Today I realize my position as one of the privileged class.
I’ve always been poor—in a way. I was taught by my relatives to think of myself this way. We never had much. We used things down to the last morsel of their usefulness, and often went without the “finer” things in life. We got boxes of food from the government and our church, went without Christmas toys on occasion. How is this privilege in America?
I did have plenty of intangible blessings that I am still realizing the full value of: a community that surrounded us on all sides, and let us know that we were in their prayers and that no matter what we would be fed, clothed, sheltered and educated. These were strong Mormon cultural values that guide me deeply to this day in ways I barely notice and some that I am trying desperately to shed.
My realization today that I am in fact part of the privileged class comes from a juxtaposition of two messages. I went to a lecture sponsored by AMSA (American Medical Student Association), regarding health literacy. It was a sobering reminder that nearly half the people in this country are functionally illiterate. The question asked was, how do we, as physicians, attempt to reach across the divide of our specialized 8, 9, 10+ years of higher education and $10,000 words to convey simple ways for people to follow our direction to achieve better health?
Now, an hour later, I sit and watch some college football and an IBM commercial comes on talking about the problem of water supply and the growing needs of an overburdened ecosystem. “Build a smarter planet” is the catchphrase…
Almost half the country is illiterate.
And this commercial touts a company’s ability to build a “smarter planet”?
It is this moment that I realize the special status that I have on this planet as an educated American who has a full belly and a few moments to catch a bit of football on Saturday night. I also realize the responsibility that I, and other members of my class have to managing the resources that this planet in its VAST—almost unfathomable—generosity gives to us.
We are the ones. WE have to take this power that we have been given in all the information that floats around us. Not to become cynical and apathetic about it, but use this time to reach out to see the rest of humanity and the struggles they endure just to live, and make it better, make it just.
We have arrived in our place of privilege on the backs of our ancestors who have enslaved, raped, pillaged, and very nearly used up the diversity and lush riches of this planet. Now it is time to use that position to bring some justice, equality and from those things—PEACE to the rest of the world.
And pray for those who have truly suffered, to forgive us for taking so long to do it.
A message from Rosemary.
Across the porch, she stares me down. Every time I wander out, to sit and take in the evening, chat with friends and neighbors on the swinging bench that sits outside my front door, there she is…flirting shamelessly with me. “Let’s get to know each other better” she taunts at me. After a little over a month of this behavior, I give in. Rosemary, I hear you and I do find you intriguing. Let’s see if the chemistry can become something good for me.
Rosemary possesses at least 24 antioxidants (compounds that consume free radicals) one of which is very powerful -romarinic acid. It also contains at least six compounds that prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine plays a crucial role in the transmission of impulses from one nerve fiber to another across synaptic junctions, making it potentially useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It can be most useful in this respect in combination with other Acetylcholine promoting or containing herbs such as nettles and Royal Jelly.
Rosemary is historically known as ‘the herb of remembrance’ suggesting its anti-senility and memory-enhancing activity. I have been spending my time in a brain aging time warp (aka naturopathic medical school), therefore I have decided to start brewing up a tincture batch, it should be ready to ingest just in time for finals week!
Rosemary has a variety of properties. It is antispasmodic, a cholagogue, an emmenagogue, a stimulant, a stomachic. The stimulant action of rosemary helps promote liver function, the production of bile, and proper digestion. Use her with wild abandon in cooking meals that might be heavy or complex, she could aid in your ability to better digest the food.
Rosemary has a general tonic effect on the circulation and the nervous system, especially the vascular nerves. It is especially useful in treatment of circulatory weakness, including hypotension. Rosemary should also be considered for older people with a weak circulation or due to overwork or weakening diseases such as influenza or pneumonia. Those who have just been taken down to the mat by the swine flu might consider including more rosemary in their gravy or bone broths to get back into shape.
CAUTION: excessive amounts of rosemary taken internally can cause fatal poisoning.
Reference:
[the complete botanical prescriber 3rd edition John A. Sherman, ND.]
[ herbal vade mecum, gazmend skenderi]
Castleman M. The Healing Herbs. New York: Bantam Books, 1991, 452–56.
Leung AY, Foster S. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Foods, Drugs ,and Cosmetics, 2d ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996, 446–48
Rosemary possesses at least 24 antioxidants (compounds that consume free radicals) one of which is very powerful -romarinic acid. It also contains at least six compounds that prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine plays a crucial role in the transmission of impulses from one nerve fiber to another across synaptic junctions, making it potentially useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It can be most useful in this respect in combination with other Acetylcholine promoting or containing herbs such as nettles and Royal Jelly.
