Elevate Hydration brings local health solution

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press 

Sometimes it can be hard to go sit in a waiting room at the hospital ER or Urgent Care clinic or even the local doctor’s office when you’re feeling miserable and under the weather.
It is costly in terms of money as well as time, and sometimes what is needed is simply rehydration in the form of an IV.
A new business in Copperas Cove hopes to offer a solution for this problem and for people looking to boost their health. 
Elevate Hydration is mobile IV and vitamin therapy business. 
Owners Jason and Dawn Pessa bring their services to their clients, but they have also begun offering a twice a month IV/vitamin therapy pop-up of sorts in the parking lot in front of Fresh Fire CCI downtown at 216 S. 2nd St.
Dawn is a registered nurse working in an emergency room and as a forensic nurse. She is also studying to obtain her master’s degree and become a licensed nurse practitioner. 
As such, she has experience administering IVs and shots/injections. 
Dawn administers the IVs and wellness injections, while Jason handles the intake and processing behind the scenes. 
The couple parked their RV in front of Fresh Fire CCI last Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. as a way to provide a centrally located opportunity for people to come see them, rather than visiting clients’ homes. 
IV therapy and wellness injections offer a faster rate of absorption compared to vitamins and supplements taken by mouth. IV liquids are injected directly into the bloodstream, over a period of an hour, and bypass the digestive system, making this the quickest way for the body to absorb nutrients. An injection is a more immediate way to administer a supplement or vitamin, but the body absorbs the nutrients more slowly compared to the IV due to the injection going into the muscle to then be absorbed into the bloodstream. 
Offering an affordable option, with less of a wait time compared to the emergency room and even an Urgent Care, is why the Pessas started Elevate Hydration. 
Dawn has five-plus years of experience as an ER and forensic nurse and practices under a medical provider, and her medicine comes straight from the pharmaceutical company, she said. 
As a nurse, Dawn is careful to double check that clients do not have any contraindications with their own personal prescriptions and the injections or IV therapies offered by Elevate Hydration, and she said she makes sure to watch for any reactions or side effects that clients may have after receiving their injection or IV therapy. She keeps Benadryl on hand to administer, and she said most reactions, such as a small rash, tend to happen fairly quickly after. 
Clients complete the intake form and list medications, allergies, etc. before scheduling their appointment, which can be found on the Elevate Hydration website at www.elevatehydration.org. 
Dawn shared an example of a client who was suffering from food poisoning and was dehydrated and felt terrible. Elevate Hydration was able to help the client feel better in their own home within the hour by offering anti-nausea medicine and IV hydration. 
Another injection Elevate Hydration offers is Toradol, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), in the same family as ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil) or naproxen (Aleve). 
Other services include wellness injections, such as B-12 shots, tri-immune blends, Vitamin B-Complex, Biotin, etc., as well as IV therapy which includes traditional fluids for hydration plus blends such a migraine cocktail or the Myer’s Cocktail, which is advertised to “boost immunity, increase energy, fight migraines, provide better sleep, hangover relief” and features antioxidants. This IV blend features zinc, B-Complex, B-12, magnesium, 5000mg of Vitamin C and glutathione. 
Elevate Hydration has plans to continue offering mobile IV and injection services while also setting up two Saturdays a month at Fresh Fire CCI.