Oh, medicine. The least divisive of all humanities greatest achievements. I’ve quoted Oscar Wilde before and I’ll do it again: “Let me be surrounded by luxury, I can do without the necessities.”
Except, of course, this isn’t true. Necessities are by definition things we need. Wilde intended this contradiction, however, as contradiction stood at the heart of his wit.
Because medicine can be seen as both a necessity and a luxury, I find the quote fitting. Unfortunately, there are many people in need of luxuries they cannot afford. And while access to treatment can be a privilege, access to understanding can be an even greater one.
Functional medicine has gained attention in recent years, appealing to both patients and practitioners alike. One of the core principles of functional medicine is that living well doesn’t require costly treatments or drastic lifestyle changes. Northwest Arkansas Functional Health embraces this philosophy, making it their mission to educate and support the local community in achieving wellness every day.
Northwest Arkansas Functional Health works to make health knowledge and personalized treatment plans accessible to everyone. By focusing on proactive care and prevention, they help patients achieve wellness in a way that is practical, sustainable, and effective—because staying healthy is always better than treating illness later.
Brent Rush started this clinic to “empower his patients with knowledge so they can better take care of themselves” and to “improve vitality and longevity.” His interest in functional medicine arose from a background in exercise physiology, with no shortage of tosses and turns in the road to get him there.
Except, for Brent, a common thread has tied all of his experiences together. That is, Brent has always desired to help people.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from John Brown University, he went on to get a Master’s in Exercise Physiology from Wichita State University. From there, he returned to JBU where he taught health science and coached swimming and diving. But he realized something was missing. He wanted a more active, hands-on career.
During his final semester teaching at JBU he took an EMT class, opening the door to emergency medicine. Afterwards he joined the Rogers Fire Department, where he worked for ten years as he worked toward a newly recognized goal: becoming a nurse practitioner.
Though the road to get there wasn't always clear, he found a way. Working as a firefighter paid his way through paramedic school, and around the same time, he received his nursing license, which prepared him for a paramedic-to-RN crossbridge with minimal clinical requirements.
Working full time as a paramedic now, he completed his schooling. This prepared him for yet another crossbridge, from RN-to-NP. All of this together allowed him to slowly build toward his goal, designing an educational path that maximized learning and decreased debt.
Immediately after NP school, Brent was hired into the Emergency Department. He also worked in Intensive Care. These experiences built up his clinical competence and gave him an opportunity to work closely with people in critical conditions.
And yet, he still felt something was missing.
“I was looking for something that would marry my degree in exercise physiology with being a nurse practitioner,” Brent said. “That would fit my mindset and model of doing things because I was never really one for standard medicine.”
What captivated him from the beginning with respect to functional medicine was root cause treatment.
“If we can find the root cause of somebody’s ailment, then we get rid of the ailment,” Brent continued. “And there’s no reason for long-term medicines that do more harm than good.”
Because of this, he got involved with clinics that implemented stem cell injections, peptide therapies, herbs, supplements, and other forms of root-cause medicine. Through these experiences, functional medicine concepts became more familiar. Additionally, getting certified with the Institute of Functional Medicine soon became a top priority.
The intrigue of functional medicine resides in the opportunity for the betterment of health through comprehensive care and intentional living. Brent makes clear that hormone treatment and supplements alone will not cure disease. Rather, combining those with an ecology of healthy practices including diet, exercise, and sunshine will help regulate the immune system and make us more resilient to sickness.
Brent and his wife Rhonda started Northwest Arkansas Functional Health to narrow the distance between the luxury of knowledge and the necessity of care. Their aim is simple: make functional medicine accessible to the common person rather than the privileged few.
At their clinic, patients receive a blend of practical guidance, supplements, and even the world’s only non-painful hair restoration treatment. These tools are meant not just to impress, but to identify and target the root cause. In this way, they’ve built a model in which necessity and luxury meet: affordable health grounded in understanding, intentionality, and care.