Teresa Lopez, a licensed practical nurse and owner of Alive and Well Naturally wellness center, ventured into the alternative therapy realm while trying to help her mother deal with breast health issues. Lopez cites that experience with setting her on the path to help others in the quest for wellness, primarily through detoxification and immune system health.

Lopez, a Florida native, came from a home that emphasized healthy eating and staying active. “I didn’t know what white bread was until I went to school and saw other kids eating it,” she laughs. She always wanted to pursue a profession where she could be of service to others, so nursing felt like a natural choice. She studied at Erwin Technical College, in Tampa, Florida, and later worked as a nurse in the jail system. That work proved unchallenging and after a year, Lopez sought other options.

Lopez found her niche working as a critical care nurse at a Tampa hospital, and while there she also trained to be a telemetry nurse, a position she held for 15 years. It was during that time that Lopez’s mother experienced her health issues: three mammograms, an ultrasound and a thermography all came back inconclusive. Unwilling to race against the clock as test after test came back inconclusive, Lopez searched for a thermography center that offered more advanced thermography screening, but she couldn’t find one in Florida.

“That’s what pulled me out of the hospital, and I opened a wellness center for thermal imaging,” she says. “I felt led to educate women to ask questions: ‘Is my ailment due to lymphatic congestion? Is it caused by candida?’ I work with women in particular, but also men, to improve their immune systems and detoxify their bodies.”

After moving to Wisconsin eight years ago in order to be closer to her daughter, Raquel Schmitt—who had attended a private school in Wauwatosa and decided to stay in the Badger State—Lopez worked for a practice in Hartford. Last April, she reopened Alive and Well Naturally, the wellness center she began in Florida.

Lopez offers many services she also uses for herself: lymphatic drainage; live blood microscopy (a live blood cell demonstration allowing patients to view any parasites in the blood); medicupping; Raindrop Technique aroma therapy; halo dry salt therapy; and educational support for detoxifying the body. Schmitt, a licensed esthetician, recently joined her mother at Alive and Well Naturally to provide eyelash extensions and waxing services.

Alive and Well Naturally has an ST-8 lymphatic decongestion generator unit that utilizes oxygen and ozone, along with color therapy, to break up protein structures such as tumors, cysts and fibrin in order to open the lymph system. Patients relax on an exam table as Lopez uses lightweight paddles to work areas of the body.

The medicupping, popularized by swimmer Michael Phelps during the 2016 Summer Olympics, pulls toxins from the body through the skin. “The toxins are pulled out through suctioning, and people see the green, yellow or gray residue and wonder where it came from. I tell them it’s coming from the lymph system, because all this trapped waste is not being eliminated,” Lopez explains. “When people see that, it’s very enlightening. It gives me the opportunity to educate them on the lymph system and how the waste gets trapped in the body, causing swelling and disease.”

New to Alive and Well Naturally is the Wellness Pro, an electrotherapy device that Lopez says addresses many disorders. This frequency-generating machine can be programmed with 10,000 different codes to help reduce swelling, inflammation and pain.

Lopez sees people with many different ailments, including post-cancer patients and people with Lyme disease and lymphedema, and also works with athletes that find medicupping beneficial for increasing performance. She strives to be uplifting and takes a lighthearted, fun approach to care. “I tell them health care is ultimately their issue, and I want to help them help themselves,” she says.

Alive and Well Naturally is located at 140 S. Main St., Theinsville. For more information, call 262-297-7070 or visit AliveandWellNaturally.com.

Sheila Julson is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Natural Awakenings.