Rosemary is historically known as ‘the herb of remembrance’ suggesting its anti-senility and memory-enhancing activity. I have been spending my time in a brain aging time warp (aka naturopathic medical school), therefore I have decided to start brewing up a tincture batch, it should be ready to ingest just in time for finals week!
Rosemary has a variety of properties. It is antispasmodic, a cholagogue, an emmenagogue, a stimulant, a stomachic. The stimulant action of rosemary helps promote liver function, the production of bile, and proper digestion. Use her with wild abandon in cooking meals that might be heavy or complex, she could aid in your ability to better digest the food.
Rosemary has a general tonic effect on the circulation and the nervous system, especially the vascular nerves. It is especially useful in treatment of circulatory weakness, including hypotension. Rosemary should also be considered for older people with a weak circulation or due to overwork or weakening diseases such as influenza or pneumonia. Those who have just been taken down to the mat by the swine flu might consider including more rosemary in their gravy or bone broths to get back into shape.
CAUTION: excessive amounts of rosemary taken internally can cause fatal poisoning.
Reference:
[the complete botanical prescriber 3rd edition John A. Sherman, ND.]
[ herbal vade mecum, gazmend skenderi]
Castleman M. The Healing Herbs. New York: Bantam Books, 1991, 452–56.
Leung AY, Foster S. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Foods, Drugs ,and Cosmetics, 2d ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996, 446–48
Health Care Town Hall
Due to a car accident on I-5 somewhere, Dr. Dean is an hour late. The meeting hall at PCC Cascade is slowly filling up. It’s hard to figure out who got selected to be at this meeting. About 75 protesters are being kept out. The people inside seem to be part of some unidentified political scene--perhaps the Multnomah County Democratic Party? Or Health Care Reformists? A couple of people I talk to define themselves as “political junkies”.
Many of the people gathered outside are with jobs with justice. I try to have a conversation with a couple of people, who are proselytizing about why there is no solution acceptable outside a single payer system. I am not buying their arguments. They keep regurgitating the same things they have written on their signs: "Corporate Profits out of Health Care.” I agree that there needs to be a complete overhaul and reform on the way corporations who are part of the health care delivery system are allowed to do business. HOWEVER, As someone working in health care, I also want to see access for every single person in America--NOW. The protesters come across as anti-corporate purists who will derail efforts that don’t give them EXACTLY what they want, which is a complete reinvention of American capitalism.
Inside, once the meeting starts, there are two speakers. The first is Judith -a person who is living with chronic disease. She requires more medical care than the average person, including a list of pharmaceuticals, all of which she has, in a pile for us to see on the podium. She has had many run-ins with insurance companies, fighting to get the care she requires with the ‘pre-existing condition’ that she has.
Somehow, she got lucky and won the lottery to be accepted into OHP. She works part time and earns just over the federal poverty level, so she will no longer be accepted to OHP. She is going to have to apply for disability benefits. Her self worth is a big question. Through all her appeal processes she has to maintain the idea that she is worth treatment. She thinks that she is worth keeping alive, but does the state? Do insurance companies? What give the insurance companies the right to determine if she is kept alive? We need a federal initiative to make this right.
The second speaker is Terry Mills, PCC nursing educator and President of the National Nursing Association. She argues that we have made some gains in modern medicine, but on balance, our health care system is SICK. It is not doing what it needs to, despite spending so much money. We are 29th in the world in infant mortality rates. We spend $1.3 trillion on preventable chronic disease.
Judith and Terry both state that they believe everyone in this room would like to see a single payer system in this country. In the same light, we must come together and make change happen. The urgency of NOW propels us forward on this. We have the power to make a change in health care now and we must do it despite the disappointment of not getting a single payer system.
Finally Earl Blumenauer is introduced, and he then introduces Dr. Howard Dean. As the two gentlemen exchange their admiration for each other’s work, the door at the back of the room opens for a second and the chanting voices of the protesters outside echo through the auditorium: “Single payer now!”
Highlights from Howard Dean’s speech:
There will be disagreements in this debate.
The recent election was all about people under the age of 35 and bipartisanship. However, health care should not be sacrificed on the altar of bipartisanship.
(Obama has said that if he gets 85% of what he wants with a bipartesian majority it would be preferred to getting 100% of what he wants with a 51% democrat-only passage).
The arguments for and against single payer are currently being re-framed.
We can’t have an economic system without health care.
Dr. Dean acknowledges the people outside shouting for single payer. There are people across the county who want that, but there are also many who want to keep what they have with their company or private insurance. There should be a choice: If you like what you have, you keep it; if you want single payer (medicare) you can choose that too. It is good that the protesters are out there making noise. We really have to drag this conversation as far to the left as possible, because the republicans and ‘blue-dog’ dems will drag it back to the right.
