BUSINESS FEATURE Integrity Family Healthcare Local physician emphasizes holistic wellness practices along with medicine D r. Michelle Legall did not always want to be a doctor. In fact, when she was a child, she did not consider it a possibility.
BY WESLEY GARDNER
skin care, weight loss regiments, hormone replacement therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. “For the long-term benets, so many things come into play—your mental health, accountability,” Legall said. “I don’t like the idea of putting a Band-Aid on something. I would rather gure out what’s wrong and cure it from the root instead of hearing the symptoms.” Despite her initial trepidation, Legall said her practice quickly gained steam. In late July, Legall is planning to relocate her practice to Rockmead Drive in Kingwood, where she said she will be better equipped to streamline her medical and wellness services under one roof. “The sense of community and belonging [is really important],” she said. “When we start implementing some of the other programs, I’m hoping to foster some friendships.” In her free time, Legall has oered free wellness exams to homeless women across the Greater Houston area. In the future, she hopes to launch a nonprot to give low- income individuals access to services oered at her practice. Legall said the struggles have been worth surmounting, both for her patients and her six children. “To feel like I have made a dier- ence in someone’s life and just have so many people tell me that I saved their life and to have my children look up to me and ask to work with me [has been rewarding],” she said.
“I’d never really seen a Black doctor before,” Legall said. “Of course, it’s dierent now, but it never dawned on me then.” Legall, who had dreamed of following in her mother’s footsteps to become a nurse, said the idea of becoming a doctor rst formed when she was competing in the Miss Houston Pageant as a teenager after a judge asked her why she did not want to become a doctor. “After he said that, … I started to say, ‘I want to be a doctor,’” she said. “The more I said it and the more I thought about it, I thought, ‘Wait a minute. Maybe I can.’” Following a stint during which she contracted with Humble ISD to provide health care to district employees, Legall opened Integrity Family Healthcare in Humble in 2010. “I decided to take a leap of faith,” Legall said. “I probably didn’t get paid for ve years because you have to pay your overhead and learn what works and what doesn’t work.” While the practice oers primary care and family medical services, Legall said her goal is to provide a holistic healing experience that emphasizes both medical and wellness solutions to develop realistic lifestyle changes instead of temporary xes. The health care practice also oers cosmetic services, including Botox,
HEALING FROM WITHIN Among the services oered at Integrity Family Healthcare are hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which is most commonly used to improve the healing process for wounds, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Michelle Legall, owner of Integrity Family Healthcare in Humble, prepares mock patient Taryn Powe for a Botox procedure at the site of her future practice in Kingwood. (Wesley Gardner/Community Impact Newspaper)
Step 1: The patient lies within a pressurized chamber to receive 100% pure oxygen.
Step 2: The increased pressure allows the lungs to collect more oxygen and push it throughout the body, including white blood cells, which ght infections.
Step 3: The oxygenated red blood cells push through restricted passages and create new blood vessels, allowing wounds to heal more quickly.
SOURCES: AMERICAN JOURNAL PHYSIOLOGYHEART AND CIRCULATORY PHYSIOLOGY, U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION¡COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Integrity Family Healthcare 1485 FM 1960 Bypass Road E., Ste. 340, Humble 281-973-9503 www.facebook.com/integrityc Hours: Mon.-Thu. 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m.-1 p.m., closed Sat.-Sun.
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12310 W. Lake Houston Pkwy. Houston, TX 77044 713.852.6700 TexasBayCU.org
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This credit union is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration.
LAKE HOUSTON HUMBLE KINGWOOD EDITION • JUNE 2022
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