Our Story

Meet our founder

Garden Valley Wellness Center was founded by Dr. Fred Hiebert in 2010. What led to the company today is an incredible story. Here is a short, inspiring message from Dr. Fred;

 

Hi, my name is Federico (Fred) Hiebert. I would like to share with you a little bit about myself, the health problems that I have gone though and why I became interested in the field of natural health care. Helping people understand and resolve their health imbalances is what I am truly passionate about.

As a little boy, I was chronically ill. The disease I had, started to affect me from the time I was born. I believe now, that it was inherited from my parents and grandparents. During the first year of my life I had a poor appetite, constant diarrhea and persistent vomiting. Local doctors recommended various types of milk but it did not make any difference in my health and well being.

It took me a year and ten months until I started walking. My parents were worried about me, and wondered what was wrong as they started to see that I was becoming crippled. Like I said, my appetite was bad and the food that I could keep down, didn't seem to nourish my body at all, especially the structural system. My bones where weak, painful, and grew out of shape because they weren't able to absorb enough calcium. My legs were curved, especially the left one which had a curved shape from the knee down. An arm has two bones from the elbow to the hand. In my one arm x-rays showed that one of these bones was curved round and therefore about half of an inch shorter at the joint than the other. Like this I had problems in my entire structural system.

My parents cared for me very much and did their very best to find medical help for me. At that time, we lived on a farm in Nuevo Ideal, Dgo. Mexico. At first, my parents first brought me to the local doctors in town and though they did their best to try and find out what was causing my health problems, they couldn't provide any answers. Then we went to highly trained specialists in Durango. Most of them thought it was a deficiency of calcium but they could not find out why my body was not absorb any. It was not that the doctors did not want to help me; they did all they could and took every test possible. The problem was none of the tests they made showed my imbalance. When the doctors had a meeting, that’s were I would be and every one of them did an evaluation of their own. There were doctors from many different countries that came to see me. Then we went to Chihuahua where the specialist in Durango had referred us . Again we had no positive results. Then we went to the children hospital in Mexico City. We went there twice and again they made many test and were very determent to find a solution but I guess God just did not allow them to find my problem. One very common thing they would do is to take x-rays of my structural system, give me calcium, repeat the x-ray and look for the improvement, but there was none. Then we went to a special children hospital in the USA. My mother did not have the required traveling papers so my dad and I had to go alone. The doctor that I was going to at the children's hospital only treated special cases that other doctors could not manage. If there was not a medicine on the market that could help me, he would invent one. It was top of the line. When my dad walked into his office with me on his arm, tears rolled over the doctor’s cheeks and then he said, when I look at all the tests that have been made, there is nothing else that I can do for you. A lot of the doctors I saw wanted to do surgeries. My parents never allowed it, for which I am now very thankful. In the end, the main stream medical system did not work for me, and trust me, we tried.

Having the feeling that nobody was going to be able to help me, and having spent all the money they could on doctor bills, my parents gave up trying to find me medical help. One day while my dad was working with his machine in a small Mexican town, he ate lunch with some of the employers. So my dad tells them all about me and my illness. Then they tell him that he should try herbs and refereed him to a natural health practitioner in Durango. My dad does not really believe that this is going to be the key but he said we have tried every thing else we might as well try this.

We went to this practitioner to see what he could find out. There were two of them and since this was a special case both of them did a consultation on me. Iridology was part of their consultation so they took turns looking into my eyes. They did not really find what was wrong but gave some herbs and told us to come back in twenty days to see the results. On the second visit only one of them did the consultation. He looked in my eyes for a while and unexpectedly, jumps up and said, “I got it.” He told the other practitioner to come see what he found and they both agreed it was the thyroid gland that was functioning incorrectly. The thyroid gland regulates metabolism and in this case did not allow the blood to absorb any calcium, which is why I became crippled. Then they gave me a herb that was rich in iodine. Iodine nourishes the thyroid gland so it can function normally. From that point on I felt better and started to have good appetite. The body absorbed the nutrients and I got almost back to normal. I have to use my calcium and iodine every day, but it’s not a big deal. My structural system is still weak, so I can’t do hard labor jobs. I cannot run or play any sports, but I feel great. My energy is high, appetite is good and so on. If I had not gotten help, there was a big chance I would have ended up on a wheelchair. If you would see me today, you would not easily tell that I have been crippled at one point.

This experience has proven to me that iridology is a very valuable tool to assess the body’s health imbalances, and that herbs can correct nutritional deficiencies, support specific organs or glands so they can function correctly, and be just as effective as drugs. One great benefit of herbs is that they don’t have side effects like the drugs do. Herbs build up the body so it can heal itself and function correctly. The body is made in a way that it always wants to heal itself; we just have to give it the right nutrition. What happens if an organ or gland of the body becomes nutritionally deficient? Imbalances occur. This is why nourishing and cleansing the body with herbal and nutritional supplements are part of my recommendation today. It has work wonderfully for me.

To make a long story short, this is what inspired me to become a natural health practitioner. When I was fourteen years old, we moved to Manitoba, Canada where I now have my health food store and a busy natural health practice. My brother was always healthy and I could never understand why I had to be the sick one, but now I do. This is the job that God has planned for me and I am completely dedicated to do it; helping others become well or staying well as we all deserve to be. A quote from Dr. Ellen Jansen – “Health is your Birth Right.” This I believe is true.

Federico (Fred) Hiebert
Founder