Insurance companies are going to be forced to change (part of the bill as introduced makes it illegal to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions as well as life-time limits on payouts) We have learned that the free market does not work in health care.
Highlights from Earl Blumenauer’s speech:
We will fail if we create false choices. (ie. the choice between single-payer and nothing).
The veterans administration has managed to do what we would like to see the rest of the health care in this country do: Things like negotiation of prescription prices, cost cutting and providing good care. Portland (with the community coalition of clinics) provides better outcomes for people with less money.
Q & A from the audience:
Q: Are you incorporating food safety into the bill on the floor?
A: We need to change the illness-based system to a wellness-based system. This involves a change in the American ideals. We do need to educate people about what the heck is in our food. As a doctor, Dr. Dean is concerned when the animals who provide meat need to be covered in antibiotics. We also need to encourage people to get a living will to stop sucking money out in the last few months of life. We are working on a way to pay doctors to sit down with patients and talk to them about death instead of ordering thousands of tests.
Blumenauer: The real value of food is not reflected in its cost. Why does a Twinkie which has a dozen highly processed ingredients cost less than a local organically grown carrot?
-He doesn’t really answer the question…there is a food safety bill currently getting mulled over and torn up in the congress… but it is not being linked to the health care bill, per se.
Q: What is being done about workforce development in all of this reform?
A: We need to kick things down the chain. Let nurse practitioners do the job they are trained to do. Etc. (this should include NDs –trained to be PCPs).
We also need to eliminate the fee-for-service model.
How do we help the field of primary care, we should start by making sure that medical students don’t leave school with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. We need to incentivize vertical care models such as Kaiser. The way the system is currently set up hospitals will see the prevention of major surgery as a loss to their bottom line.
Doctors are not paid to listen to patients and plan for their wellness and death with dignity. They are trained and paid to perform procedures on them. This is the way capitalism interacts with health care.
We need to reverse that.
We have to change the financing system of health care first, then work on health care reform.
-When we have people in the ‘business’ of health care , investing in things that are not on board with creating a well society, the system is stacked against itself. Legislation can control and reverse this situation, and it should.
There were some suggestions for the people in the room to connect to a network, start sending articles, educating people, have house parties, raise the temperature.
2009 is the year for this reform to happen.
Quiet conversations can have a big effect.
Ron Wyden? Where are you on this? Will you pass the reform? Dr. Dean and Mr. Blumenauer encourage people to contact Mr. Wyden’s office to get his support. We need Ron to get right with the idea of getting the legislation passed to get everyone covered. He will respond to his constituents.
The focused message here is: There must be a public health opinion.
Many of the people gathered outside are with jobs with justice. I try to have a conversation with a couple of people, who are proselytizing about why there is no solution acceptable outside a single payer system. I am not buying their arguments. They keep regurgitating the same things they have written on their signs: "Corporate Profits out of Health Care.” I agree that there needs to be a complete overhaul and reform on the way corporations who are part of the health care delivery system are allowed to do business. HOWEVER, As someone working in health care, I also want to see access for every single person in America--NOW. The protesters come across as anti-corporate purists who will derail efforts that don’t give them EXACTLY what they want, which is a complete reinvention of American capitalism.
Inside, once the meeting starts, there are two speakers. The first is Judith -a person who is living with chronic disease. She requires more medical care than the average person, including a list of pharmaceuticals, all of which she has, in a pile for us to see on the podium. She has had many run-ins with insurance companies, fighting to get the care she requires with the ‘pre-existing condition’ that she has.
Somehow, she got lucky and won the lottery to be accepted into OHP. She works part time and earns just over the federal poverty level, so she will no longer be accepted to OHP. She is going to have to apply for disability benefits. Her self worth is a big question. Through all her appeal processes she has to maintain the idea that she is worth treatment. She thinks that she is worth keeping alive, but does the state? Do insurance companies? What give the insurance companies the right to determine if she is kept alive? We need a federal initiative to make this right.
The second speaker is Terry Mills, PCC nursing educator and President of the National Nursing Association. She argues that we have made some gains in modern medicine, but on balance, our health care system is SICK. It is not doing what it needs to, despite spending so much money. We are 29th in the world in infant mortality rates. We spend $1.3 trillion on preventable chronic disease.
Judith and Terry both state that they believe everyone in this room would like to see a single payer system in this country. In the same light, we must come together and make change happen. The urgency of NOW propels us forward on this. We have the power to make a change in health care now and we must do it despite the disappointment of not getting a single payer system.
