Natural Remedies – The Herbarium Dispenses Medicine, Valuable Information

Soft, soothing music plays in the background, and a relaxing smell wafts through the air at the Herbarium in Chicopee, where customers peruse shelves lined with a wide variety of items, including medicinal and regular teas, health and beauty aids, vitamins, medicinal and culinary herbs, oils, and gifts.

People typically visit the store because they want to purchase products to enhance their health, have had reactions to pharmaceutical drugs (or simply don’t want to take them), or are seeking natural remedies for a problem.

They often ask for help, but if they don’t have a medical diagnosis, the first thing they are told is to see their doctor.

“We never, ever diagnose or prescribe, and people would be absolutely foolish not to take advantage of the brilliant medical knowledge and technology available today,” said Kathleen Duffy, who founded the Herbarium 37 years ago after leaving the nursing profession. “And once someone does have a diagnosis, there may or may not be an herb that can help.”

But although Duffy and her husband, Jonathan Evans, do not dispense medical advice, the information people receive at the Herbarium has been welcomed for decades, and the couple has established excellent relationships with many local doctors, who are customers themselves and send patients to them.

Still, they do turn people away and advise them to seek immediate medical help, and Duffy cited an example. “A woman brought her son here, and as soon as he walked in, I could tell he was very sick,” she told HCN. Although the woman said her son had had a bad stomachache the night before and had improved, Duffy advised her to go straight to the emergency room, where the child was diagnosed with a ruptured appendix.

Today, the advice Duffy administers is to medical professionals. She is on the road constantly, conducting seminars about the clinical use of aromatherapy in hospitals and other medical settings.

As a result, Evans runs the store. He is a certified herbal information specialist, but doesn’t push products, and it’s not unusual for him to talk people out of buying an herb they read about or saw on TV if he doesn’t feel it is suitable for their needs.

“People trust our knowledge and experience,” Evans said, adding that he reads professional journals and digs into research to document the accuracy of claims made by journalists, independent sellers, and other vendors who do not have medical degrees.

“Jonathan always tells me to talk to my doctor first,” said customer Gina Allen, who waited in line on a recent day to speak to Evans. “But he directs me toward what I need.”

Those items have been carefully selected, because the Herbarium doesn’t stock items unless there is empirical evidence that they work. “We’ve researched and tested the majority of products on our shelves and traveled to manufacturers’ laboratories to inspect their facilities,” said Evans. “Quality standards are of prime importance to us. You have to know what is good and what is not, and we cherry-pick because no one company has the best of everything.”

The couple is passionate about education, and to that end, the store has racks filled with free articles and the latest research on topics ranging from modern myths and legends about herbs to natural products used for conditions that include acid reflux, fibromyalgia, cancer, liver problems, eyesight, and more.

But not all herbal products are the same, Evans cautioned, adding that the way they are manufactured and consumed makes a real difference in how they affect people’s health.

Duffy worked as a nurse for 13 years before she opened the Herbarium in 1978. Her résumé includes six years at Baystate Medical Center, where she did stints in the intensive care unit, intensive cardiac care unit, recovery room, pediatric unit, emergency room, and medical-surgery units, and seven years at Holyoke Medical Center in the same types of settings.

 “I always worked in high-stress units with the sickest people,” she said, adding that the job was stressful, and as technology advanced and more patients were hooked up to machines, Duffy began to think about leaving the field.

She wasn’t sure what else she could do, but that changed after her son recovered from an illness and she visited her sister, who lived in New York City. “While I was there, she took me to a shop filled with herbs,” Duffy said, adding that she was fascinated by what she saw. “I knew nothing about herbal medicine, but thought a similar store would do well in Northampton.”

When her sister offered to provide the money Duffy needed to start a business, she took her up on the offer.

“Thornes Market in Northampton was just opening, and I rented a 500- square-foot space,” she recalled. “I didn’t know anything about business, never created a business plan, and had no idea I could fail. In fact, I didn’t even know how to make change.”

But she immersed herself in the study of herbs by listening to tapes, reading books, and taking classes in many settings, such as Dominion Herbal College in British Columbia, Canada. “I wanted to understand the chemistry behind herbs, and felt I had to be very knowledgeable to safely sell them to the public,” she told the Healthcare News.

Her nursing background also led her to take extreme measures to ensure the herbal products she carried were high-quality and stored in sanitary containers, and Duffy and her family members tried every item themselves before she stocked the shelves.

However, business was slow at first, and her average sale was $1.

