BOARD MEMBER INTROSPECTIVE:

Pamela Gerry, R.N.

by Scott C. Tips

Life can take you in unexpected directions. In the case of NHF Board member Pamela Gerry, R.N., this was especially so. Fortunately, an open mind and heart enabled Pamela to recognize those changes as opportunities and profit from them.

The first-born child of Barbara and George Evans, Pamela grew up in a quiet residential part of Springfield, Massachusetts. It was so quiet in fact that she remembers thinking throughout her childhood that, “Nothing exciting ever happens on Eloise Street.” Even the birth of a younger brother failed to change those thoughts.

Yet, although Pamela grew up being, as her Mother put it, “the perfect child until age 14,” the tranquility of her later childhood and teenage years was darkly overshadowed by the Vietnam War and the struggle for civil rights in America. These greater events still live on within Pamela, and affect her profoundly now, as they did then.

In the meantime, Pamela attended Classical High in Springfield, where she leaned more towards the sports side of academia. Gymnastics, volleyball, and cheering attracted her interest more than book studies. That interest, however, was to change.

Join A Professional Career

In the Fall of 1970, Pamela began her studies at Boston State College. Predictably, given her high-school inclinations, she majored in Physical Education. But she quickly realized that the “big city” life in Boston was not for her, and she left college after her freshman year so that she could teach exercise in a smaller community’s health spa.

This, too, changed when Pamela was encouraged by a friend to enroll in nursing school in the Fall of 1972. Selecting the Whidden School of Nursing (associated with Northeastern University in the Boston area), she studied hard and learned much. But after her graduation in 1975, Pamela realized she had learned a lot about drugs and disease but little about health – its cultivation and maintenance.

Working in Boston hospitals, and dismayed by conventional approaches to maladies, she began scouring health-food stores for an answer, reading many books and articles on health and nutrition.

Changed by a Paragraph

One of those serendipitous turning points that happen in one’s life occurred one day in Pamela’s when, in the back of one of the books she had been reading, she stumbled upon a paragraph mentioning the Hippocrates Health Institute, run by Dr. Ann Wigmore. This Institute, amazing enough, was located near where Pamela was then living. Fascinated, Pamela visited the Institute.

Then, checking in as a student for the Institute’s week-long “Learn by Living” program, she spent a week eating sprouts, then juicing, fasting, and finally having colonics. After that, Pamela felt as if she could fly!

Because she is a nurse, Pamela is invited by Dr. Wigmore to stay on as a member of the staff. The Institute was just beginning to document the health changes they were seeing and needed someone qualified to draw blood. Pamela filled the bill.

About the same time Pamela became a vegan (although she has since diversified her diet to include occasional non-medicated, grass-fed meats). She stayed on the Institute’s staff for six months, and during this time discovered and connected with the American Natural Hygiene Society.

During this same time, Pamela also discovered and connected with her future husband, Doug. She and Doug were both taking a nutrition course at North Shore Community College in 1979, and Pamela was “smitten” the moment she saw her future husband walking through the halls. They dated for two years and ended up marrying on Valentine’s Day 1981.

Changed by an Unnecessary Death

While still working as an agency nurse at Salem Hospital, Pamela was assigned as one of its “med nurses” (the nurse in charge of medications). She remembers an elderly gentleman being admitted with symptoms of depression and lack of appetite. His wife had just died, and he was grieving; but his family did not know what to do with him, so they put him in the hospital. Within a few days, the interns had ordered three new medications for him, and after nine days he was on seven meds. He died the week after.

As a result of this death, Pamela approached the head nurse and said “I can’t help but feel we contributed to his demise with all the meds he was taking.” The head nurse smote back, “If you don’t want to be a team player, get off the team.” Feeling as if she had been punched in the solar plexus, Pamela finished her shift that day and determined that she could never be part of that team again.

