Invite: Connections! in SW Florida - Featuring Ron Repice with Rejuvinations

Good afternoon. I usually, I'm so accustomed, Dr. Ron, to saying good sunny afternoon, but it's not today. It's good rainy afternoon and we need it, right? Thank you very much, Yeah. Well, welcome. I'm really excited about the business showcase we're doing today because there's some really exciting things going on that Dr. Ron is going to share. So, with me today is Dr. Ron Rapoport. I wanted to make sure I didn't slaughter his last name, from Rejuvenations. And thank you, everyone. While we let people get on, I wanted to say just briefly, you know, what the intent of these 30-minute interviews are, is really to connect people. We live in a, in a town, but I can't tell you how many businesses I don't know exist until I see somebody's post and then I'm curious about them. So I thought this was a great way with so many people being online. We've got these captive audiences and I thought it was a great way, particularly with businesses that are still open and able to provide services and products, to connect into people's living rooms, dining rooms, pool and eyes, and talk about what's going on and the great services we have. So Dr. Ron, tell us a little bit about yourself to get us started.

Yeah, well, I appreciate you doing it. Thank you for the invite. I'm honored to be on. And yeah, I think it's an incredible service that you're offering. I mean, we are in a very, it's a historical time. And so, there's a lot of businesses that's it's going to take some time to get us back, and there's unfortunately many businesses that may not be reopening. So it's definitely a difficult, difficult time, and having this opportunity to talk to the public and let people know, you know, businesses that are still open. For me, I've, you know, I'm originally from Pennsylvania. I've lived in Naples, Florida for 16 years now. I have a soon-to-be 16-year-old son and soon-to-be 14-year-old daughter, and, you know, so they are, transitioning to, to doing their homeschooling. And that's obviously for those parents out there, that's a chance, another unique and individual challenge, just to manage your day-to-day life. And if you have little ones, you know, younger kids than my own, or even the teenagers, it's tough to, you know, to balance your home life and your work life. So I've been here for 16 years. I love the area. It's changed a whole lot since I first moved here. Everybody who's been here for the last 10 years or so has seen the construction, the massive growth, and the jammed, uh, jammed roads. The traffic is increased significantly. So some of that I don't enjoy as much. And so season can be, for us year-rounders, can be not quite as pleasant as the off-season. But then again, us business owners, which is kind of what we're going to be moving into, it can be really challenging to have a short period of time where you have an influx of, you know, 50 or 60% population base, and then they drift out to the, you know, to the wild yonder while we're still here trying to, you know, provide a service. So I enjoy it and, you know, I'm a family man. I love being around the house and I also love just trying to inspire and motivate people, which has become a new side venture. Anybody that has seen my social media posts see that I do a good portion, at least 50% is either devotional or inspirational. And the other portion is what I do as a chiropractor and as a functional medicine practitioner. So that's really kind of the basis other than me being a fitness nut and really enjoying being in the gym, unlike some. I do love, I do love the gym setting. So that is my happy place.

And I can attest to that because back when I was better about getting my tushy into the gym, I saw you there. One of the things I really appreciate about you is, you know, you do have this deep commitment. So there's two things I would say to describe you, right? You're very committed. You're committed to people. You're committed to your passions., and you give back, you know, with no expectations of receiving. I appreciate that about you professionally and personally. And then the second is you're a thinker. You know, I don't think I've ever had a conversation with you where the wheels weren't turning and you weren't thinking about how to provide value to people. So to that, effect, I'd love, Dr. Ron, for you to talk a little bit about— let's start with the business that you've got there in Naples. And then I also want you to segue into some of the, the cool new things that you're thinking about.

