After over 30 years of practicing primary care and family medicine, Dr. Donato Balsamo has started a new venture at Total Wellness Medicine in Syosset this summer, focusing on functional medicine and preventative care.
“We’re geared really more towards being proactive rather than reactive,” said Balsamo, the center’s medical director.
Balsamo said the term “functional medicine” refers to a discipline of medicine that “aims to get down to the root cause of what’s going on.” While traditional medicine targets existing conditions, functional medicine aims to combat existing conditions while mitigating the risk for new conditions as well, he said.
“We are billions of cells that communicate with each other, and if cells don’t have the right environment, if they don’t have the right nutrients, they’re not functioning as well as they are…and that leads to chronic conditions,” he said.
Total Wellness is a division of Total Orthopedics & Sports Medicine. The Syosset locations — at 115 Eileen Way — are housed in the same building as another division, Total Physical Therapy. The complex also has a surgical center.
All the Total divisions work together, Balsamo said. For example, he said the wellness center can provide IV therapy — which delivers a high dosage of vitamins and nutrients to patients through an IV — to surgical patients.
Balsamo said he and Dr. Charles Ruotolo, who founded Total Orthopedics, came up with the idea for a wellness center about a year and a half ago, and the center officially opened in July. He said he has been interested in wellness since he was in medical school and that this venture allows him to use different treatment methods than traditional medicine.
To begin, Balsamo said, the center performs an in-depth patient analysis, looking at blood work and lifestyle. He said that stress, nutrition, and exercise all play a role in a person’s wellness, though traditional doctors might not consider those habits when prescribing treatments.
“All those things affect how your cells function; how your cells communicate,” he said.
Balsamo said the center also focuses on hormones, something which traditional medicine does not typically address. He said that low testosterone can lead to increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, strokes, and neurocognitive diseases, while a decrease in estrogen and progesterone can lead to anxiety, brain fog, and restless sleep.
He said that hormonal changes — like menopause in women and andropause in men — make a “huge difference” in mood, muscle strength, and mental clarity.
“Hormones affect all your organs — your brains, your kidneys, your hearts…so you want to see about screening those people at a young age and treating them,” he said.
Balsamo said the center offers a variety of therapies, such as red light therapy, which uses low levels of red light to help improve skin condition; peptide therapy, which uses amino acids to stimulate hormone production; and IV therapy.
However, therapies aren’t the only things on a patient’s treatment plan. Balsamo said the center has a certified diabetic and nutritional educator, a personal trainer, and a yoga and reiki master to get people on a solid “foundation.” He said the center’s office manager, Alyssa DeSena, is a licensed naturopathic physician who helps educate and assist patients as well.
He said treatments take place both within and outside of the office.
Balsamo said “99.9% of the time it’s not medications; it’s lifestyle changes.”
The medical director said the center is a non-judgmental place where patients can be honest about their lifestyle habits to get the best, most personalized treatment plan possible.
“I’m here to help educate people and put them on a path to a better wellbeing,” he said.
