Vital Health and Wellness // Augusta Swift, N.D.

As a child, Dr. Jill Ghormley was misdiagnosed by a number of doctors even though her parents knew she was deaf by the age of four. Through this experience she developed a fascination with medicine and a desire to understand how the body works. Today, her deafness serves as an incredible asset to her abilities as a physician. It really is true that the loss of one sense enhances the other senses. In addition to her extraordinary lip reading skills and fluent speaking ability, Dr. Ghormley is exceptionally attuned to her patients' visual cues, olfactory cues (smell), and energetic cues.

A graduate of Bastyr University Dr. Ghormley is the first licensed deaf Naturopathic physician in the United States.

Prior to studying Naturopathy, Dr. Ghormley received her Masters in Medical Illustration and served as the Senior Medical Illustrator for JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association). Her expertise as a Medical Illustrator helped her develop intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the human anatomy. She has a unique ability to look at a patient and visualize what is happening internally.

Dr. Ghormley utilizes an in-depth understanding of how the muscles hold themselves in relationship to the nervous system. She investigates how a patient’s brain communicates with the body and uses that insight to re-educate the brain and body to work in harmony. As a Naturopathic physician, she specializes in physical medicine, which encompasses pelvic floor rehabilitation, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, maxillofacial rehabilitation (TMJ, facial neuralgia, sinus congestion, Eustachian tube congestion). She achieves the use of physical medicine through visceral manipulation, spinal and extremities manipulation, hydrotherapy, physical therapy rehabilitation, applied kinesiology, acutonics, cranial osteopathy, muscle energy stretching – to name a few. Under the physical medicine umbrella, Dr. Ghormley does injection therapy, IV therapy, and minor surgery. She also works within the fields of neurology, gastroenterology, dermatology, musculoskeletal systems and environmental medicine. Dr. Ghormley did a year and half residency specializing in chiropractic and osteopathic techniques as well as naturopathic modalities.

Her passion for international medicine has led her to do volunteer medical work in Africa, Russia, and throughout Southeast Asia. She plans to continue her work in developing countries and teach the power of self-reliance and self-healing both in the US and abroad.