Sure, sure. And, and that's all because you've mentored me. That's why I'm such a thinker. I take that from you, Miss Renee. But no, so I'm in our company's Rejuvenations. I, you know, I started out, it was a traditional chiropractic office. We did chiropractic adjustments, treating the majority of people with neck pain, back pain, disc injuries, sciatica. You know, radiculopathy, which is pain, maybe tingling pain down the arms and legs. And so we did quite a bit of that for most of my, I guess, a good portion of about 10 or 12 years. And then I got kind of bored with that, so I started, you know, transitioning to doing stretch therapy and physical therapy and really rounding, uh, the practice. So many chiropractors do a lot of these things as well as kind of an adjunctive service. But about 6 years ago, I really got intrigued by newer technology, and we started— we were the first to bring a cold air technology called cryotherapy. And cryotherapy is exposing the body to cold, not a whole lot different than jumping in an ice bath or cold body of water or really ridiculously cold shower, with the exception that cryotherapy uses nitrogen, at least our system, and your head stands out the top. And so it's a very pleasant exposure to cold, if you can believe that, but it is, it's invigorating. And the cold exposure helps to drive down systemic inflammation. So I became really passionate. I was always a fan of topical cold therapy to control inflammation and pain. And now all of a sudden I was able to bring a tool to the market that, you know, several years later is all over the country. I think I was probably one of very few chiropractors to have this device in the practice, the first anywhere south of Orlando to bring cold cryo, whole body cryotherapy. And so we combined that with light therapy. When you think about sunlight, you know, how it affects your mood, how we know it brings vitamin D into our body. So the frequencies of light have healing effects. So we brought a full body— it's a standing system. And, you know, when you guys look at my website, you'll see some of these things. But you stand, and almost like a stand-up tanning bed, and we provide a frequency of infrared, which is the heat production, and red light for, again, inflammation. So I really, 6 years ago, kind of had the, the light come on about something to focus on for my purpose, and that's how can we really look at the roots of a lot of these conditions, and not just what I was originally doing the majority of time, which was the pain model, but just looking at the inflammatory state and something we call the mitochondrial state of the cell. So in every cell of the human body, there are mitochondria. And so that is what— I'm even perspiring a little bit because I just got done working on people— so what produces our heat and our perspiration is these mitochondria. And by the 5th, 6th decade of life, these start to drop off. And so that's where immune suppression comes into play. And so these two tools, along with, you know, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, all those venues that many of you are familiar with— within my company, Rejuvenations, we co-op with many businesses. We have the services that we offer right here on site, but we're really focusing on, ironically, what we've just been faced with since, you know, basically the new year over the last 6 weeks in our Naples, Florida, Southwest Florida region, and around most of the nation is, you know, this fear of, of getting ill. And so never before did the light shine that what we've been doing and trying to teach is really important. People need to take action, and the pharmaceutical industry is not going to do that for you. I mean, when we look at pharmacology, we're looking at already, for the majority of people, where they're already past the normality and they're into a disease or pathological state.. And so my father's a family physician. He has his own podcast. He's on every Tuesday night. He's an innovator and a traditional medicine practitioner. He's retired now, but his mind has never, never slowed down. So I have, uh, you know, great love and passion for the medical community. So I never want anybody to, to think I feel differently, but I really feel the medical community is incredible for acute care. So if you're in a car accident or you're bleeding, you don't want to certainly, certainly not come to my office. You want to, you you want to get to the best, and we have some of the best medical care in the world here in the United States. But for longevity, and for even though people are seemingly— and people are wondering why people are living longer, and a lot of that just has to do with sanitation and technology and the ability to keep your body— which we'll get to a different part of this— but keeping yourself in a comfortable climate. But really, people are going to have to take massive action. We are going to be faced with viral loads and these type of effects. We do every year. People get through them, you know, the young people, the healthy people get through them the vast majority of time without any problem. We've even heard that corona or COVID-19 for the, the people who are young and healthy, many or the majority don't even have a physical symptom. And so I hope that the light comes on. It's something that I've been really passionate about, but I've had many frustrations in this in this functional medicine, and I'll talk about functional medicine really is kind of a broad term of just how do we affect the body, looking at it when it's in the normality of ranges. So for example, blood work, when you go, many of you will go to your doctor and they'll, you know, when they go over your blood work, they'll just say everything looks fine. They very rarely will look at the trends. So, you know, there's a range. And so if the range is 1 to 10 and last year you were a 3 and this year you're a 9, would any of you that's listening to me right now think that that might be something to think about. Well, 9 might still fall in the normal range. So functional medicine says there's something that shifted in your body, in your lifestyle, that has caused a change in your physiology. And so we want to catch it before it becomes pathological. And so maintaining a boost in the immune system, maintaining a good state of health, looking at your activity level, looking at your psychological state. The huge issue now is the stress, not only from— it could be a death, it could be a divorce, it could be your job, but the environmental and toxic stress that comes from, you know, our cellular phones. And we're not going to get deep into, into this stuff, but 5G is going to be talked about a lot. There's lots of concerns, in my opinion, on that, uh, and how that affects, you know, our human body. And so with, uh, with that, you know, that's our focus with our practice, uh, is how do we maximize, you know, the years and, you know, give us, you know, life to our years and years to our life, meaning maintaining a a quality of life that doesn't mean laying in a lounge chair. When I used to attend to a lot of the nursing homes, I would see the elderly laying in a lounge chair, barely staring at a TV. And I always would say to myself, I don't want to be, you know, I want that to be me. I don't want that to be my family member where that's not really living. Living is being able to get out there and enjoy life and make change and have a purpose and help others. And so that's the focus of Rejuvenation. And Renee, I'll see where you want me to go, but we are moving into a virtual program too.

