New local business Bluewater Medical, a naturopathic and regenerative medicine clinic located on Snoqualmie Ridge, opened in October and will be officially welcomed by the SnoValley Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 30.

“The SnoValley Chamber of Commerce is excited to welcome Dr. James Stirrett with Bluewater Medical to the Valley,” said chamber executive director Kelly Coughlin. “Dr. Stirrett genuinely cares for people and invests a lot of time getting to know his patients. We look forward to helping him educate our residents about the approach and value of naturopathic medicine.”

Stirrett said he is excited to be running his own business and helping patients. Being an entrepreneur is something that has been a dream of his.

He is a naturopathic doctor who graduated with his medical degree from Bastyr University in 2016 and then completed a year and a half-long residency in primary care at the Holistic Health Clinic in Tacoma. After that he worked at a regenerative medicine clinic in Bellevue called Synergy Medical, where he said they did many different injections and chronic pain based therapies.

About a year later he began looking for a place to open his business, which is independently owned and operated, and he said he became enamored with the Valley.

“I just kind of fell in love with the area. It’s so beautiful and everyone seems to be really kind up here, and there was this space right on Snoqualmie Ridge that just seemed like it’d be the perfect spot,” he said.

For now, he and his fiancé Marie, who works as a receptionist, are the only two employees, but they hope to expand soon as they grow with more and more patients. He said they plan to have one more doctor join the team and likely another receptionist.

Business has been steady so far, he said, and the community has been welcoming. Many of the other health care providers in the area have been exchanging referrals with him, and he is part of a networking group called Keep it Local Snoqualmie Valley, where he said he’s been able to meet many people and get to know them and the community.

“Things have been going pretty well. We’ve been getting lots of new patients in, so it’s been exciting,” he said.

He said he does not have any specific quantifiable goals for growing his practice at this point, but he’s hoping it will continue to grow into something bigger.

“I’m excited I get to deliver great health care and start to build a business that can support me and my family,” Stirrett said.

He said his type of care is unique to the Valley. While he isn’t the only naturopathic doctor in the area, Stirrett said his care models and offerings are different.

Stirrett’s company focuses mainly on regenerative and anti-aging treatments. They do not focus on primary care for most people.

“This is more of an anti-aging, regenerative medicine clinic in my eyes,” he said.

Bluewater Medical’s services are in three categories: regenerative medicine, anti-aging and naturopathic medicine.

Regenerative treatments include platelet rich plasma injections, prolozone injections, stem cell derived exosomes and trigger point injections.

The anti-aging offerings include platelet rich plasma facials and facelifts, platelet rich plasma hair restoration, and bio-identical homone replacement therapy.

Naturopatic medicine services include comprehensive laboratory evaluations, functional nutrition and supplementation, hormone optimization, and custom treatment plans for optimal wellness.

Stirrett said he helps people with balancing their hormones, both men and women, through bioidentical hormone therapy or herbs and supplements. They spend time completing lab testing and specialized testing to find out where people are and get them on track that way.

His practice also offers different chronic pain treatments, as he is trained in various chronic pain therapies. Some examples include platelet rich plasma injections and treatments for arthritis, tendinitis, or different ligament and tendon tears. All of the clinic’s musculoskeletal joint pain injection therapies are ultrasound guided for accuracy, he said.

“They’re pretty amazing therapies because they kind of fall under this umbrella of regenerative medicine,” Stirrett said. “A lot of times someone will have a problem and they’ll go in and get a steroid shot from their doctor, and that’s kind of like the first line of defense — that and physical therapy, and then there’s kind of a jump straight into surgery.

“So there’s this huge gap there and a lot of times people will have a partial tear somewhere, or just low-grade arthritis, and they are not really in need of a hip replacement or knee replacement yet,” he said. “So these different injection therapies that I do just are amazing, and then they come in and people oftentimes don’t have to get those surgeries anymore.”

Some of their other services are purely aesthetic – including the platelet rich plasma facials and hair regeneration.

“We do facials where we basically microneedle with platelet rich plasma, and that’s amazing. A great way to avoid botox or getting a facelift, and it’s natural because the platelet rich plasma comes from your own blood,” he said. “So we just do a quick little blood draw and then we basically we isolate the platelets and growth factors from the blood and then those are what are injected back in to kind of stimulate healing in the face that will stimulate collagen and elastin production and help with scarring and wrinkles and whatnot.”

Stirrett said he hopes more people will continue to visit the clinic to learn about what he has to offer.

“Just swing on in and say ‘Hi.’ Honestly — come on in. I’d love to introduce myself and let people know what we offer here,” he said. “And they can see if it’s a good fit for them and their health care.”

Stirrett said the primary difference between naturopathic medicine and traditional medicine is that it doesn’t jump straight to treating symptoms with pharmaceuticals. Instead, naturopathic doctors investigate the root cause, digging deeper into extensive history.

“I spend a lot more time with my patients, like for a first office visit, I spend between 60 and 90 minutes with somebody and just really try to figure out what’s going on with them and their health because every single person’s health journey looks different, and it takes more than 15 minutes to get to the bottom of what’s going on with a person most of the time,” he said. “So treatment can be very, very tailored to the individual, and that’s what I really like about naturopathic medicine is I don’t have to jump straight to a pharmaceutical drug. I can use different herbs or supplements, and when I need to use a pharmaceutical drug, I can.

“It’s just very much so patient-centered care, and that’s why I love what I do.”

More information about Bluewater Medical can be found online at https://bluewatermednw.com/.