Who We Are
Cheryl Hammes, DO, FAcofp
Dr. Cheryl Hammes was convinced about the power of integrative medicine when she recovered from her asthma symptoms completely. Prior to her recovery she suffered for five years, used two inhalers daily and intermittent steroids. After her profound success, she was compelled to practice medicine utilizing similar techniques for her patients. She began her medical career in traditional medicine first and transitioned to integrative medicine in 2001. Aspiring to create a calm and more personal atmosphere for her families, she launched Integrative Wellness in the autumn of 2007.
Dr. Cheryl Hammes is a 1998 graduate of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OUCOM). She is board certified in both Family Medicine (since 2001) and Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine/Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (since 2005). She has been recognized as a Fellow and a Master Preceptor by the American College of Osteopathic Family Practitioners (2023), as the OU-HCOM Family Medicine Preceptor of the year (2015), as an OU-HCOM graduating physician mentor (2017-2021), and won the state of Ohio Osteopathic Family Medicine Original Research Paper award in 2001. Her clinical research in 2001 focused on helping those with sinusitis to have less pain/pressure and runny nose symptoms with osteopathic cranial manipulative medicine (OCMM.)
Your doctor is also a teacher and she trains medical students as a OUHCOM Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine & Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. She has been adjunct faculty Cleveland Clinic resident physicians training to become specialists in NMM/OMM since 2005. She enjoys spreading the word about her success by doing lectures at Cleveland Clinic affiliate hospitals, Autism conferences and local parent organizations. Her most prized accomplishment is being the mother of three healthy children that have benefited from the same treatments she offers her patients.
Dr. Cheryl's practice philosophy
An individual’s wellness begins before they even are welcomed into their parent’s arms. Nutritional counseling prior to conception can aid couples in making the best choices for pregnancy diet, exercise and supplements.
The journey continues just after birth. Babies that experience a difficult delivery, including forceps or vacuum aspiration, can suffer from tight neck muscles and disorders in lactation. They can also be fussy and colicky because they have discomfort in the body. These symptoms can be addressed with usually a few treatments of osteopathic manipulation.
As a mother that breast fed her three children, Dr. Hammes has a special passion for treating newborns with lactation dysfunction/torticollis/plegiocephaly using osteopathic manipulation. For newborns with lactation dysfunction, the results can be heart warming when a newborn can breastfeed for the first time after a visit.
Family members of all ages can benefit from utilizing integrative wellness strategies. Acupressure treatments can eliminate very troublesome allergy symptoms without having to follow strict elimination diets. Optimal nutritional status can be achieved using specialized testing and appropriate supplements. Dr. Hammes will work with each patient as an individual to develop their unique wellness plan.
Alanna Pylypiv, AGACNP-BC, CFMP
Alanna Pylypiv realized she wanted to become a nurse practitioner (NP) in high school while volunteering with an NP in the mountains of Amachuma, Bolivia. She graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2010. She started her nursing career in the Emergency Department and Medical Intensive Care Unit at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus. She obtained her CEN and CCRN certifications during that time. In 2014, she completed her Master of Science in Nursing. She began working as a licensed NP at University Hospital (UH) Cleveland Medical Center in a Medical and Surgical Step-Down Unit. Shortly after, she joined the team that launched University Hospitals Level 1 Trauma Center in 2015. Alanna worked within the Department of Trauma Surgery, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery from 2015 through 2023. During these years, she became an RNFA, certified in ATLS, worked in the Trauma Resuscitation Bay, managed both trauma and acute care surgery patients in the ICU and on the floor, helped develop the outpatient Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Clinic to care for pre-and postoperative patients, and became a certified wound care practitioner. Simultaneously, she worked at Cleveland Clinic Medina and Avon as a surgical NP/RNFA in the OR. Alanna served on the APP Council Education Committee from 2019-2023 in various capacities, including being a Fundamentals of Critical Care instructor for the Society of Critical Care Medicine at UH Cleveland Medical Center. In 2022, she assumed the role of Division of Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery APP Educator while continuing clinical work. Throughout these experiences, she sought opportunities to study alternative and integrative approaches for managing different disease processes, focusing on thyroid disorders, specifically Hashimoto's disease. In April 2023, Alanna completed a functional medicine program for master's and doctorate-prepared healthcare professionals and became a certified functional medicine practitioner. She then joined Integrative Wellness in July 2023. Her current practice includes using various treatment modalities to help patients with thyroid disorders, adrenal dysfunction, hormone balance, and microbiome health. She is passionate about providing care for women trying to conceive and optimizing the health of women during childbearing years through menopause.
Carla Cavanagh, PA-C, LMT.
Carla Cavanagh, PA-C, LMT, joined Integrative Wellness in January, 2019, after shadowing for a number of months to be trained in modalities specific to the practice (namely allergy elimination and managing our weight loss protocol). Carla and her now adult daughter were also patients of the practice when her daughter was a child. Her background is a bit diverse. She recently retired from the Army National Guard as an aviation physician assistant and had been in the military for 40 years. She is a retired firefighter paramedic, and achieved licensure as a practical nurse (1993), physician assistant (1997) and massage therapist (1999) while continuing to work full time. While deployed in Iraq in 2009 she was driven to research alternative treatment modalities to treat her aviation population and began to study myofascial release, a connective tissue modality based in osteopathic principles. When she returned home she began to seek formal training in the modality and established her private massage practice in 2013 to concentrate on offering myofascial release exclusively.
Carla retired from the fire department in 2013, but continues to seek additional training and education, with the mantra that “every day is a school day.” She sought employment with Dr. Hammes to be able to broaden her knowledge and experience in integrative medicine, specifically many of the modalities practiced and followed in the office. She has and continues to participate in osteopathic training offered through both the American Osteopathic Association and Michigan State University. She worked previously at Connor Integrative Medicine Network through University Hospitals for 4 years working exclusively as a myofasical release therapist.
Carla’s passions continue to be health and wellness specifically from an integrative perspective. Veterans issues are paramount. Treating individuals on the autism spectrum has been a passion and interest since her daughter’s diagnosis as a child. Emotional and physical trauma is also addressed through another modality she provides with Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE), a self treatment option developed by Dr David Berceli, a social worker with a diverse background in global relief work.