Let me pause on the virtual one. So let me come back because one thing I want to make sure doesn't get missed, I think you did a really good job of saying it, but in your line of work with the services that you provide at Rejuvenation, it doesn't have to be just to fix a problem, right? People come and see you because something's out of alignment, not working. You're actually doing preventative things. So tell me a little bit about— let's talk about, make it really easy for people. What are some of the things patients patients, guests, whatever you might call them, come in for? Like, what would be— and again, it doesn't have to be an ailment— what are some of the preventative intent?

Yeah, that's a great redirect because essentially most of my business is not about seeing people when they're sick. It's really about maintaining a state of well-being, and that takes education because in the United States, typically you go to a doctor when you're sick. It's a sick care model. Many people would say, why would I go to you as a chiropractor if I don't have back pain? Well, my answer is, well, we don't want you to have back pain, so we got to maintain the spine. You know, people take care of their teeth, but they don't realize the spine is the, is the suit of armor for your entire nervous system. So, you know, really looking at how do we maximize and maintain health and well-being and not wait till we're in a crisis. So yes, you know, rejuvenation at this point in time, for sure, more than ever, is founded on you know, offering tools and services, whether we call them, as you're alluding to, a client or a patient, because anyone can come into the office and do a cryotherapy session. It takes all of 3 minutes. Red light therapy takes all of 15 minutes. As far as affordability, our pricing is anywhere from $20 to, you know, typically $59 or $69. So it's incredibly affordable for the masses. And it's very time effective, which is, you know, with people being as busy as they are, they can come in on their lunch break. They can be in and out of an office like ours in 10 minutes, or as much or almost as most as 30 minutes is probably doing all 3 services. You can be in and out in 30 minutes. So it's founded on how do we employ these tools to maintain a great state of health, helping you from your both physical and mental state. Won't dive into that right yet, but just really allowing for better sleep, better energy, lowering stress levels so your mood and your patience around people are just improved. So yes, it's definitely about these fun tools that can be done and convenient and for the purposes of general health and well-being.

Well, and the beauty is you bring not just the technology, but your medical background allows you to fully leverage that in the right places under the right circumstances and conditions. So, you know, this, this isn't a back alley kind of thing. This is a science-driven approach to this. I did want to ask, just to make sure everybody knows, you're fully operational, correct? You're— if somebody was interested in setting up an appointment, that's something you can do today?

Yeah, I am. Yeah, we have been open. We're considered an essential business. I've tried to focus on those in need. In other words, you know, we do a huge weight loss component, so we've steered away from some of the ancillary techniques and clients of that nature in those areas of services. But we do focus— if someone's got a back injury or they're in a crisis, they feel that something's off in their body and they need some coaching, you know, we definitely are available every single day. Typically Monday through Friday, I'm in the office most of the time. And so we can be reached, and again, all that access is through our website. We'll talk about that. But yes, we are operational, and I've been thankful that I'm able to offer the service so that we can keep people out of— especially, you know, as of a few weeks ago, keeping people out of the hospitals and emergency rooms. And that's essentially what the government and our governor and the local community wants to see, is to keep people out of those places so offices like ours can accommodate, you know, the people in those areas of need.

