Nathalie Charette-Howard is a mother of 3, translator, reiki practitioner and avid runner. She is a strong advocate for alternative health, promoting chiropractic care, naturopathy and homeopathy. To share her passion with others, Nathalie has founded several supportive, information groups on Facebook. The group closest to her heart is a support group for informed parents that have chosen to not vaccinate their child or children.
Nathalie started this group after her second son experienced vaccine related complications. Around the age of 2 ½, he started waking up in the middle of the night with severe pains in his knees and sometimes feet. She was told that this was just growing pains, but after it continued several times a week for over 8 months, Nathalie decided to investigate for herself. She did a lot of research into vaccines, how they work and how each body responds differently to them. She discovered that if one child in a family has an adverse reaction to a vaccine, it is likely that a sibling will also react negatively. As a result, she chose not to vaccinate her daughter. The problem was that she didn’t know who to talk to about her decision and her concerns. After talking with friends and acquaintances, she realized that many parents struggle with the same issue but are afraid to talk about it in public. This was the inspiration for the Facebook Group. In a short period of time, the group has grown to over 200 members and includes people from Alberta and the U.S.
Thanks to Nathalie’s commitment to promote health in our community, parents now have a place to ask questions about vaccines and share their stories without fear of being judged. – See more at: https://w3ottawa.com/2013-award-winners/#sthash.BoWnnMzQ.dpuf
