Newsletters > Spring 1997 > The Minnesota Natural Health Coalition

Who and what is the Minnesota Natural Health Coalition? The Minnesota Natural Health Coalition began in the fall of 1996 after Helen Healy, ND, settled with the medical board after a long and stressful struggle. For those of you who are unaware of her case, here’s a brief review. In the summer of 1995, two undercover agents from the Attorney General’s office came to Dr. Healy’s clinic pretending they were patients. She was charged with practicing medicine without a license by the medical board. Allegations were based on the Medical Statutes Act, number 147.081 subdivision 3, #3 which states that “a person that offers or undertakes to prevent or to diagnose, correct or treat in any manner or by any means, methods, devices, instrumentalities, any disease, illness, pain, wound, fracture, infirmity, deformity, or defect of any person is practicing medicine” and must be licensed as a medical doctor to do so, or is practicing medicine without a license.

Many of Dr. Healy’s patients, colleagues and members of the natural health community rallied around her. They came, not only in the name of protecting their freedoms and rights to have natural health provided in Minnesota, but also because they loved and respected her for who she was and what she stood for. Once a settlement had been reached with the medical board in the fall of 1996, many in the natural health community decided to build on the momentum of energy and continue to fight for the freedom of access to all forms of natural health. As a group, we wanted to ensure that practitioners from many areas of expertise could practice in an environment of freedom without fear of persecution and prosecution. After all, this is America!

The formation of the Minnesota Natural Health Coalition is the first time that the natural health community was in any way organized to fight for all the natural health in Minnesota. The Dental Mercury Awareness group already was up and running, but we wanted to provide an overall group for all natural health issues. We needed to ride this wave of political energy. Due to the independent nature of natural health folks, getting them organized is often seen as difficult as herding cats. So we seized the moment. The Coalition began as a legislative group to write and lobby for legislation that would provide these freedoms for the natural health practitioners as well as freedom of access to natural health care by the citizens of Minnesota. We then set about writing four bills and supporting passage of a naturopathic licensure bill. Members of the group took time from their jobs and lives to lobby legislators and the Attorney General’s office. Our goal was to educate and raise awareness regarding what was needed to protect and preserve the flourishing natural health opportunities in Minnesota. We inched very close to introducing two of the bills, but the 1997 legislature was busy with welfare reform due to changes on the federal level. Time ran out for securing authors and scheduling hearings. Our Coalition currently is moving towards reintroducing our bills in the summer after this session ends. Seeing the bigger picture, our energies will go towards our original goal -- protecting all of the natural health community.

The Coalition also met with the Attorney General’s office who indicated a better path to take -- push for legislation that would form a natural health board. This board would not be exclusive (naturopathic, allopathic, etc.), but a board for all of natural health. It was also recommended to us that we investigate the common laws of other countries, those that allow anyone to practice safe and natural health care without fear of prosecution. We are pursuing these avenues but this takes considerable time and effort. In addition, to better represent our mission of protecting our rights as American citizens -- to access who we want for our health care -- we are considering reshaping our original bills. Most importantly, the Attorney General’s office was very receptive and appears willing to work with us. Stay tuned!

Now... Where Do You Come In? In order to pass bills and schedule hearings we need all of you out there, practitioners and consumers alike who believe in natural health, to help us contact our government officials when needed. We need for you to sign up and join our Minnesota Natural Health Coalition so that when we need to flood the legislator’s, Attorney General’s and/or the governor’s office with calls and letters, you can be counted on to help with a calling tree. 20.000 could call in or hundreds, even thousands, could pack a hearing room. This speaks to the lawmakers! Members of the Coalition must work at their regular jobs between lobbying efforts. But very soon a professional lobbyist will have to be hired to take over this focused and consuming job. Continued progress means raising funds for a lobbyist and continued mailings to keep you informed. All of the activities of the members of the Coalition so far have been accomplished by passionate and committed volunteers fighting for your rights as well as their own.

Now, ask yourself, are you practicing safe and effective medicine without a license or is your practitioner practicing safe and effective medicine without a license? If the answer is yes, join us in the right to stay free and to choose who we want for our health care. It’s your choice. Don’t let the medical community or the government decide for you.