Well, and especially with the focus areas you talked about, about helping people with inflammatory immune system things, you know, those are all, um, conditions that make people more susceptible to what, what we're dealing with. So I think that's important. Well, now I want you to take us in again. The wheels are turning. You have this passion for helping and, and really helping quality of life. We've talked about the physical component of that. I know there's some new exciting things you're working on, so take us to the, to sort of that next tier of activity that you've been working on as part of rejuvenations and other intents.

Sure, yeah, and I think this will relate, you know, what I'll say is going to relate to many people because, you know, I, after, you know, I've been a chiropractor for 26 years, I subspecialized in neurology, and then I got into this topic of functional medicine, and the reason why we shifted and added these techniques and moved into something called cryotherapy and the this thing called red light therapy and sauna therapy, is I basically get bored. So I wanted to continue to add new technologies and techniques and to keep things exciting in the office. And frankly, I, I'd been contemplating looking at a shift, and that, that's kind of the word I've done in some of my videos. You know, it's a time for a pivot for many people, a time to shift. And maybe people have been in a career or a place where they just feel like they weren't on purpose, and they're looking for that freedom. And so, um, this was a time and a motivation. I spent 3 weeks building a platform that I felt comfortable with, and it's kind of a virtual coaching. Telemedicine is what people are familiar with in the lingo. I call it more telehealth or telehealth coaching because we do involve techniques as far as the scientific realm. In fact, I have, you know, I have a couple kits. I mean, this is a test kit, if you can see that on the screen, that I send out to people. It's called the Inflame Test. The Inflame Test is used to test for any inflammation or look at your fatty acids. People think about omega-3s, your fish oils, We can test if you have adequate levels, which has a lot to do with your immune system. So we have these different test kits, um, you know, the one looks like this. And why I'm showing you the kit is these kits get mailed to your house and you do the test at the convenience of your home, which in this day and age we're going through right now is phenomenal. The test can be mailed to you, and then we have the science base to it. And what I moved into is the ability to help people virtually, and that's something I've been really kind of had— I've had it on my heart for the last couple years, but I kind of didn't have the gall to try to make a shift out of the office setting. And at this point, I may try to balance being in the office part-time, but I'd really like to spend at least the minimum 50%, you know, doing virtual coaching, whether it's dealing with life stress, psychological issues of, you know, loss of a loved one that someone needs some talking through that can affect your nutritional levels and how it all ties into, you know, nutrition and eating food, letting food be your medicine. And so that's something that, you know, last 2 to 3 weeks, it's It actually took quite a bit of work, and there is some good things that's come out of this COVID-19 situation, or the stay-at-home order, so to speak, because people are out, they're spending time with their families now. I think people really are seeing the things that they were taking for granted. So in the end of this, I mean, there's definitely some sad situations, and there's been loss of life, and there's been jobs lost and financial crisis for many, but there's also been a lot of wonderful things I see in and around my own community, people gathering, um, you know, people reuniting with friends, and people, you know, venturing out to take that chance that they weren't willing or totally, you know, deathly afraid to do, uh, to look at another career path. So this telehealth coaching I'm really excited about, um, you know, again, we're tying the science to it, which is really exciting. So we can really look at where your body, you know, where the levels, whether it's inflammation, whether it's hormonal, we can even look at cortisol levels, which is the stress hormone. For those that are chronically fatigued or just not sleeping well. I mean, really, some of the fundamentals that people are faced— diabetes is epidemic right now, obesity is epidemic. And so we can tie all this stuff in, and we can do it through either a Zoom call, we can do it through a phone call, and even, as I said, I do plan to be in an office setting, so it can even be done, you know, face to face. But I'm excited to be able to offer, you know, a new technique to employ some of the knowledge I have both in traditional nutrition and then, you know, looking at labs and looking at, you know, supplementation to balance the body and keep that immune system strong. And as you were saying, Renee, too, the big thing, you know, with this, with the situation of people being home, I think people need to be aware of people are snacking more. There's people that are out exercising more and getting in better shape, and then there's those that are really depressed and they're snacking more. They're being isolated in a home environment without sunlight. So, you know, and not being active and not being exposed to sunlight and socialization is a real crisis. I mean, it really causes immune compromise in and of itself. And so, unfortunately, some of the things that we're doing to protect ourselves are harming ourselves. So I want people to be aware that, you know, you need to get outside. It's not dangerous to walk out your front door and get some fresh air, to take a walk, because movement is life. And so I want people to make sure they're paying attention to how they're using their time during this downtime and pay attention to what we're— what the very thing we're trying to protect is life, and you need to balance that. You need to have a strong immune system.

