Exploring Life & Business with Kathryn Petersen of Renegade Medical, PLLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn Petersen.

Hi Kathryn, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’m a family medicine physician with an additional one year of training called the fellowship and osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). I used to work in a hospital; sometimes in the ICU, sometimes on the normal floors, I also ran a private practice, seeing primary care patients. But early in my career, I burned out after realizing so much of the medical industrial complex doesn’t serve its patients the way I once dreamed it would.
I moved to Lansing around the same time I was experiencing PTSD from working in the ICU during the height of the pandemic in the South. The year I took off work to recover from the flashbacks and associated brain fog gave me the time I needed to put together a business model for a practice that might actually help people be healthy and well. From the ashes of my professional dreams, Renegade Medical was born.
I started practicing OMM in a spare room of my house. With no money for advertising I just started reaching out on Facebook groups to people posting about help with pain. From that one patient, other patients were referred, and then those patients referred others, and now two years later we have a blossoming practice with a remarkable track record of healing people and more importantly, treating them with human decency and respect.
The practice focuses mainly on empowering patients by alleviating their biomechanic pain, but it also branches into consultation and advocacy for particularly complex medical cases.
As a family medicine physician, I treat everyone; all ages, genders, races, and medical complexities. I have specialized training in treating obstetric and gynecologic issues from conception well into the postpartum phase (e.g. 60 year olds with pelvic or back pain they’ve had since childbirth). I also have quite a bit of experience treating issues related to hypermobility.
A typical clinic session usually involves a period of human-to-human conversation where we get to know each other and establish a genuine rapport. Then we move into the treatment portion of the session. I tell my patients to envision a mix of physical therapy, deep tissue massage, and chiropractics – OMM will feel much like a combination of those three. The majority of patients require 3-5 visits before they no longer need to see me on a regular basis. My goal is always to empower the patient to keep themselves healthy and learn the basic principles of treatment for themselves. A first visit often ends with me joking “it was nice to meet you, you are always welcome, I hope to never see you again.”

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh goodness. Smooth is not the word I would choose to describe the road. 😂 Attempting to heal a community along with my own self from the trauma of systemic violence is hard work! But at least on this side of things, the work is meaningful and fulfilling.
My biggest pragmatic challenge has mostly been lack of startup funds and initially having no social inroads in a new community.
My biggest personal challenges have mostly involved lack of patience for my own healing journey 🙃. And gaining the safety and awareness necessary to see my situation with clarity.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We are committed to treating every patient as a person first. We have a very clear policy of acceptance of all people. If an individual can commit to mutual respect, they are welcome.

We are out of network with all insurance plans since we stand committed to the belief that access to medical care is a human right, and should not be rationed based on wealth stratification. Instead we function with a clear financial policy and sliding scale + barter program.

Pricing:

• First visit (60 min) – $150
• Follow-up (30 min) – $150
• Follow-up (60 min) -$300
• Sliding scale/barter: agreed upon trade of goods and services in advance, of equal value to prices set above.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.renegademedical.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renegademedical?igsh=MWdxang3a3dhN2tjOA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BbtNjUd6t/?mibextid=wwXIfr