Community Highlights: Meet Carissa Stanton, MD and Kendra Rose, APRN

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carissa Stanton, MD and Kendra Rose, APRN.

Hi Dr. Stanton and Kendra, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Carissa: After working for ten years in a regular clinic setting, I struggled to provide the care I wanted to give. It became more apparent that families need individualized holistic healthcare for their children. So in May of 2020, I opened Mindful Pediatrics to fulfill that need. My goal was to remove all the barriers I had encountered in a regular clinic: low access to doctor, limited time, insurance companies dictating care, and a stressful clinic setting. And that is how I modeled my practice with direct access, virtual care, and in-person visits at home or a wellness center. Mindful Pediatrics was the first direct pediatric care practice of its kind in the Kansas City area.

Kendra: After being a bedside nurse at a children’s hospital for 11 years, I decided it was time to advance in my career. During my rotations to obtain my Nurse Practitioner degree, I saw there was a high need for preventative wellness care. I knew I wanted to be able to spend more time with my patient’s providing holistic and integrative care. I met Dr. Stanton through my midwife and I knew I wanted to provide the type of care she was providing for families.

Both: Mindful Pediatrics has a waitlist, which proves there is a need in the community for holistic pediatric care. Carissa and Kendra collaborated to open Growing Pediatrics to help meet that need. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Carissa: Opening and running a medical practice is not something they teach in medical school! Wearing the two hats of physician and business owner was an adjustment. It was difficult balancing serving patients as a doctor but also having to make revenue to cover expenses and continue operating as a small business.

Kendra: It was difficult starting a non-typical practice because there is no “how to” book or road map to pave the way. But if you lead with intention of helping people, those struggles will always work themselves out.

As you know, we’re big fans of Mindful Pediatrics and Growing Pediatrics. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Carissa: My approach to care: Wellness is the state of mind, body, spirit and environment all in balance. My goal is to optimize all these aspects to keep a child happy and healthy! When problems do arise, I like to find the root cause of the problem. Too often, I see patients whose symptoms have just been covered up without addressing the underlying problem. My goal is to make children more well, not just less sick. The approach I use is called integrative medicine: combining natural approaches with modern medicine. My practice: My goal is to provide individualized and holistic care. My practice model is set up to accomplish this goal: Mindful Pediatrics is a membership-based, direct pediatric care practice. My members get access to me 24/7 for questions, concerns, and illnesses. They also get wellness visits in their home or in a cabin on a nature-based wellness center. My wellness visits are a full one hour, and I go in-depth in preventative care including nutrition, supplements, environmental toxins, and mental/spiritual health.

Besides the unique practice model, my training is unique to a medical doctor. I have a bachelor of science degree in nutrition and training in integrative medicine. I use this unique training to use natural approaches to wellness and sickness care.

I am most proud of how I really get to know my patients, families and help the parents. Parents nowadays are having to be experts in behavior, nutrition, supplements, clean-living, etc. I’m grateful I get to be a resource for them on those issues to help them improve the lives of their children. I also love when I get to use natural approaches to healing instead of jumping right to a medication.

Kendra: Growing Pediatrics provides Pediatric In-Home visits for well, sick care, and lactation support. You see the sole provider: Kendra Rose, Family Nurse Practitioner with over ten years of pediatric experience. My families get direct access to me via text, call, or telehealth 24/7/365 days a year. Growing Pediatrics is known for providing holistic, integrative, family-centered care promoting wellness.

My background in pediatric nursing really prepared me to form close relationships with my families and to provide care above and beyond traditional clinic settings. Growing Pediatrics is the only APRN owned pediatric practice in the area.

Growing Pediatrics accommodates to the needs of each individual family. My goal as your healthcare provider is to focus on keeping your child well while incorporating all aspects of their daily life. With Growing Pediatrics, you can expect care involving all aspects of wellness: nutrition, supplements, development, etc.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
We both try to “walk the walk” of wellness lifestyle and living. Carissa: I live on a small 4 acre “homestead” in Olathe where I garden and collect fresh eggs from my chickens. I prioritize providing my family healthy food, healthy lifestyle and a clean living home environment. I am also mindful of taking care of our earth and try to be sustainable as possible in our everyday lives. I use an electric car that is powered with wind-generated electricity to get to my home visits!

Kendra: Encompassing all aspects of wellness is something I practice everyday, especially with my own children who are 2 and 5 years old. My family lives on a small farm in Harrisonville where we grow our own garden and live as clean of a lifestyle as possible. Both of my children were born naturally at home.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected] [email protected]
• Website: https://www.mindfulpediatricskc.com/ https://www.growingpediatrics.com/
• Instagram: @mindfulpediatricskc @growingpediatrics
• Facebook: @drcarissastanton @growingpediatricskc