Finally Earl Blumenauer is introduced, and he then introduces Dr. Howard Dean. As the two gentlemen exchange their admiration for each other’s work, the door at the back of the room opens for a second and the chanting voices of the protesters outside echo through the auditorium: “Single payer now!”
Highlights from Howard Dean’s speech:
There will be disagreements in this debate.
The recent election was all about people under the age of 35 and bipartisanship. However, health care should not be sacrificed on the altar of bipartisanship.
(Obama has said that if he gets 85% of what he wants with a bipartesian majority it would be preferred to getting 100% of what he wants with a 51% democrat-only passage).
The arguments for and against single payer are currently being re-framed.
We can’t have an economic system without health care.
Dr. Dean acknowledges the people outside shouting for single payer. There are people across the county who want that, but there are also many who want to keep what they have with their company or private insurance. There should be a choice: If you like what you have, you keep it; if you want single payer (medicare) you can choose that too. It is good that the protesters are out there making noise. We really have to drag this conversation as far to the left as possible, because the republicans and ‘blue-dog’ dems will drag it back to the right.
Insurance companies are going to be forced to change (part of the bill as introduced makes it illegal to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions as well as life-time limits on payouts) We have learned that the free market does not work in health care.
Highlights from Earl Blumenauer’s speech:
We will fail if we create false choices. (ie. the choice between single-payer and nothing).
The veterans administration has managed to do what we would like to see the rest of the health care in this country do: Things like negotiation of prescription prices, cost cutting and providing good care. Portland (with the community coalition of clinics) provides better outcomes for people with less money.
Q & A from the audience:
Q: Are you incorporating food safety into the bill on the floor?
A: We need to change the illness-based system to a wellness-based system. This involves a change in the American ideals. We do need to educate people about what the heck is in our food. As a doctor, Dr. Dean is concerned when the animals who provide meat need to be covered in antibiotics. We also need to encourage people to get a living will to stop sucking money out in the last few months of life. We are working on a way to pay doctors to sit down with patients and talk to them about death instead of ordering thousands of tests.
Blumenauer: The real value of food is not reflected in its cost. Why does a Twinkie which has a dozen highly processed ingredients cost less than a local organically grown carrot?
-He doesn’t really answer the question…there is a food safety bill currently getting mulled over and torn up in the congress… but it is not being linked to the health care bill, per se.
Q: What is being done about workforce development in all of this reform?
A: We need to kick things down the chain. Let nurse practitioners do the job they are trained to do. Etc. (this should include NDs –trained to be PCPs).
We also need to eliminate the fee-for-service model.
How do we help the field of primary care, we should start by making sure that medical students don’t leave school with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. We need to incentivize vertical care models such as Kaiser. The way the system is currently set up hospitals will see the prevention of major surgery as a loss to their bottom line.
Doctors are not paid to listen to patients and plan for their wellness and death with dignity. They are trained and paid to perform procedures on them. This is the way capitalism interacts with health care.
We need to reverse that.
We have to change the financing system of health care first, then work on health care reform.
-When we have people in the ‘business’ of health care , investing in things that are not on board with creating a well society, the system is stacked against itself. Legislation can control and reverse this situation, and it should.
There were some suggestions for the people in the room to connect to a network, start sending articles, educating people, have house parties, raise the temperature.
2009 is the year for this reform to happen.
Quiet conversations can have a big effect.
Ron Wyden? Where are you on this? Will you pass the reform? Dr. Dean and Mr. Blumenauer encourage people to contact Mr. Wyden’s office to get his support. We need Ron to get right with the idea of getting the legislation passed to get everyone covered. He will respond to his constituents.
The focused message here is: There must be a public health opinion.
Prescription for the Planet
This year I was lucky enough to be chosen by Student PSR for a travel scholarship to attend the annual national conference in NYC at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The theme for this years event was “Prescription for a Healthy and Secure Planet”.
The conference featured medical, public health, environment and security experts. Keynote speakers, plenary sessions, and workshops, as well as a performance of Damaged Care-The Musical Comedy about Health Care in America and the film "Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives".
Spring break was hard to give up, but for three days I soaked up the words of many inspired speakers –people who give a damn and then DO something concrete about issues of Environmental Health Justice and Nuclear non-proliferation. I came back ready to reinvigorate the sPSR chapter at NCNM and hopeful about the direction that national politics are headed.
Some highlights from two of the presentations I attended. (I’ll try to post the rest soon)
Talk: Back from the Brink.
Speaker: Ira Shorr- national field director for PSR.
Considering the topic of nuclear disaster, prevention is the only cure.
PSR as an organization- We are about changing direction. Right now.
*Chinese saying “if you don’t change direction, you are likely to end up where you are headed”
There is a global health crisis coming at us as a result of global warming. We need to determine what the role of the physician is in determining the need to prevent by changing course.