But what to do? She had invested in an education, and she needed a livelihood. She decided to “hide out” in the field of Midwifery, and began cross-training to make that transition. Fortunately, she lived a few miles from a birthing center, staffed by Nurse-midwives, and they eagerly taught Pamela skills for her new role as a Birth Assistant in out-of-hospital births. She gained confidence that the natural mechanism of birth worked well, and when it came time for the four little Gerrys to be born, they all made their appearances in their own home, guided by the skillful hands of midwives.

The other benefit of being a Nurse-midwife was that Pamela was able to stay home with her children. Daniel was born in 1982, followed by Julia in 1984, Vanessa in 1987, and Lane in 1989. All four were home schooled over a period of some eleven years. It was a broad education too. Every summer, mother and kids would travel to the American Natural Hygiene’s annual conference, where Pamela studied with Doctors Alec Burton, DJ Scott, Joel Fuhrman, T. Colin Campbell, and a host of other natural healers.

Public Service

One day in 1994 – out of the blue – Pamela took a phone call from a woman identifying herself as a local County Commissioner. “I understand you are knowledgeable about the United Nations and other issues that have more of an impact on citizens than they realize. No one is running for Commissioner in your district on the Republican ticket. I need help on this commission; they are trying to take away local control. Please consider running.” Pamela says she would think about it and then asks her husband Doug what he thinks. “I expect you’d do a fine job,” he said, “Go ahead and try.” In fact, she wins the election running as a Republican in a Democratic stronghold and serves as a York County Commissioner from 1995-1996. Pamela loved her time in public service.  

Another Bolt from the Blue

Unfortunately, though, that time came to a sudden end in 1996 when Doug was diagnosed with Stage 4 Squamous cell cancer tonsil on the 25th anniversary of his father’s death. With this life-and-death challenge hanging over the family’s heads, Pamela feels she could not possibly run again for office. Yet, incredibly enough, in the morning Doug was given the bad news by his doctor; while in the same afternoon, an unforeseen buyer walked into his office and plunked down a generous offer on his desk for his business, which was not even on the market.

This offer – of course accepted by Doug – allows him and the family to focus on his health and not on a business that had in a flash become far less important. With a prognosis of a 20% chance to survive two years, the Gerrys knew something must be done and must be done quickly.

The Gerrys spent the next year intensely dealing with Doug’s cancer. No stone was left unturned and all alternative treatments were studied, considered, and the promising ones used. Intravenous Vitamin C was the “big gun” used, but also herbs, tinctures, garlic, sweat therapy, raw foods, juices, massage, and prayer played a large role as well. With Doug asking himself, “I might die; am I prepared to meet God?” his cancer becomes as much a spiritual journey as a physical one. This journey leads Doug in the end to the realization that, “Cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me.” Together, Doug and Pamela discover the “politics of healing” up close and personal. Today, more than eleven years later, Doug is still cancer free.

Although in 2002 Pamela briefly considered applying for medical school, she knew that she had much helpful information to share as a Registered Nurse and natural healer. So, she decided to package everything together and use colon hydrotherapy as her vehicle to spread health and healing. Heading to Vancouver for a certification course through the Boucher College of Naturopathic Medicine, and Prime Pacific Health Innovations, Pamela added colon hydrotherapist to her list of credentials.

About three years later, in Southern Maine, Pamela opened the Health Lyceum, which offered, among other things, health-development counseling, colon hydrotherapy, fasting guidance, and therapeutic juicing instruction. The Health Lyceum is still going strong today.

About three years later, in Southern Maine, Pamela opened the Health Lyceum, which offered, among other things, health-development counseling, colon hydrotherapy, fasting guidance, and therapeutic juicing instruction. The Health Lyceumis still going strong today.

It was during this time that Pamela observed three-quarters of her clients as having active Candida. Worse, still, her research uncovered a medical textbook (Clinical and Immunologic Aspects of Fungous Diseases) used to educate Johns Hopkins medical students back in 1957. This textbook declared that many fungal conditions look exactly like cancer! At that time, doctors first considered fungus as a cause of disease, but now no longer do. As a result, Pamela has focused attention on this forgotten fungus issue as an important key to health.