Yeah, no, I love it, and I love that you are— you called it shifting. I call it kind of diversifying. You've built this foundation all focused on healthy life decisions and healthy lives. My words, not yours. Now you are looking for new ways to expand, and there are people that may not come into the office, and so the health coaching could be a a way to reach a whole new audience and use your skills, knowledge, experience, and expertise. So, I think that's a great way to continue to build the foundation and diversify. So, thank you for sharing that. One follow-up question I have to that, Dr. Ron, with, you know, even though these things build upon, so where you started your business to where it is now and where you hope to take it, things may be different in that practice. The tools may differ, but what is your, you know, what is your goal? You will consider your business and yourself to be successful when what? Finish that for me.

So my passion is inspiring people. So whether it's inspiring you to lose weight, inspiring you to take a new career path, that's what's unique about it. And that's why I like to call it— that's why I guess I like and don't like the word coaching because Many people are using the term health coach, but it is a great term, helping to coach people into a place where they can be their best, you know, so that as they move through life, they don't have regrets that they didn't take action or they didn't take the leap of faith. So, everything that I am about is, you know, as I become more into my own faith, it is where can I serve other people? I feel like I have fallen way short on that within myself, and that is why I am excited to do better. So, being virtual will help me reach more people. And it's just a shift in my whole, my whole thinking and practice style from doing more manual techniques to just really looking at the psychological states of people. There's just many people that just don't know. They just don't know where to go with things. And the answers can be really simple. That's the thing. I mean, the answers can be so, so simple. And we many times we look beyond the simple and we get too complex. And so I really have a passion for dialing things back to simplicity. And really meeting people where, you know, where they're at. And so I want to inspire not only myself to do great things, I want to be able to, to, to be excited and fulfill myself by inspiring others to do great things and to help other people, because I really think that's why we're here. That's why we're placed here, is to serve. And I think for those that have made tons of money, or for those that think that when they make tons of money that that's going to answer all their problems, uh, I've listened to many people talk about this. I've met many wealthy people and I've met many people that didn't have a dime. Um, and you know, the wealthy people will tell you that when they get that wealth, that then generally does not fulfill them but for a short period of time. So you really need to have that purpose, and serving others is what we're here for. And so buying things can be fun for the moment. And so really, even within my practice, in my profession, it's where can I better serve people within my knowledge base, what skill sets that I have. And so I want to be able to help people as I develop that within myself, within my own human frame. Find those skill sets because I think that's ultimately what's going to allow us all to live a really fulfilling life and also make this world a better place.

Wow, and I love the synergy between the spine and the mind, right? Two very important things in our holistic being. And I truly— there are times, I don't know if you ever find where you go into a business, so I'll give really poor examples, but I go to a dentist and I'm looking at their teeth wondering how can they be expecting me to do something if they aren't taking care of their own, or you go to a weight loss clinic and the woman coming to the counter could afford to go with me. I say those because I find with you, Dr. Ron, you don't just teach it, but you live it. And so it makes others who come to meet you under those circumstances inspired to know that you believe enough in it that you live your life that way too.

Well, that is very kind of you to say. I certainly try. I'm not going to give my age, but I'm not 20, I'm not 30, and I'm not 40. So, so I try to maintain a youthful look, and I, you know, that happens some by genetics. My grandfather lived to 101, God rest his soul. He passed this past year, and I think he looked like he was about 70 when he passed away, but just decided to go be with his wife. So, so yeah, I do. I mean, I try. I think that's in the world of chiropractic, which which is really not every practice may be like this, but chiropractic as a whole is about health and wellbeing. And yeah, I always wanted to make sure that I represented well. And so thank you, I try.

