Oriental Rose brings Chinese medicine with an Australian accent to Ypsi

Rob and Rose Noonan came to Ypsilanti from their native Australia by way of Chinese Medicine. The route doesn't seem like an obvious choice, but after considering opening their business, Oriental Rose, in their homeland, it seemed like the only logical choice. 

 

"To attract the kind of demographic that would be interested in Chinese Medicine [in Australia] we'd have to be in a large city where we might pay half a million dollars a year for a lease," says Rob Noonan. "The options really were do it part time further out from a city, or look elsewhere. And we fell in love in Michigan." 

 

The married couple visited Michigan two years ago and decided the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area would be perfect for their business. Between the relative affordability of commercial space and an open-minded community including college students, the Noonans decided the market was worth the global trek. He anticipates a positive response to the business by those who haven't found satisfactory treatments with traditional doctors.

 

"Chinese medicine is a complete system of medicine," says Noonan. "What we focus on are chronic conditions. The ones where you see your doctor and they say, 'Well, it just kind of sucks to be you, but there's not much we can do.'"

 

Rose Noonan is a doctor of Chinese Medicine, having studied at Victoria University in Melbourne. Through Oriental Rose she offers such services as acupuncture, acupressure, massage therapy, herbal formulas and more. 

 

The business opened on Pearl St. about two weeks ago. Rob Noonan serves as office manager and they have employed one additional administrative employee. Noonan plans to eventually expand both the business' offerings and staff, including additional practitioners and more cost effective treatments to allow more people to benefit from their work.