{"id":1406,"date":"2017-12-06T19:03:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T19:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/?p=1406"},"modified":"2023-02-10T14:20:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:20:31","slug":"open-sky-small-business-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/general\/open-sky-small-business-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Sky Small Business Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Featured by Naturally Lewis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPEN SKY WELLNESS, LLC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Megan Kraeger, a Lewis County native, has pursued her dream of owning her own wellness center.\u00a0 Working towards her Clinical Nutritionist certification, Megan took a leap of faith that is helping to make her hometown community a healthier, better place to live!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Business Name: <\/strong>Open Sky Wellness, LCC \/ 7383 Utica Blvd, Lowville, NY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you establish your business? <\/strong>Open Sky Healing Arts Center was establisehd in 2001 by Kathleen Merrick.  In July 2017, the name changed to Open Sky Wellness, LLC, under new ownership of Megan Kraeger, a Lewis County native.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Number of Employees\/Therapists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 – Megan Kraeger, Owner & Clinical Nutritionist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8 – Licensed Massage Therapists<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 – Licensed Esthetician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 – Reiki Practitioner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describe your start-up story. <\/strong>I finished my Master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition this past spring and was looking for a space to start my Nutrition practice.  I reached out to the previous owner of Open Sky, Kathleen Merrick, to secure an office space to begin my practice.  We had a great first meeting and decided I would start occupying the space on the weekends.  Kathleen mentioned she was selling the business and she had an interested buyer.  I told Kathleen, “if that falls through, please let me know, I may be interested.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of weeks later, Kathleen notified me that the opportunity to purchase the business had opened up.  After several meetings and hours of research, I decided to pursue my dream of owning a wellness center.  I transitioned from a full-time employee at Lewis County Public Health, to part-time, and began my journey as a business owner in Lewis County!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you start your business in Lewis County, NY? <\/strong>I have lived in Lewis County my whole life.  Although I love to travel, it is always good to come back home.  I want to help make the community I grew up in a healthier, better place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What challenges have you faced while starting your new business? <\/strong>Juggling my time managing the business, working part-time for Lewis County Public Health, starting my own nutrition practice and working towards obtaining the Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) credential have been the initial challenges in starting this venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of your business highlights since opening?\u00a0<\/strong>One of the biggest highlights is the addition of Nutrition Services! We have also expanded the\u00a0Care in the<\/em> Community Veteran\u00a0Program,<\/em>\u00a0which is a program where we provide therapeutic massage therapy to 36 veterans in Lewis and Jefferson counties.\u00a0 Veterans are authorized to receive weekly massage therapy to help with pain related conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of our newest additions to the wellness center is an Infrared Sauna<\/strong>, which has numerous health benefits!\u00a0The infrared rays penetrate your skin to heat your body beneath the surface. It warms the body at much lower temperatures than a steam sauna because the rays penetrate into muscle tissue. The direct heat causes your blood vessels to dilate – therefore increasing circulation and heart rate, while decreasing blood pressure.\u00a0Other benefits of the sauna include\u00a0decreasing joint stiffness,\u00a0weight loss,\u00a0lowers blood sugar,\u00a0lowers cholesterol and triglycerides,\u00a0relieves muscle spasms,\u00a0pain relief,\u00a0helps with skin conditions: acne, eczema, psoriasis, burns and skin lesions,\u00a0improves skin tone and elasticity,\u00a0boosts immune system and\u00a0detoxification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the future of your business? <\/strong>I am looking to expand Open Sky by offering additional wellness services and health\/wellness retail items.  Two of our massage therapists are pursuing further education in cupping therapy, which we hope to start offering in the beginning of 2018.  I also hope to bring back acupuncture to Open Sky.  My goal is to have a variety of natural health services and products available for community members!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has Lewis County Economic Development been of assistance to your business? <\/strong>I have attended a couple of the seminars Lewis County Economic Development has put on.  They have also helped put me in contact with organizations as I started the business and planning process and they continue to assist with promotion of my business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want more information on Open Sky Wellness?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out their\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0Page!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

www.openskycenter.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

openskycenter@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured by Naturally Lewis OPEN SKY WELLNESS, LLC Megan Kraeger, a Lewis County native, has pursued her dream of owning her own wellness center.\u00a0 Working towards her Clinical Nutritionist certification, Megan took a leap of faith that is helping to make her hometown community a healthier, better place to live! Business Name: Open Sky Wellness, LCC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2494,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions\/2494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/openskycenter.com\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}