Susan Bradbury wants to lead people to metaphorically open doors to their health. An acupuncturist for 19 years, Bradbury and her chiropractor husband Tim recently opened an office on Orcas. It is open two days a week.

“I got into acupuncture because I love working one on one with people and seeing the transformations they make,” said Bradbury. “Acupuncture is somewhere between 3-5,000 years old and a medicine that you can study your entire life and continue to learn more, to be helpful to the people you are working with.”

Bradbury’s acupuncture studio is located at 33 Urner St., Unit 1. She and her husband hope to retire to the island but are settling for working out of an Orcas office until that dream can become a reality. They currently live in Bellingham, where they own and operate a chiropractic and acupuncture business.

“My dream for our clinic on Orcas is that we continue to grow and work synergistically with other practitioners on Orcas,” Bradbury said. “I find it very rewarding to work across various disciplines for the betterment of someone’s health.”

Bradbury said that acupuncture can help a variety of patients who have digestive problems, anxiety, depression and even the side effects of chemotherapy.

“I see people in our Bellingham clinic who come and are in good health and request a seasonal tune-up,” Bradbury said. ‘“The seasons are associated with the different organ systems and the tune-up is helpful entering a new season. Presently we are in the season of the lungs for the fall.”

Bradbury hasn’t always been an acupuncturist. She began nursing school at the University of Washington but didn’t complete her studies. Instead, she went to work as a general contractor. Her largest job was constructing the 27-hole Avalon Golf Course in Burlington. After completing that project, she chose to return to the medical field and pursued a license in acupuncture from The Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine.

“I knew it was time to get back to working with people, and acupuncture was my avenue,” Bradbury said.

The clinic is open on Orcas from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m.–6 p.m. on Mondays. Bradbury accepts Kaiser insurance and new patient visits are $120, return visits are $80 and patients 60 and older are $55 per visit. Call 360-224-6220 to schedule an appointment.