Still, strong resistance within the conventional medical community toward identifying and treating fungal-based maladies has been discouraging; so much so that some alternative fungal experts whisper that an intentional policy of “non-treatment” of fungus by conventional medical practitioners must exist, because it is now suspected that almost all medical problems have an underlying fungal etiology, and to cure fungus would remedy most of the symptoms that comprise the majority of patients’ complaints. Is this yet another ugly sign of the “politics of healing”? Are conventional doctors denying this problem simply to prevent the loss of their customer base because of true healings?

In asking these questions while continuing to help her clients, Pamela kick-started the union of her love of public service with her desire to help people maintain their health. In January 2005, she co-founded the New England Seacoast Holistic Health Association (www.neshha.org)

Soon thereafter, Pamela learned about the dangers of the overly-strict Codex Alimentarius process and decided to attend a National Health Freedom Coalition meeting in St Paul, Minnesota, where she met other health-freedom fighters, including me. She quickly joined the National Health Federation and started an NHF Chapter in Southern Maine and New Hampshire. That Chapter holds regular meetings discussing various health and health-freedom issues. Pamela was elected to the NHF Board of Governors in 200_.

Pamela believes passionately in what she does, but she gets especially incensed when confronted with “mandatory” vaccinations for children. “As a health specialist and freedom advocate, part of my responsibility is to share information about the Laws of Health,” she says firmly. “When new parents ask me about vaccines, I encourage them to ‘opt out,’ as they have the legal right to do. I explain that an immature nervous system is too fragile to handle the assault of formaldehyde, aluminum, and other toxic ingredients found in modern vaccines. I share studies from the CDC and other websites with them, and they can clearly see that vaccination is risky business at best, and a deadly gamble at worst.”

“Twice I have been called by frantic parents from doctor’s offices while they were experiencing extreme harassment and intimidation from the staff over the fact that they chose to not vaccinate their child. One father called me three times under extreme duress while there and asked if I would be willing to talk with the staff to get them ‘off his back’. Of course, I offered to do that; but what about other families who have no advocate to step in for them?”

Especially galling is the regularity with which laws in the State of Maine are broken by those in a position of authority and responsibility. It is these government persons who are most at fault for hiding the truth, even lying outright, and demanding that children be vaccinated as a condition of being accepted in government schooling.

Even the school department in that part of Maine in which Pamela lives will routinely mail out a threatening – and legally incorrect – letter, attempting to coerce parents into vaccinating their children, by misleading them to believe their children cannot go to school without being vaccinated.

Pamela notes, “In my experience as a Health Educator, moms are always surprised to find out that a waiver exists to sign off on the vaccines. ‘No one ever offered that to me; I was under the impression that my kids couldn’t get into school without being vaccinated.’ This urban myth needs to be shattered, as many families feel trapped to do the vaccines simply for this reason. When I have requested to sign the waiver in lieu of presenting vaccination records, which our family doesn’t have, the school nurse or teacher always has said to me, ‘No one has ever asked for this before. I’m not sure we have one.’ At any rate, healthcare providers need to be informed and reminded of the existing law.”

As Pamela has widely broadcast to all who will listen, parents have the “Right to Know” about the existing waiver law, and they should be shown the waiver. The Federation wants the State Legislature and Executive to do their jobs, that is to both publicize and enforce the existing statute.

In this spirit, Pamela worked with her local State Representative to craft a bill that would require both verbal and written notification be given to citizens informing them that vaccinations for their schoolchildren are optional – and that they may opt out of supposedly “mandatory” vaccinations by signing off for medical, religious, or even philosophical reasons. Although this bill was nothing more than a request to enforce existing law, it was defeated by a vote of 8-2!

True to form, indefatigable Pamela did not take this lying down and, knowing that the attorney general’s job is to enforce the law, she has prepared and filed a complaint alleging that Maine law is being broken regularly by doctors, nurses, and school officials. The outcome looks excellent since there exists a solid legal basis for the lawsuit.

Passion and persistence on health and health-freedom issues are Pamela’s hallmark. And all of the rest of us are the beneficiaries.