The Pacific Beach community toasted glasses of champagne and applauded the opening of the $2 million Renew Integrative Health Center on March 26, located on Balboa Avenue, that offers patients a mix of traditional doctors, eastern medicine and alternative therapies. Patients can visit the doctor for an earache, the chiropractor for neck troubles, the acupuncturist for pain treatment and the marriage therapist to work through personal issues all under one roof where staff can share information about patients. “We’re able to communicate a lot more easier,” said chiropractor Robert Buechel. “Instead of doing a report we can go to the doctor and talk about the case. We’re able to pass along information in the fastest way possible.” Buechel is also the clinic director who first envisioned the integrative model and built the business with his wife, Stacie, who is expecting their second child. At Renew’s opening on March 26, Buechel joked, albeit truthfully, that the clinic had contracted three attorneys to ensure the center’s approach to healthcare didn’t avail itself to lawsuits. For the past three to four years, Buechel said he’s worked with consultants and attorneys to set up the health center. “There’s not a lot of models out there,” Buechel said. “We’re kind of breaking ground for other practices to set up this way.” Buechel said chiropractors often act as primary care physicians for patients and that understanding what other practitioners do helps him know how best to refer a patient to another specialist, if necessary, plus keeps him abreast on other medical fields. “You need to know when to refer a patient,” Buechel said. “So knowing what they do and how they do it and how it fits into your patient’s health helps.” The chiropractor and his wife put together the team of specialists who came from as far as Washington, as well as Poway, Hillcrest and La Jolla. Dr. George Weiss is the center’s medical doctor and pain specialist who runs a wellness and longevity center in La Jolla. Buechel, 38, had previously worked as a chiropractor for 10 years on both Garnet Avenue and Fanuel Street, and graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic. He said he wanted to help people just like his father who was a medic in the Navy. The health center received a small business loan from the county, administered by Temecula Valley Bank, in 1997 to purchase the property on the corner of Balboa Avenue and Olney Street. Altogether it cost $2 million to purchase the property and renovate the building that had formerly been an office for another medical practitioner. Buechel and his partners had to put forward 10 percent as part of the loan. Community leaders praised the opening of the center, and the dedication of the Buechel couple. City Councilman Kevin Faulconer said the center demonstrates Buechel’s care for others. “[The health center] makes a statement of your dedication to Pacific Beach, of your dedication to the quality of health and your dedication to doing it right,” Faulconer said.