OPINION: RFK Jr. is uniquely qualified to lead Department of Health and Human Services

I am writing as a doctor of naturopathic medicine. I’ve been treating patients as a primary care practitioner in rural New Mexico for years and have seen the disenchantment of our modern medical system.

We are the doctors whose expertise is in chronic disease, integrative, and functional medicine; these modalities are vital to our health outcomes not only in our state but throughout our country.

We are the doctors that best represent “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) because we have the tools in our medical bag to treat and help reverse the chronic disease epidemic. We know science and we know nature.

For decades, naturopathic doctors (NDs) and naturopathic medical doctors (NMDs) have been focusing on optimizing health rather than focusing on diseases, before “being healthy” was popular. We look toward natural therapies and only use pharmaceuticals when necessary.

In the United States, about 60% of adults over the age of 18 are on a prescription medication, yet the U.S. is one of the sickest countries in the world, falling below the average globally. Data suggest the average amount of prescriptions is four per patient.

New Mexico specifically needs care with our growing obesity rates, 30%, and diabetes, 12%, as of 2015. We need more attention toward nutrition, counseling, liver detoxification, endocrine and glucose support, gut rehabilitation, fasting, environmental toxin exposure detox, purging the processed food out of the American diet, banning artificial flavoring/artificial food dyes, and focusing on at-home modification and rehabilitation.

Last assessed, chronic disease made up 7 of the 10 leading causes of death in New Mexico in 2015.

As a root-cause focused NMD concentrating on the therapeutic treatment of the entire body, I am afforded the perspective of seeing American medicine for what it has become: A chasm of differentiated parts that do not equal the sum. We should not treat the body in separate parts or systems. This is not how true health is achieved.

One of our naturopathic tenets is “treat the whole person.” We need to focus on balancing the expression of symptoms, while addressing the fundamental causes of disease, not masking symptoms with medications that promote progressive ill health or added complications.

Aiming to address the physiologic response with the emotional/mental component is key to uncovering sustainable, regenerative health. Chronic disease and mental health now account for 90% of the nation’s $4.3 trillion in annual health care expenditures. Let’s take a centric-holistic perspective moving into the future.

We must reform how the function of our health systems run, so that other voices and partnerships at micro and macro scales can be heard. The goal is to provide healthier options for our future and our children.

Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is at the helm of it all. Let the energy of this MAHA movement carry us onward.

Please support our efforts in this movement by championing collectively toward making us all healthy. Please consider Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next secretary of Health and Human Services so he can consider the rest of us, too.

Imagine a MAHA spectrum of health practitioners. Mr. Kennedy is fearless in educating others, not only in the environmental spectrum, but with his aptitude of medical nomenclature. He has a vast knowledge of science in government and health policy, all of which showcase the areas he highlights that need to be improved upon for our American people.

His track record of strong leadership, dedication to reversing the chronic disease epidemic, and commitment to government transparency make Mr. Kennedy uniquely qualified to lead the department during this critical time.

Dr. Jessyca Franco-Chavez, of Corrales, is a naturopathic doctor, health policy advocate and owner of The Healing House Concepts, Barefoot Medicine LLC, Casitas de Corrales and TigerLily & Co. She is also a past southwest regional operations manager for the 2024 Kennedy presidential campaign.