Well, that's okay. I'll make you blush and tell you that, tell the public that having spent time at the gym with you, the ladies notice, Ron. They, I watch when Dr. Ron walks through, the heads turn. So for whatever age you might be, taking care of yourself has served you well. What I want to do is, we've got 4 minutes left. Let me briefly, for those online, I wanted to share what other businesses we have coming up and then we'll wrap it up with Dr. Ron. So tomorrow, gosh, which is Friday already. I can't believe, my husband woke up this morning and said, Renee, April went fast. Here we are, you know, basically on home arrest., and we felt like the minutes were dragging on and now we're saying goodbye to April. So tomorrow I've got Tru Fashionistas. There's two parts of that business. There's the retail fashion and there's the home. She actually happens to be a neighbor, just coincidentally, of Dr. Ron. I only thought about that now while I look at you two scheduled back to back. She's Friday. Next week I'm excited to bring you Manta Films. We've got, um, image projections, Massage Heights, Hattinger Floors. And so I also want to encourage, if there are other businesses out there, this is a free service. I don't want anybody seeing this and think, is Renee charging for 30 minutes of airtime? Not at all. I'm not worth it in that regard. So this is free. I'm just doing this to help promote local businesses, make sure people, you know, either now that might need them or when they're comfortable venturing back out, may be able to take advantage of them because I'd like nothing more than our businesses to be able to come back strong. I did want to selfishly give a happy birthday shout out because it is my oldest daughter's birthday today, Kia, and I wore my pineapple earrings in honor of her because she bought these for me. I don't often get to wear them because they're a little big for me, but I wanted to say happy birthday to Kia. Thank you, Kia. So what I'd like to do in our last 2 minutes here, Dr. Ron, is just 2 things. One, I want them to know how to physically find you because we've got your web address here, but I want you to tell them where your office is located. And then just any closing comments of things you'd like to leave us with.

Yeah, I'm very active on social media. You'll find me under Dr. Ron Repice. It's spelled R-E-P as in Paul, I-C-E, so Rep and then Ice. Since we do cryotherapy, it kind of goes R-E-P-I-C-E, so Dr. Ron Repice. And then our company is Rejuvenation, so if you go to Rejuvenation and you put FL at the end, so Rejuvenation FL has all the information. Most of my clients message me, so this has become the age of text messaging, and so that works incredibly well. If you have a question or you want to set up an interview, we can do that via text, or I can call you to to go over anything that you might want to talk via phone call. So that's available for you, um, and you can stop in. We're right on— right next to Noodles and Dunkin' Donuts on Pine Ridge Road. It's 1575 Pine Ridge Road. We also have a place on Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers, which I many times forget to mention. So if you have friends or family that are out there, we're out in Fort Myers as well at Apothecare 360. We're a compounding pharmacy there. And so, um, yeah, pretty easy to find. Just look up— or look up my name, or check us out at rejuvenationsfl.com. Love to meet you.

Great. Now, we're not necessarily encouraging people after they come and focus on their health to go to Dunkin' Donuts after they leave you.

Coffee is not too bad.

You know, I can't appreciate that. Believe it or not, I don't drink coffee, and people probably find that hard to believe because I wake up out of bed and I'm like, boom. People at the bus stop used to tell me, Renee, we need to wake up for you. So me on coffee.

I love it.

A dangerous combination. Well, again, Dr. Ron, we really appreciate you making time today. I know you were just getting out of seeing a client before you came in for this interview. I appreciate sharing your, like I said, your wisdom, your knowledge, particularly in this time where people are thinking about some of the many things that you addressed here. So I wish you continued success in your existing business and your growing business. And, um, We can't wait to see the great things ahead for, for you and the people you serve. So thank you for joining. Ron, go ahead and stand on. I'm going to end the broadcast, but everyone have a fabulous Thursday, and I appreciate you coming on. We'll see you tomorrow.

Great. Thank you.