everything we can—be it an unhealthy body, mind, spirit, relationship, you name it.

​Most people have heard of terms like ‘holistic’ or ‘integrated’ when it comes to healthcare. So, they get this idea of having different things that make up their plan for taking good care of themselves.  At Priority Health we focus on specific, scientifically-proven skills and strategies to do just that.

 

Active Lifestyle and Body Movement

Coach Nate: We’ve always led active lifestyles. Matter of fact, that’s one of the main things that attracted us to each other. We both wanted a life partner that takes good physical care of themselves and Priority Health is definitely about physical fitness, no matter what your body type.

 

Smart Eating

Dr. Keitha: Along with being active and staying fit, our health coaching services focus a lot on eating healthy and helping our clients understand the role of nutrition in living longer, healthier lives. We take into account all sorts of food preferences, and I think it helps that neither of us embrace extreme ways of doing things. We’re pretty disciplined people by nature, but the middle ground is definitely where we live. This can be really important in reaching and serving anyone who’s ready and willing to make healthy choices about what’s in their kitchen.

​

Coach Nate: We both like balanced meals, so there’s always been a mix of food choices on our plates. And in our house, we eat a lot of seafood, vegetables, and berries so our bodies are accustomed to what’s considered the good types of fats, carbs and proteins. Sharing this way of eating regularly with our clients comes pretty naturally to us.

​

Healthy Relationships

Dr. Keitha: We work at having healthy relationships and believe it’s worth the investment. That's why we made sure to include healthy relationships in Priority Health’s service model. Both of us love pretty hard…not getting along with each other, family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, or whomever is not an option. Coaching people around this sort of value placed on human interactions is really important to us.

​

Coach Nate: Taking good care of yourself is also part of putting a high value on your relationships, so that you can be around for those you love. One of the hardest moments for me was in my late 20's when my dad died from a heart attack. He also had diabetes. The lifespan of men in his family was pretty short with that older generation, but my generation is a little bit better now. Working at Priority Health helps me continue to heal around that. I encourage people to take good care of themselves and those they love. Another thing on relationships is the one we have with the environment. That’s important to us, too. It’s really important to me to be in clean, safe, communities.

​

Dr. Keitha: Definitely. Taking care of the planet is something we are all hopefully in tune with in some way. In terms of personal health, I love living outdoors. Whether it’s walking through city streets or a nice park, sitting under a shade tree during the summer, meditating in the mountains, or hanging out on the deck around a fire during the fall, I’ll take nature any way I can get it. Just give me outdoor space so that I can fit the fullness of my life into it, and I’m good. Priority Health reminds people to consider nature and natural resources as part of their formula for healthy living.

​

Mindset

Coach Nate: We both are pretty quiet by nature, but we also like humor, music, dancing, and stuff like that, so our lives can get a little loud, too. Life can be very unpredictable. There are good times and bad times, whether we like it or not. I believe we have a solid grip on keeping helpful attitudes no matter what, so it’s important to us to share this when coaching people on healthy living.

 

Dr. Keitha: More than a focus on positive or negative attitudes, so much about our perspective is aimed at walking the peaceful path. It keeps us centered because with that mindset, no matter what comes our way, we will handle it. When we talked about starting a family business years ago, I knew it had to be connected to who we are as spiritual beings and just everyday people. Priority Health includes space for exploring how attitudes and perspectives truly inform the lives we live.  At the end of the day, we’re excited to be at a point in our lives where we can be a community resource to anyone who wants to improve their health through integrative, holistic approaches.

 

Coach Nate: All you have to do is be willing to work at being as healthy as possible. If you commit to that, there’s not much that can get in the way of finding something in our services that can help you experience a healthier and more satisfying life.