Coal-is currently the biggest pollutant, but nuclear-is not the answer. The cost of nuclear power is too high.
Use your physician voice, advocate for global preventive medicine.
Speaker: Peggy Shepard “WeACT”
WeACT is New York City’s First environmental justice organization, it is community based in partnership with Columbia University. They take action on transportation, air pollution, land use, etc.
WeACT envisions a world where everyone has access to clean air and water. A framework of health status in relation to socio-economic status helps to determine priorities. Improvements in treatments are too late in the trajectory of health disparities. The community and build environment –affect health through; access to nutrition, transportation, health care as well as other factors such as; ready access to cigarettes, alcohol and fast foods. People are marginalized and there is a lack of participation by residents to democratic processes and any ‘green’ living situation.
Residents must be encouraged to participate. Clinicians can work more effectively by empowering residents with training and information.
WeACT has waged an18 year campaign ‘clean air, clean fuel, clean health.’ To sustain motivation for that time, they focused on seeing small victories and got the community totally empowered on the one issue of a stronger lead poison bill. Victories in that arena have carried over to the other issues.
A lack of scientific literacy has really been a problem this is where we have the opportunity to empower people. Engage the youth. Taught by researchers to give quizzes to understand where exposure is coming from. Collect the data through the youth. Engage technicians in the fields that are affected. What are people being exposed to? Answer these questions with partners from the community. High levels of involvement from the community in the collection of the data can be more effective in the ultimate goal of passing the legislation. When people get confused they feel that they can do nothing at all.
We must find ways to translate the research findings.
-Looking at pesticide exposure at home. They documented widespread exposure that had led to low birth weight and developmental delays in 1/3 of those surveyed. Legislation was subsequently passed.
-Diesel fuel has been documented as a carcinogen. Research was done in the community by giving people back-pack monitors. They found that school buses are the dirtiest vehicles on the road and that older buses are more dangerous. The City council passed a law that will retro-fit.
There needs to be a clear dialog between researchers and clinicians. When clinicians and researchers live in another area besides the one they work in -what kinds of things will they overlook? Taking clinicians on a toxic tour of the area that residents live in so that they have some understanding.
In allowing permits for polluting facilities, the health of the community should be a key indicator. Cap and trade is not the way to go, it is not going to build healthier communities. Trade sets up the situation where a dirty facility can continue to pollute a poor community.
We must educate ourselves, and our profession about what these things mean.
The conference featured medical, public health, environment and security experts. Keynote speakers, plenary sessions, and workshops, as well as a performance of Damaged Care-The Musical Comedy about Health Care in America and the film "Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives".
Spring break was hard to give up, but for three days I soaked up the words of many inspired speakers –people who give a damn and then DO something concrete about issues of Environmental Health Justice and Nuclear non-proliferation. I came back ready to reinvigorate the sPSR chapter at NCNM and hopeful about the direction that national politics are headed.
Some highlights from two of the presentations I attended. (I’ll try to post the rest soon)
Talk: Back from the Brink.
Speaker: Ira Shorr- national field director for PSR.
Considering the topic of nuclear disaster, prevention is the only cure.
PSR as an organization- We are about changing direction. Right now.
*Chinese saying “if you don’t change direction, you are likely to end up where you are headed”
There is a global health crisis coming at us as a result of global warming. We need to determine what the role of the physician is in determining the need to prevent by changing course.
Coal-is currently the biggest pollutant, but nuclear-is not the answer. The cost of nuclear power is too high.
Use your physician voice, advocate for global preventive medicine.
Speaker: Peggy Shepard “WeACT”
WeACT is New York City’s First environmental justice organization, it is community based in partnership with Columbia University. They take action on transportation, air pollution, land use, etc.
WeACT envisions a world where everyone has access to clean air and water. A framework of health status in relation to socio-economic status helps to determine priorities. Improvements in treatments are too late in the trajectory of health disparities. The community and build environment –affect health through; access to nutrition, transportation, health care as well as other factors such as; ready access to cigarettes, alcohol and fast foods. People are marginalized and there is a lack of participation by residents to democratic processes and any ‘green’ living situation.
Residents must be encouraged to participate. Clinicians can work more effectively by empowering residents with training and information.
WeACT has waged an18 year campaign ‘clean air, clean fuel, clean health.’ To sustain motivation for that time, they focused on seeing small victories and got the community totally empowered on the one issue of a stronger lead poison bill. Victories in that arena have carried over to the other issues.
