An employee at Meridian Integrative Wellness in Jacksonville is now a certified personal trainer thanks to customized training funds provided through CareerSource NEFL.
Donna Nguyen was a chiropractic assistant at Meridian, but thanks to a chance meeting between the company’s founder and a business services representative from CareerSource NEFL, she’s now in a new position with the healthcare clinic.
“I was attending a National Business Professionals meeting, really just to find out what the group was all about, when I met Carol Cullen, who was there making connections with small business owners like myself, and she shared was CareerSource was all about,” said Dr. Nhat Nguyen (no relation to Donna). “ I didn’t know anything about the organization, and she shared what it did for businesses…including information about the customized training program like this existed.”
Nguyen said his company’s core values follow the ‘Four G’s: Gratitude, Growth, Grit and Greatness,’ and the program resonated with him.
“It spoke with me when she spoke about helping our employees grow by receiving certain certifications or higher education,” he said. “Donna was the first candidate in our office who qualified for the program and she went through the certification in about four months. She liked it, and now she’s in a new position with us.”
Dr. Nguyen, who attended New York Chiropractic College and has an extensive background in sports chiropractic work, established Meridian Integrated Wellness in 2010. Today, he operates two offices in Jacksonville and Orange Park and has clients throughout Northeast Florida. Driven by a commitment to provide superior health care, his state-of-the-art facility is dedicated to assisting patients in achieving optimal well-being – with a focus on addressing musculoskeletal problems.
His team works with patients who have ailments ranging from back and neck pain to sports injuries, arthritis, sciatica, and accident-related injuries. Dr. Nguyen says most of his customers find out about his clinics on the Internet, with the majority looking for relief from neck and back pain, with others seeking primary care. As the practice has grown, they also get more customers “through word-of-mouth from existing patients,” and the VA Hospital provides patient referrals, as well.
“Since we opened, we’ve grown into a broader practice,” he said. “In the beginning, we were focused on chiropractic services only, which was my profession, and then we integrated massage therapy, some acupuncture and then on to personal training and physical rehabilitation. We even provide functional medicine in the office, which is a metabolic health, and have services focused on gut health.”
His company’s slogan is ‘Live Empowered.’
“We’re trying to restore an individual’s ability to take control of their health and show them a way to a better quality of life without having to be dependent on pills for some of these chronic issues that we, in our community are experiencing every day,” he said. “Whether it’s heart disease, cholesterol, diabetes or high blood pressure, we use a holistic approach when it comes to their overall health.”
Dr. Nguyen says the experience with CareerSource NEFL was “very straightforward, certainly expedited” and a very smooth process. “We would definitely reach out to CareerSource for help again, and I’ve even encouraged anyone of our staff here who wants to receive additional education or extra certification to pursue it,” he said. “I think customized training is a tremendous resource for any small business and, if they’re not aware of it, it’s definitely worth looking into.”
Photo caption: Donna Nguyen at Meridian Integrative Wellness has been upskilled from a chiropractic assistant to a personal trainer with Customized Training funds provided through CareerSource NEFL.