A to Zebra Health LLC

Thanks to Tabflows for capturing this lovely assessment of the last year of my patient communications. I am loving their add-on system that works like an overlay with the tools you are already using. I don’t post much, so I wanted to share a little inside look at the “warm, brainy NP” (but really a CNS) behind A to Zebra Health. I still work occasionally for the Neurosurgery team at our local major academic trauma center, and I’m a wife and mom to two fantastic kids and a sweet doggie and kitty. What else are you curious about?

Dr. Mesha Martinez of Clarity Brain and Spine in Cedar Park is exactly what our Central Texas Zebras have been begging for! She is extremely knowledgeable and compassionate - AND has the tools and skills to DO something to help us, too. Check out her blog posts this week explaining more about IIH Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (formerly named pseudotumor cerebri)

What to Expect Right After an IIH Diagnosis | Mesha L. Martinez, MD 🤓This week, I am launching an educational series on idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), for adults and children.🤓 The first article begins with the question patients and parents often ask immediately after diagnosis: What happens next? It explains why the first priorities are to determ...

When you start a small business as a solo practitioner, somehow the whole family ends up wanting to lend a hand. My son Linus, who just turned 11 years old, made this flyer to promote my biweekly office hours for patients. He overheard me explain the concept to a family friend, where I wanted to increase the patients’ access to their provider without making my schedule untenable. Years ago I read, Community Cure by James Maskell, and I loved his discussion of using group visits to bring functional medicine tools to the masses. First, I started my direct specialty care portion of A to Zebra Health, with the hope that a smaller monthly fee might be more feasible for some with its $149 monthly fee. I started with offering a monthly 20min appointment along with concierge level messaging with your provider between visits, and a discounted hourly rate for additional time if you need longer visits. (And honestly, the twenty minutes usually runs into 30 with no extra charge). Next, I had the idea to add two hours of open group zoom meetings where I hosted office hours. The goal is providing members with additional access to their provider to ask questions, pick my brain about a new therapy or medicine, or let me give an impromptu ted talk about psychoneuroimmunology, or share tips and tricks with each other, or, as I like to remind them, you get a free hour if no one else shows up! The membership now has 2 and a half hours of practitioner face time for only $149 a month. This is my little way of trying to change the system. I hope you like my little guy’s Canva promo 🤩🥰🫶🏼🦓🦄 ….Now with a discounted family member rate for two: parent & adult child (15+)

UVA put on a fantastic two-day symposium that concluded today. I thoroughly enjoyed every speaker, but I think Abbey Phillipson’s talk yesterday was the most impactful. My girl, Lucy was in my lap all afternoon today- she loves diagrams of the autonomic nervous system almost as much as I do 😂🫶🏼 I’ve already reached out to two patients that I have some new ideas for adjusting our plan! I also love that UVA invited a PA to present; she represented all the good work advanced practice providers can do for complex chronic illness. No one has mentioned this yet- but if we want PCPs to be taking the lead on managing hEDS, someone is going to have to start recognizing the critical role of skilled and specialized advanced practice nurses. Ahem. 🤓🫳🎤

As a medical provider and business owner (in Texas), I want all of my patients to know that you are seen, loved, supported, and fought for. Today is not just about visibility- it is about the rest of us showing up to to squelch the hate, and fight for decency, love, and the inherent worth and dignity of all humans. You don’t have to understand all the nuances of gender identity to just believe that last part, right?