A lack of scientific literacy has really been a problem this is where we have the opportunity to empower people. Engage the youth. Taught by researchers to give quizzes to understand where exposure is coming from. Collect the data through the youth. Engage technicians in the fields that are affected. What are people being exposed to? Answer these questions with partners from the community. High levels of involvement from the community in the collection of the data can be more effective in the ultimate goal of passing the legislation. When people get confused they feel that they can do nothing at all.
We must find ways to translate the research findings.
-Looking at pesticide exposure at home. They documented widespread exposure that had led to low birth weight and developmental delays in 1/3 of those surveyed. Legislation was subsequently passed.
-Diesel fuel has been documented as a carcinogen. Research was done in the community by giving people back-pack monitors. They found that school buses are the dirtiest vehicles on the road and that older buses are more dangerous. The City council passed a law that will retro-fit.
There needs to be a clear dialog between researchers and clinicians. When clinicians and researchers live in another area besides the one they work in -what kinds of things will they overlook? Taking clinicians on a toxic tour of the area that residents live in so that they have some understanding.
In allowing permits for polluting facilities, the health of the community should be a key indicator. Cap and trade is not the way to go, it is not going to build healthier communities. Trade sets up the situation where a dirty facility can continue to pollute a poor community.
We must educate ourselves, and our profession about what these things mean.
The New Strategy
Capital Hill is abuzz with testimonies, condensing political will and big ideas on how to fix THE 'Health Care Crisis' in America.
http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_02_26/2009_02_26.html
In a mass email message from Mark Hyman, MD who will be testifying at the listed senate hearing
"This new paradigm is personalized, preventive, participatory, predictive, prospective, and patient centered."
In other words, this new paradigm is Naturopathic!
http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_02_26/2009_02_26.html
In a mass email message from Mark Hyman, MD who will be testifying at the listed senate hearing
"This new paradigm is personalized, preventive, participatory, predictive, prospective, and patient centered."
In other words, this new paradigm is Naturopathic!
8 Ways to be a Healer
The Annals of Internal Medicine has published an article of original research by Larry R. Churchill, PhD, and David Schenck, PhD
entitled "Healing Skills for Medical Practice"
(18 November 2008 | Volume 149 Issue 10 | Pages 720-724)
"Eight skills emerged as pivotal from the transcripts of these interviews:
~do the little things;
~take time;
~be open and listen;
~find something to like, to love;
~remove barriers;
~let the patient explain;
~share authority;
~be committed.
Mastery of these skills would provide enduring improvements in patient care and reaffirm medicine's calling as a healing profession.
Cost of use of these highly evolved techniques=priceless.
Mushroom Madness
The week of midterms is over and I am ready to have some real experience in the world around me and to relax, to be outside and get some nature cure in my life. The annual mushroom conference at Breitenbush is the perfect prescription.
We sleep in till 8 am, such a luxury! The air is crisp and after a filling breakfast we hurry to find a group to head out with. Dr. Tom Volk becomes our guide—he’s an interesting looking fellow from Wisconsin with shaggy bleached hair with blue streaks. He has been doing this trip for years and his lecture later this evening is highly anticipated.
Our group of ten drives to a little patch of old growth forest about 4 miles up the mountain from the hot spring. With very little introduction everyone spreads out into the forest. There are only two of us that have never done this sort of thing before. Experienced amateur mycologists are the majority of the participants at this conference. I tag alng with Dr. Volk and another mycology professor. They have an unstated mission in their minds: To find the exotic species. They are looking for those particular organisms that are only found in this very specially preserved ecosystem of the old growth temperate Pacific Northwest rain forest. I can feel their excitement and I am beginning to see the fungus all around us. The forest floor is littered with hundreds of species of mycorhizzal fruit. For the past decade, I have walked these old growth trails with as much regularity as I have been able to muster yet I never fully saw the abundance and diversity right under my feet. I have noticed the great variety of mushrooms but I have always integrated that into the larger experience of the forest. The native berries, the great giant trees, the native medicinal plants—these all distract my attention from the simple fact that there are worlds of living things in the magical layer of earth that is woven together by the fungus.
For the first two hours, we discover dozens of unique and lovely kinds of mushrooms. I don’t know any of them from each other and feel free to just observe their unique shapes, colors, smells and what I perceive as personality. They all seem interesting to me. I haven’t learned how to discard the useless and common ones yet.
The most important role of these organisms is of course that they break down and help recycle nutrients from the dead and dying to be reused by the new life. In Chinese medicine there is a long history of using mushrooms medicinally. Species such as cordyceps, reishi, and shiitake are well researched for their medicinal utility.
