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 Jacqueline Stoken, D.O., Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Holistic Medicine “I always wanted to help people and be able to impact their lives and make them more functional.” Dr. Jacqueline Stoken of Heartland Holistic Health Center has been involved with medicine since she graduated from high school. First attending Nursing School in Pittsburgh, PA and going on to Medical School at Des Moines University, Dr. Stoken completed her residency in Minneapolis commuting home to Des Moines for 3 years where her family remained. Dr. Stoken became interested in holistic medicine when as a nurse she saw limitations in what Western medicine could offer. Always interested in other cultures, her interest in holistic medicine was peaked by her own personal experience of learning when she was under a lot of stress. Rather than taking antidepressants or sedatives she decided to go to classes and learn how to relax. That really started her experience of addressing other issues and incorporating other modalities of healing other than just drugs or surgery. She ran her own center in Pittsburgh and taught meditation in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Although this was considered fairly new in the 60’s and 70’s she enjoyed teaching and continues doing so today as part of her regular routine. Dr. Stoken is married with a grown daughter and two step children. Her daughter Randi is her office manager. She enjoys working closely with her daughter as she smiles and says, “she does a wonderful job!” When a patient comes into the Center, Dr. Stoken first sits down and looks at what her patients have tried previously and what has and hasn’t worked. They then discuss options from non-traditional to traditional treatment. Dr. Stoken is dually Board Certified in Holistic Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Holistic is working with the body, mind and spirit of the person and sometimes integrating other modalities of healing. It is not religion; however, there may be some meditation and relaxation techniques, herbs and exercise. Sometimes her patient’s problems are musculoskeletal so she also gets them in good physical therapy programs. Herbs are used for relaxation to help aid with sleeping better. Herbal vitamins like glucosamine may be used that help rebuild cartilage in the joints for arthritis. The holistic medicine specialty is primarily adult based, but occasionally she does treat children for therapy. Dr. Stoken also offers acupuncture and manipulation in her practice. She states she treats many patients with chronic pain. The majority of her patients have failed traditional medical care so they look at other options for themselves. Many that she treats can’t take medications or they are very sensitive to them. Acupuncture is used primarily for pain. The World Health Organization has recommended acupuncture for more than 40 different diseases including asthma attacks with great results. “For pain it helps to reduce endorphins which are the natural pain killers in our bodies. That’s how we think it works for pain but we are not really sure how it works for these other things like asthma.” Dr. Stoken uses local and distal points for treatment using very tiny needles thinner than a piece of hair. Pain is very minimal, not any worse than a little mosquito bite at the very worst, however, most people do not even feel it. Needle penetration varies from 1/8 of an inch to 3 inches depending on where it’s being placed. Dr. Stoken remains active on the Des Moines University Board of Trustees and is the Chair of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee. She is also Vice President of the Polk County Osteopathic Medical Association. As with her varied professional interests, Dr. Stoken also has varied personal interests and hobbies. She admits being “into fibers” which relates to her hobbies of knitting and weaving. She has even entered her work into competition at the Iowa State Fair and actually won two fourth prizes. Her prize-winning pieces were a baby blanket and a triangle shawl. She says she will probably enter again next year. Dr. Stoken learned the skill of weaving by going to a weaving studio in Missouri to learn Navajo weaving in preparation for a trip she was planning. She completed a 12 x 15 inch piece and while she was there her instructor showed her a weaving device called a triangle loom which she then learned how to weave on. Inspired by her creation, she bought herself a loom and brought it home where she created her prize winning pieces. Last fall she went to Arizona and spent a week camping on a Navajo reservation to continue her lessons in weaving. But weaving is not her only interest. Photography is another hobby Dr. Stoken enjoys. She has invested in a digital zoom camera and photography classes to learn to take better photographs. Although she enjoys photog-raphy she states that, “nature and travel are her passions.” This is a wonderful combination for her landscape and nature photography. She has won 7th prize for her photography in an international competition. |
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