Strata Wellness at Garden of the Gods
3314 Mesa Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80904
719-428-2202
wellness@stratawell.com
For two decades, Dr. Michael Barber was a perennial choice of his peers as a “Top Doc” in cardiology. In 2022, Dr. Barber has again been chosen by his peers—only now in the category of Integrated Health.
Why would Barber leave a successful cardiology practice to pursue such an innovative new field?
“I was trained to do a very aggressive type of cardiology called interventional cardiac electrophysiology. I inserted pacemakers and defibrillators and ran wires into a patient’s heart.” Barber wondered, “if I could fix you with diet, exercise and doing the right things for yourself, wouldn’t that be better?”
Barber’s epiphany came with a 2 am ER call about a patient admitted with a heart rate of 10. The ER doc proposed a list of interventions: “I said, ‘Back the truck up here a second; is he talking to you?’ Yes. ‘What’s his blood pressure?’ Low, but detectable. ‘Has he peed since arriving?’ Well, yes. Good, his brain and kidneys are getting blood. Don’t do anything until I get there.” By 6 am, the patient had a pacemaker and was sitting up and eating.
“I don’t know why it was him,” he says now. “It came like a light bulb over your head: I wish I could have gotten hold of this guy 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe he could have avoided this.”
Soon after, he met Judy Mackey, who shared a joint vision of a new kind of healthcare, complementing the best of modern Western medicine with traditional Eastern therapies focused on prevention, rather than reaction. They envisioned an innovative clinic that could identify whole body systems that are not functioning properly, or not in harmony with one another—often the root cause of disease.
When Mackey partnered with Brenda Smith to purchase the Garden of the Gods Resort and Club in 2013, their vision found a home. Now, as Medical Director for Strata Wellness, Barber adds his expertise in cardiovascular disease, hypertension, internal medicine, and lipid abnormalities to Strata’s team of experts in chiropractic, IV nutrition, naturopathy, acupuncture, precision nutrition, meditation, fitness, bioidentical hormones, metabolic health and even pediatric subspecialties.
Dr. Barber credits the accomplished, diverse staff at Strata for his selection as one of 2022’s Top Docs: “This is definitely for all of us.”
The Strata Med Team: Dr. Shane Wells: Functional Neurology Specialist; Dr. Karly Powell: Naturopathic Doctor; Dr. Jennifer Habashy: Naturopathic Doctor; Dr. Micah Sutton: Doctor of Chiropractic; Angie Barber: RN, BSN, Clinical Coordinator & Liaison; Tracy Iverson: Performance Coach; David Kidd: Operations Manager; Mark Harry: Cardiovascular Diagnostics; Kara Langaker: Experience Guide; Claire Mademann: Nutritionist; Tania McCorkle: Director of Wellness; Kelli Miller: Acupuncturist; Carissa Nelson: Fitness Manager; Alissa Przesiek: Experience Guide; Sophia Schreckenghaust: Wellness Program Coordinator; Staci Shupe: Medical Aesthetician; Mela Spencer: Massage Therapy/Mindfulness; Kelly Stoinski: Wellness Training Coordinator; Janel Wagoner: Experience Guide