Mushrooms are a healthy food that is low in calories and fat, but high in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Mushrooms also have antioxidant properties, can be hypocholesterolemic, hypoglycemic, prebiotic, hypotensive and hepatoprotective. Beta glucans, the major structural component of fungal cell walls has been found to stimulate both the innate and adaptive immunity of the host. They have a range of antitumor activies, such as stimulation of cytokine production. Some research shows a direct immunomodulatory and anti-tumor effect. (Mushrooms as Functional Foods, Cheung -2008)
We have some local species of medicinal mushrooms....more on those, Paul Staments and the excellent foraged meal I made next time...
Changes.
http://change.gov/agenda/healthcare/
Dear Mr. President Elect,
I would like to see a wellness platform in your health care vision for America.
What that means basically, is that HOLISTIC primary care focused on peak family wellness is the top priority in shaping policy for research as well as services.
In that spirit, I invite you to investigate the simple and elegant ideals of Naturopathic medicine.
First, do no harm; provide the most effective health care available with the least risk to patients at all times (Primum Non Nocere).
Recognize, respect and promote the self-healing power of nature inherent in each individual human being. (Vis Medicatrix Naturae).
Identify and remove the causes of illness, rather than eliminate or suppress symptoms (Tolle Causum).
Educate, inspire rational hope and encourage self-responsibility for health (Doctor as Teacher).
Treat each person by considering all individual health factors and influences. (Treat the Whole Person).
Emphasize the condition of health to promote well-being and to prevent diseases for the individual, each community and our world (Health Promotion, the Best Prevention).
Thank you for taking the time to read and comprehend the best of the ideas that people all across this country are now sending you.
Good luck.
Warmly,
Tineke Malus
Dear Mr. President Elect,
I would like to see a wellness platform in your health care vision for America.
What that means basically, is that HOLISTIC primary care focused on peak family wellness is the top priority in shaping policy for research as well as services.
In that spirit, I invite you to investigate the simple and elegant ideals of Naturopathic medicine.
First, do no harm; provide the most effective health care available with the least risk to patients at all times (Primum Non Nocere).
Recognize, respect and promote the self-healing power of nature inherent in each individual human being. (Vis Medicatrix Naturae).
Identify and remove the causes of illness, rather than eliminate or suppress symptoms (Tolle Causum).
Educate, inspire rational hope and encourage self-responsibility for health (Doctor as Teacher).
Treat each person by considering all individual health factors and influences. (Treat the Whole Person).
Emphasize the condition of health to promote well-being and to prevent diseases for the individual, each community and our world (Health Promotion, the Best Prevention).
Thank you for taking the time to read and comprehend the best of the ideas that people all across this country are now sending you.
Good luck.
Warmly,
Tineke Malus
Healthy People
The department of Health and Human Services has meet each decade since 1979 to set forth a published document that creates a set of national public health objectives. This is known as Healthy People and these objectives are targeted to a variety of audiences such as health care agencies, policy makers, states, educational institutions and the general public. A draft document for Healthy People 2020 has been created by a technical expert panel (TEP) and ‘the public’. This document was released and a public comment period has ensued. By attending the regional meeting to participate in the public comment period was my objective.
Topic Areas to organize the objectives are:
1. Physical activity
2. Nutrition
3. Tobacco use
4. Alcohol and substance abuse
5. Sexual and reproductive health
6. Mental health
7. Injury and violence prevention
8. Occupational safety and health
9. Environmental health
10. Oral health
11. Emerging issues
12. Preventative services (by life stages)
The guidelines require topic area networks to consider four issues that cut across topic areas:
1. Strengthening public health infrastructure
2. Taking an ecological approach to health promotion
3. Eliminating health disparities
4. Promoting health throughout life stages.
Some important points to consider
‘National data is not sufficient for driving health policy” –Richard Klein
A users panel was introduced and given time to introduce the ideas of this program.
Speaker -Vincent Phillete
-Bio-Psych-Social is involved. We are gathered to make a proposal. The ‘Framingham study’ WWII showed us how behavior is a factor in health. The most commonly sold street drug is methamphetamine. Amphetamine was the most potent known anti-depressant until the 1940’s. Is there a connection? Why do people self-medicate in this way? Traumatic life experiences- concealed by shame and a society that does not politely talk about those things. The GOAL of all public health work? To promote optimum development of ALL the nation’s children.
Speaker- Linette Scott
Dept. of Public Health in California
-costs of chronic disease and emergency preparedness
using the objectives of HPHP2010 as a focal point for future funding. Grant applications –use the objectives of having a shared target to make comparisons with on measures of progress.
Solutions and root causes –we must bridge the gap between them.
The biggest thing missing in HP2010 is how to deal with ‘emergencies’ and ‘emerging’ or ‘reemerging’ diseases. Preparedness needs to be a part of the conversation.
