First Place: David Berv

4911 Augusta Ave.
254-0200
feelgr8.com

Second Place: Dr. Richard Gergoudis

Third Place: Dr. Banks W. Turner

Voters went alternative in this category’s top spot: David Berv is a chiropractor and acupuncture specialist who brought West Coast ways of healing from Portland, Oregon, to Richmond 18 years ago. He deals with many ways of healing and is a specialist in sports therapy. One technique is “silicon cupping therapy,” in which cups are placed on the body of a patient in pain. Their goal is to stimulate circulation and relieve pain. In a recent initiative, Berv has been developing flotation treatment at a facility on Dabney Road. In the treatment, a patient floats in one of four largish tubs in water highly saturated with Epsom salt. “It’s like floating in the Dead Sea,” he says. The experience is helpful to patients suffering from back pain. Drs. Gergoudis and Banks W. Turner are family physicians who have developed loyal patient clienteles by emphasizing personal attention in the increasingly impersonal world of managed care.