Our Clinic
Acupuncture Wellness Center opened in November of 2008. Our services have been very well-received by the Baton Rouge community; in fact, most of our new patients have been referred by someone who has benefitted from treatment at our clinic.
My name is Stewart Sommers, and I am the owner and the primary practitioner at Acupuncture Wellness Center. I studied a pre-medical curriculum at Southern Methodist University, but I decided after graduation that Western Medicine was not what I wanted to pursue. My motive was not one of being disgruntled with Western Medicine - I simply knew that it wasn’t for me, although I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why I felt this way. My mother, Dr. Marshall Sommers(an anesthesiologist), had gone back to medical school when I was young, and my interest in medicine and health care was born at that time.
Years later, after my mom attended a medical conference for anesthesiologists in Seattle, the field of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine was brought to my attention. Footage from China of acupuncture being used as the form of anesthesia for a surgical procedure was shown at the conference. She was impressed by what she had seen and mentioned it to me - I was intrigued. I decided to investigate the field of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in order to discover for myself what it was all about.
After several discussions with patients and practitioners, as well as positive feedback from Western Medical doctors, my intrigue turned into interest, so much so that I began looking for a program where I could study and eventually practice this form of medicine. I decided that another four years of study and training would be well worth my time.
My training allowed me not only to practice at our school’s outpatient clinic, but also afforded me the opportunity to practice in hospital settings as well. The school I attended, American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Houston, Texas has affiliations with both Baylor and Methodist hospitals. Working in this environment helped to give me a unique perspective into the integration of Eastern and Western medicine instead of viewing the two as mutually exclusive forms of medical care.
Our mission at Acupuncture Wellness Center is to provide each patient with the best care possible. While two patients may present with similar complaints, we will always take the time to listen to each patient and learn what makes their situation unique, and in so doing are able to address their concerns with medical treatment tailored to their needs and appropriate for their healing. At its best, Chinese Medicine treats the underlying imbalance at the root of a person’s condition, thus allowing an opportunity for healing rather than just addressing a set of symptoms that may be shared in common from one person to the next.