Local Shop Offers Alternative Treatments
Winter 2016/2017
Written By: Claudia Turner
| Images: Jeff Buydos
Visitors who enter Simply Health are greeted by jazz music from Etta James and Louis Armstrong, along with a big yellow lab named Q. Further into the shop, a menu on the wall displays the various services available, including bio-energetic screening for body balancing and iris analysis to discover health predispositions.
It would be daunting to take it all in if it weren’t a relatively quiet, organized, and charming space.
The shop has two owners: Jennifer Nelson-Hawks and Babette Melka. Nelson-Hawks went to school to be a certified medical assistant, while Melka obtained a pharmacy degree. The two became connected five years ago when Nelson-Hawks would call in prescriptions for a doctor in
town and the two would get to talking.
“We are nothing alike,” Melka says. “But when it comes to running a business together, we don’t even have to speak to each other; we just know what to do.”
The two offer holistic health options including hormone consultations and preventative measures for health and wellness.
“We individualize for our clients,” Nelson-Hawks explains. “We support them as individuals instead of giving everyone exactly the same thing.”
Wandering through Simply Health’s aisles, visitors will see “living fuel” super meals, brain formulas, flower essences, massage oil blends, detox formulas, and a number of other herbal and pharmaceutical-grade supplements.
“We’re constantly keeping up with new research,” Melka says. She described an incident where a client finished radiation for cancer and wanted to nurse her body back to health but had insomnia and a generally truncated state of mind. She tried the aqua detox foot bath and said she had never slept so well or felt so optimistic.
It is this type of individualized care and unconventional therapy that inspires the two to continue delving into new research and methodology.
“The world is slowly changing,” Nelson-Hawks says. “People are actively looking for health food stores and supplement stores more so than just five years ago. And Jackson Hole may be a little ahead of the times,” she says.
Nelson-Hawks notes many people come in after they can’t find what they need from their doctors. The shop helps them find alternative treatments and ongoing education to heal their minds and bodies. The women aren’t saying they’re miracle workers, but they’re personable, passionate, and prepared to do what is best for each individual.
For these two Jackson women carving their own path to healing, there is never an endpoint in their journey.
“We’re always evolving,” Nelson-Hawks says. “We will grow indefinitely.”
