By Phillip Goodman
February 29, 2024
Emily Allina does more than just stitch up Ice Raiders players (or the woeful opponents who meet Roger Hutchinson's or Tony Tyrell's fists). When she's not in the rink, she's in her brand new office in Lake Tahoe performing light wound repair or offering consultations for preventative healthcare, or she's traversing Northern Nevada making house calls for those that don't have the time or means to get to Tahoe. As part of her practice, Allina provides routine checkups or full lab analyses at fractions of the cost of most primary care physicians (PCPs) and health plans.
The current US model is set up like a sick-care system," says Allina. "It's really hard to get in to see your providers for preventative things. And even when you do there's not much of an emphasis or there's a pretty big knowledge gap for preventative health care or more integrated health care. What I do uses different modalities of health care using different kinds of treatments or preventative treatments. Also insurance doesn't always cover the things you want to do for prevention."
For example, let's say you're going on a trip. Some insurances won't cover a malaria vaccination but they'll cover your hospitalization that costs exponentially more.
Enter Allina, where an ounce of prevention can save that pound of pain. However, Allina is not advocating canceling your insurance. She is advocating seeing her before you need to implement your insurance.
"Insurance is there for catastrophic issues like if you get hurt, really ill, or need surgery," she says. "But if you really just want to work on getting healthy and optimizing your health it's really hard to do with any insurance system."
So how can Allina help optimize your health right away, whether you're as active as an Ice Raider or not?
"There's a lot of things I can help you do to optimize your health," she says. "First we all need to exercise and eat right. My big focus though is on injury repair and regenerative medicine so I do a lot of platelet rich plasma injections to major joints in off season. People may not need surgery but have an acute injury. It's an option for healing and repair. Couple that with for example the men's health for hormone balancing: making sure their thyroid is optimized and that their testosterone is optimized. Those are both important for metabolism and maintaining muscle mass and bone health to prevent osteoporosis down the road. Testosterone is hugely important for stamina, cardiovascular health, cognitive health, sleep, mood and motivation. We're seeing testosterone declines earlier in men. But we're also optimizing blood sugar to make sure they're not becoming insulin resistant for early diabetes which is one of those issues that has a lot of downstream consequences for people. I'll also check your cortisone levels which affect stress and mood. On top of that I'll look at your vital nutrients: iron, B12, any deficiencies that cause fatigue or a sub-optimal performance. Once you've optimized all that then you can introduce peptide therapy which helps you release more growth hormone which can help increase your injury recovery, workout recovery, and build lean muscle mass. Peptide therapy can also help with your sleep and immune support."
Peptide therapy doesn't require constant visits or house calls from Allina. After your initial consultation and a review of your labs, then she can assign a therapy schedule based on your specific goals and needs. The therapies can easily be applied yourself nasally, orally, or via small insulin-like injections.
"I use a lot of these myself," she says. "I generally try not to recommend things I would not do for myself or my family."
Her rates as an independent practitioner will vary based on what types of services and treatments you need.
"There may be a little bit more of a cost now but you're really going to be saving down the road a significant amount of cost because you're going to start optimizing your health," she continued. "Then you're not going to be behind the ball as you get older, then paying thousands and thousands of dollars a month for medications and for specialists. With me you're hedging for the long term."
"It's getting harder to see your PCP for some things so you end up going to urgent care or the ER and you still have the copay or out of pocket costs. You'll get a better service with me, more in-depth analysis, and better follow-ups. With me you're not one person in a big system, you're one person in a small system with more personalized attention."
Not only do you have the option of making an office visit if you're in or around Tahoe, she can also come to your home or even workplace in Reno or Carson City and still take whatever samples she may need for a proper diagnosis.
"A large majority of things can be treated at home or mobily like strep throat, pink eye, mono, urinalysis, eye injuries, and more," says Allina. "So if you're vacationing in Tahoe and someone in the family gets hurt or sick, you don't have to pack the whole family in the car and take them to the hospital. I can make the house call to your rental and make the diagnosis with my mobile practice."
Even though Allina doesn't take insurance payments, she still generates superbills that you could download from her patient portal and try to submit to your insurer for out-of-network reimbursement, depending on the case. She has also negotiated her lab prices down to one-third to one-eighth the cost of the average local lab prices.
"A full panel of labs which is upwards of 20-25 tests can be done from only a few tablespoons of blood," says Allina. "At one Tahoe-area hospital you'll give 12 tubes of blood and that panel will run $2500. I can draw less blood and get the same panel of tests for $400-$500, again depending on what needs to be checked for."
One more unique treatment she offers is ozone therapy. Per her site, "Ozone is three oxygen molecules (O3) bonded together to create an extremely potent and effective oxidant that scavenges up invading pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and molds. Intravenous ozone (O3) therapy is used to treat a multitude of acute and chronic illnesses."
Quick personal endorsement for ozonation: my college roomate acquired an ozonator machine. It connected to our kitchen faucet for washing and sanitizing surfaces. Veggies and fruits washed in ozonated water lasted a week longer in the fridge than the unwashed. We also washed our hockey equipment in ozonated water which removed the odors and bacteria. This writer is a firm believer in the power of O3 and wonders when ozonators will be as common a kitchen/home apparatus as the garbage disposal. You will have to call Alina to find out how 03 can clean you from the inside out efficiently and safely.
Allina's services and capabilities extend far past the confines of the rink.
"My goal isn't just to treat the Ice Raiders players," she says. "My services extended to fans and supporters. I'll come down to Reno and do consults at your office or home but I can do procedures in my office. I've also got in my office an infrared sauna, and a hyperbaric chamber coming soon."
Any patients in Reno that need more medical assistance outside her area of expertise are referred to her growing network of nutritionists, exercise therapists, chiropractors and more.
A native of Indiana, Allina made her way to Tahoe via Maine, Seattle, and San Diego. Her love of all things nature and outdoors made Tahoe an easy, desirable choice for opening a new practice in 2022. She has been a hockey fan since long before her needlework at Reno Ice. Her father was a team physician for the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL so she would attend games with him while she was still in high school.
"I really like it," she said about the Ice Raiders' games and environment. "I've gotten to meet a lot of people and I've been somewhat helpful at games. It's been more fun than I thought it was going to be."
Like the Ice Raiders on the forecheck, it's better to be on offense than playing defense. Don't wait until you have to play defense with your health. Take offensive control and schedule your consultation with Emily Allina today.
923 Tahoe Blvd, Suite 100Incline Village, NV 89451, US
(775) 347-3737
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