APRIL 29, 2008

Cascade Acupuncture wins Gorge Region Small Business of the Year Award
By Mary Merrill

The Small Business Development Center at Columbia Gorge Community College has selected Carola Stepper and Cascade Acupuncture, LLC as the Columbia Gorge Region Small Business of the Year.

Her employee team includes acupuncturists Keenan Bartscher, Rebecca Shower and Cindy Conlin; office staff: Melanie McCloskey, Jackie Foster and Susan Vallie. This award is based upon several factors, including general business growth.

“Carola has expanded her business, opened a successful clinic in The Dalles, hired new employees and is an excellent business owner. Her attention to detail, follow through and ability to surround herself with good people is a sign of her success. I anticipate further successes in her future,” stated Mary Merrill, SBDC Director.

Because of Carola’s business excellence she was also nominated for the statewide Small Business Administration (SBA) Oregon Business of the Year award.

Carola stated, “Our team of six employees and I are very honored to receive this award. I couldn’t have done it without everybody’s dedication to great Acupuncture care and great customer service. In the fall of 2005 I opened my first clinic in Hood River and hired my first office manager. Now we have a second clinic in The Dalles, and a team of three office staff members, and three Acupuncturists. Our purpose is to help the people of the Columbia Gorge Region get well naturally, our clinics focus on the treatment of pain as well as many other health concerns, which are mostly stress related.
We also want to thank our wonderful clients; we couldn’t have done it without their dedication and referrals!”

On May 27th we heard from Sylvia Gercke, Director of Business Communications for the Portland SBA, that we were the runner up for the Small Business of the Year Award for the State of Oregon!

Carola Stepper, Mary Merrill, Susan Vallie, Jacki Foster

We are open Saturday!
Please call Melanie McCloskey, Office Manager in our Hood River office at
541-387-HEAL (4325), or Jacki Foster, Office Manager in
The Dalles office at 541-298-BEST (2378). They look forward to helping you!

Statement of Purpose:

Our purpose is to help clients get relief from symptoms and get correction of underlying health concerns, to reach their optimal level of health, to educate them why Oriental Medicine has worked for millennia, and inspire them about effective tools of self care so they in turn can educate and inspire others.

For many clients this is a life changing process. We strive to continually improve all aspects of our services to have clients so satisfied with their level of health that they naturally refer friends and family to us. This enables us to extend a sliding fee scale for all clients with a yearly income of $25,000 or less, in support of our goal to make our treatments available to as many people
as possible.

Furthermore, Cascade Acupuncture Center provides a refuge for clients, a place of beauty, kindness and compassion, where they can heal and renew themselves in
a supportive environment that also offers wellness
related literature.