“People didn’t know much about herbs back then,” Duffy recalled. Still, her customers were enthusiastic, their feedback was positive, and they encouraged her by donating things, such as posters for her walls.

About a year after opening the Herbarium, Duffy and her husband divorced, and she became a single working mom. Her introduction to Evans occurred in 1980 after he invited her to be a guest on a radio talk show he was hosting. He said her appearance was so well-received, she was invited back and soon became a regular.

Duffy talked about herbs and supplements that could be used to help improve the health of people suffering from cancer, menopause, anxiety, depression, and more. “I would sell out of the products I talked about,” she recalled, adding that she always stressed that they should be used as an addition to regular medical care.

Evans took copious notes on everything Duffy spoke about, because people would call weeks after a show asking questions. He helped her find her current location in Chicopee in 1981 when her lease expired in Northampton, and they eventually married.

After increasing his own knowledge about herbs, Evans began working in the Herbarium full-time, but the couple continued a radio talk show for many years.

Today, Duffy is a senior instructor on the use of aromatherapy in clinical settings for R.J. Buckle Associates in England. She travels constantly, and last year was away from home for 30 weeks, giving seminars and lectures to nurses and other health professionals in settings ranging from Boston Medical Center to facilities operated by the Veterans Administration. She also serves as an adjunct college professor and corporate consultant, and has helped companies create new products, including a natural pest repellent.

Evans writes a monthly column for Prime magazine about herbal supplements because he shares Duffy’s passion for education. A recent article explained that calcium and vitamin D should be taken with magnesium.

“If the person doesn’t get enough magnesium, their body won’t absorb the calcium or activate the vitamin D,” he said, adding that many Americans suffer from a deficiency of the mineral, which is responsible for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the human body.

Customers who visit the Herbarium sometimes request products that Duffy and Evans know won’t help their problem. For example, a man came into the store wanting to purchase astraslus because he heard it promoted hair growth.

Although the herb’s root is used to make medicine, hair growth is not listed as a condition it is prescribed for on websites or in medical literature, but Evans said people sometimes see a reference to an herb, then draw their own conclusions. “People research things on the Internet, but the average customer doesn’t know if what they are reading is right or wrong. That’s where we come in.”

Many customers also ask for gingko because they want to improve their memory. “But telling me they want to buy gingko is like saying, ‘I want to buy a car.’ They need to know what company they want to buy it from, because the active biological component is not the thing that makes an herb work,” Evans said. “It’s the whole plant.”

He told HCN that companies that guarantee the potency of their products also sell the sludge that remains after processing the plants to the secondary market, which is why it is possible to go to a discount store and purchase herbs inexpensively.

“But it’s like buying a used tea bag that has been dried out. You need the whole plant,” he said, stressing, again, that he and Duffy have visited the laboratories of herbal manufacturers before making the decision to sell new products.

“All of the herbs we carry are picked wild. They are organic and come from one or two companies,” he said, noting that many people pay far more than they need to for quality herbal products.

Ethical considerations also play a role in what is sold at the Herbarium. For example, the store doesn’t stock krill oil, due to environmental concerns, sustainability, and the fact that Evans says fish oil works just as well.

“But it’s impossible for the consumer to know all this. They have to be able the trust the person they are dealing with, and we try to educate people for their own protection,” he added.

That includes debunking information about unfounded scares connected to supplements, such as vitamin E, which was reported earlier this year to increase the risk of prostate cancer in men. After the information went viral, a further report explained that the initial study showed the increase was only in men who had low concentrations of selenium.

Evans says misconceptions can arise when journalists rewrite headlines and don’t have the medical background to understand it’s not just the herb, but the dose, form, and what is taken in combination with it that play a role in how it reacts in the body.

However, herbs can interact with or block pharmaceutical drugs, so it’s important to consult with a doctor before starting anything new. “For example, gingko can enhance the effects of Coumadin, which affects clotting time,” Evans said, adding that Duffy has carefully compiled a list of common drug/herb interactions that should be avoided.

Knowledge about the use of herbs continues to evolve, but what ancient healers learned and passed down through the ages is valuable.

“Herbs are foods with medicinal properties that have been used since the beginning of time,” Evans said, as he spoke about how pharmacists in the ’40s and ’50s used mortars and pestles to crush herbs and plants to make medicine.

Today, the Herbarium does a brisk business and continues to gain respect within the medical community. “The reason is that we know that what we do is complementary,” Evans explained.

Duffy agreed.

“There are herbal remedies that are safe and effective for things such as the cold or flu,” she noted. “But if you have a broken leg, you need to go to the hospital. We respect doctors, and they respect us. So we work together.”