This Lupus Patient Wants Alternative Medicine to Be Available to Everyone

Desiree Ivey, a lupus patient who runs an alternative medicine center, is one of our Health Hero Challenge semifinalists. / Graphic by Meredith Getzfread

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be chatting with our semifinalists in the 2019 Be Well Philly Health Hero Challenge to give you a glimpse of the people who are helping Philadelphians live healthier lives. Vote once a day, every day, to help decide which of these 10 semifinalists become one of three finalists — and get a sizable donation to a charity of their choice — here.

Name: Desiree Ivey

Role: Owner and CEO of Medicinally Jointed wellness center; competing in Health Hero on behalf of One Day at a Time, an addiction recovery center

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What motivates you to try to make Philadelphia a healthier place?

Having a better lifestyle and living a healthier day to day, even when science and doctors believe someone living with lupus nephritis cannot possibly have a healthy lifestyle.

Describe a health- or fitness-related turning point in your life.

Being a lupus nephritis patient, a turning point in my life was when I realized the impact of CBD.

What “policy” would you institute to make greater Philadelphia a healthier region?

I would make alternative medicine more available to those who normally could not afford it because it’s enabled me to live a pain-free life.

What is your number one piece of health-related advice/encouragement?

To honor your body. Meaning listen to your body when it’s trying to tell you to slow down. Slow and steady wins the race. You cannot accomplish your daily activities and achieve amazing goals if your body is rundown and not healthy. It’s a mindset as well as staying aware of what you put in your body.