When Anne Ferguson’s position as critical care educator at Tufts Medical Center was eliminated in 2012, the hospital offered her a severance package that she took as her opportunity to create her dream of starting a wellness center.
Two years later, on her way to New Jersey in 2014, Ferguson cut through Devens and saw the military base’s old Red Cross building for sale. The building was in the shape of a cross, which was exactly the layout that she had envisioned for her center. “It was almost too easy,” Ferguson said. “I’m very much a believer in things that are meant to be.”
Dragonfly Director Anne Ferguson. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
However, when Ferguson called, she found out the building was under agreement. Continuing to drive by it for days, she decided to call again. When she learned the previous agreement had fallen through, she bought the building right away.
Coming up on its 10-year anniversary, Dragonfly Wellness Center has not only become a space for all types of wellness services for both the body and mind, such as grief counseling and Zumba, but also a community center in many ways.
Ferguson said she tries to open up her space to everyone and even created a nonprofit to help with any client’s financial burden. When a professional dancer asked to rent out the space for her personal practice, Ferguson agreed, and now the dancer comes back to teach dance classes. Ferguson taught an afterschool program where kids played games and built fairy houses. In July, Drawbridge Puppet Theater will be using the space to put on “Little Red Riding Hood.”
Dragonfly’s grief counselor, Karen Campbell, said the wellness center is a very special place, not only because of the space and the people, but because of the name itself. She said the dragonfly is a symbol of the transition into the afterlife in Native American culture, so Campbell tried to incorporate the symbol into her hospice work.
Walking into the building, one is met with inviting rugs and pillows, an assortment of teas, and a “gratitude jar,” which people may fill with written messages on slips of paper. On one side lies a large studio used for weekly classes and workshops that include everything from dance and tai chi to yoga and sound baths. On the opposite side, are four office spaces that practitioners share. Some of Dragonfly’s many services include massage therapy, art therapy, and nutrition programs.
The main space at Dragonfly where group classes take place.
Ferguson said she allows the business to evolve in whatever ways people need. For example, she said after the pandemic, she saw a need for more services that people could “receive” such as Reiki, which is a healing technique involving the flow of energy.
Ferguson’s all-time favorite event at Dragonfly was a healing circle, which was their last event before closing for the pandemic. She said in the nursing world there is a concept known as “healing hands,” which is the idea of giving energy to your patient through your hands.
She set up a giant circle of chairs and invited 10 energy practitioners to participate, and people who were suffering in some way just poured in. She said the practitioners walked around the outside of the circle and did energy healing on each person for two minutes before moving on to the next. “It was so touching for all of us,” Ferguson said. “People were crying, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that was the best thing we’ve ever done.’ And that was the last thing that we did.”
Ferguson said Dragonfly has not fully recovered from the pandemic. As the business was almost entirely closed during COVID-19, when it started back up the business saw only 25% of the clients it had before the shutdown. While they have managed to get that number up to 40%, Dragonfly is still struggling to return to what they once were.
Anita Perry, yoga instructor at Dragonfly, said she wished people would take advantage of all the programs Dragonfly has to offer. “It’s very disheartening when we don’t have the attendance that we expect, but she [Ferguson] just keeps plugging along and is so upbeat and positive. Anne has been a beacon for wellness in the Devens area.”
Marley Smith is a student intern at the Press. She attends Northwestern University.
