by Correspondent Marge Doty 

When you enter the small Thomasville Pharmacy, Amy Greeson will be behind the counter dispensing all the FDA approved medications as required.  If you’re a regular customer, she may greet you with a hug rather than a handshake.  But beneath the bright smile, the hug, and the profession pharmacist is an amazing woman who spends a lot of time canoeing down small Amazon rivulets, climbing mountains, plodding through rain forests and jungles, and spending tens of thousands of her own money in her quest to find medicinal plants and traditional healers throughout the Amazon region.

So far, she’s searched through the Amazon regions of Peru and Ecuador twice.  She’s crisscrossed Costa Rica and Belize and has plans for trips to the island of Madagascar, New Guinea and then the Congo.

“On our last trip to Ecuador we made the first documentary of a series, ‘ The Healing Seekers,’ which we hope to present on cable channels such as  Discovery Channel or National Geographic.”  The main focus of the documentary is to educate and increase awareness of why these cultures and their traditions are so important to the world of medicine and healing,” she continues.

There are 17 mega-diverse areas in the world that hold the riches of bio-diversity.  She intends to visit each of these areas and make a documentary to help people understand the need to pursue alternative medicines and therapies. Greeson is now as concerned about conservation in these areas as she is about learning the healing properties of the vegetation and healing traditions of the people.

“There is so much logging and destruction in the Amazon,” Greeson says with a grimace..  In her paper “Healing Seekers” she tells of researchers at Harvard discovering a bark from a tree which appeared to ‘knock the socks off’ of HIV-1.  They returned to the rainforest to gather more samples from that particular tree only to discover that the tree was no longer there…the area was destroyed and to this day, that species of tree has not been located anywhere else.

“The ‘Healing Seekers’ mission is to discover, explore and bring awareness of these ‘untapped’ and vital resources, to educate in an entertaining manner; and to bring new therapies and treatments to mainstream practice,” she writes in her material.

In addition to her documentary series, she co-hosts an Internet radio show, “Global Healing.”
Greeson had originally planned to be a surgeon.  “In my sophomore year at UNC-Chapel Hill, my advisor called me in and told me I needed to declare a major.  I chose pharmacy, but didn’t tell my parents for over a week because I was so unsure,” she recalls.

Her father, Joe Greeson owned Thomasville Pharmacy and she had always loved to go to the store with him.  “I just loved being with him,” she says with a smile.  The small pharmacy does not offer a drive-thru window or magazines or groceries.  It does offer friendship, hands-on consultations on both herbal medicine and FDA approved drugs, and concern for the customers.

After graduating from pharmacy school, Greeson spent four and one-half years working in Alaska.  Her schedule allowed plenty of time to hike, to bike, and to ski.  She spent most of her time in the Alaskan wilderness.  “It was there that I discovered myself and a deep love and appreciation for all of nature.  I had a gradual awakening of what nature is and what it can do for us,” she says.  

Her father wanted to retire so she returned to Thomasville and took over the store, but her curiosity and need to learn and grow lead her to study herbal remedies starting in 1997.  She earned a national certification in herbal medication in 1999. 

Now, her father works one day a week, but covers when she takes her extended “exploring and discovery vacations.”

She remembers her first “Educational Vacation” to Peru in 1999 where she studied indigenous healing practices with a Shaman. “I fell in love with the jungle and rainforest.  When the time came, I didn’t want to leave.  I felt at home there,” she recalls.

 And so, she returned and just kept finding new and exciting places to pursue her belief that both worlds of medicine are meant to come together and both worlds have something to teach the other.
Throughout her travels, she allows the Shamans and traditional healers to work on her.  “I am always amazed how they instinctively know what has happened in my body and often are able to help me.”  In the documentary, she describes and explains several natural healing plants such as dragon’s blood, extracted from a tree. 

A Thomasville couple, Grace and Cary Kanoy are a part of the team who work on the documentary.  On the trip to Madagascar there will be a drug designer to help with the scientific work.  “I love scientific evidence.  Love to see things that are proven, but at the same time, I know there are a lot of things that exist that we can’t see, but we know are there,” Greeson stresses.

Although most Westerners see much of her work as being “outside medicine,” more and more doctors and patients are exploring alternative medicines today.  Even the National Institute of Health is funding studies to explore herbal supplements as more and more people using and seeing benefits from these alternatives to prescription drugs.

“I truly believe that we’re going to be able to help many people better than we are today.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t do it.” Greeson says.

As the costs mount up, Greeson is hoping the documentaries will convince companies and individuals to support and participate in her quest.  There is a need for funding, grants, sponsorships, and individuals with the special talents required who are willing to participate and believe.

“I’ve never been more sure of my purpose in life. I think we can do better to help people if we are willing to open our minds and accept all that nature has to offer,” she shares with another beaming smile.