The hands on level is at the county and other local jurisdictions. At the state it is all about the funding priorities. Funding streams are divided up
-risk factors
-infrastructure
-environment
health IT is crucial to making sense of these elements and make better use of the data. GOALS for department surfacing in 2020. Equality in the workforce. Business –professionalization- hiring the ‘best’ people. Workforce development and training.
Speaker -Linda Bailey
Quit line consortium (phoenix)
Telephone based counseling services to help people stop smoking.
-data sets -how to be effective in this effort
-best practices
20% of those served
Challenges –behavioral services as a part of health care (reimbursement?)
How to integrate with services that we partner with. Community based.
Letting people know how to access –excess objectives?-
We need a small set that we can ALL get behind.
We need to mature HPHP in a healthy way
Health care system change
Insurance –electronic medical records
Surveillance- feds have to be accountable (data tracking)
Process –technology create virtual communities that allow for more check-in than once a decade.
Speaker -Jude VanB
Epidem. Pub. Health
We stretch and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. People (in the government) want to know what you are producing with the money they give you in funding. Tracking the changes that are being made making realistic steps things that can happen. Infection rate reporting. –required in many states. People want you to show WHY this is happening and what is being done about it.
How to keep essential programs is the question. Report cards. –comparing the accomplishments to the goals. Accountability with the government is targeted/demanded. But it is VERY difficult to ‘control’ things –like obesity- but the squeeze has helped.
If you don’t have a vision you can’t get there.
Public health is doing a good job, but how do we show that? We can’t count bodies.
But there is a set of measurements to use. State level data is needed. Engaging the public health community –young people –out of the box, fresh thinkers to get us there.
Q&A
-What can be done about the perverse incentives for health care? –prevention programs run by hospitals end up costing them a loss of revenue and get cancelled. Panel thoughts are that business leads the way to get out of this. BIRD –CEO of Safeway has workforce issues with making the investment per employee. What is the initiative how much education is required in medical schools? There needs to be more outreach and looking at small victories along the way to getting these grand goals met.
-inherently what we do in public health is create partnerships
-evidence based practice in prevention/pubic health sphere is lacking –this is a problem-
we need more data collection to create best practice development.
Public comments:
Each person who signed up to speak was given three minutes to do so. Some people came as a part of an organized effort. Some people seemed to have just wandered in and said whatever came to mind. It was an interesting session. If anyone is interested, contact me and I will send you the full list of topics that were brought up in this session. After this comment period, we went into smaller themed breakout sessions to do some brainstorming on the method for handling these big topic areas more effectively.
The take home message for me was that the broad goals of our national public health institution, centered on prevention, environment, and lifestyle are all things that are a reflection of naturopathic principles and that ND’s are leading the way in terms of developing specific models reflecting these principles. So really, we should be applying for and getting all the public health R&D, as well as program money that is out there.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/data2010
www.cdc.gov/nchs/hphome
Topic Areas to organize the objectives are:
1. Physical activity
2. Nutrition
3. Tobacco use
4. Alcohol and substance abuse
5. Sexual and reproductive health
6. Mental health
7. Injury and violence prevention
8. Occupational safety and health
9. Environmental health
10. Oral health
11. Emerging issues
12. Preventative services (by life stages)
The guidelines require topic area networks to consider four issues that cut across topic areas:
1. Strengthening public health infrastructure
2. Taking an ecological approach to health promotion
3. Eliminating health disparities
4. Promoting health throughout life stages.
Some important points to consider
‘National data is not sufficient for driving health policy” –Richard Klein
A users panel was introduced and given time to introduce the ideas of this program.
Speaker -Vincent Phillete
-Bio-Psych-Social is involved. We are gathered to make a proposal. The ‘Framingham study’ WWII showed us how behavior is a factor in health. The most commonly sold street drug is methamphetamine. Amphetamine was the most potent known anti-depressant until the 1940’s. Is there a connection? Why do people self-medicate in this way? Traumatic life experiences- concealed by shame and a society that does not politely talk about those things. The GOAL of all public health work? To promote optimum development of ALL the nation’s children.
Speaker- Linette Scott
Dept. of Public Health in California
-costs of chronic disease and emergency preparedness
using the objectives of HPHP2010 as a focal point for future funding. Grant applications –use the objectives of having a shared target to make comparisons with on measures of progress.
Solutions and root causes –we must bridge the gap between them.
The biggest thing missing in HP2010 is how to deal with ‘emergencies’ and ‘emerging’ or ‘reemerging’ diseases. Preparedness needs to be a part of the conversation.
The hands on level is at the county and other local jurisdictions. At the state it is all about the funding priorities. Funding streams are divided up
-risk factors
-infrastructure
-environment
health IT is crucial to making sense of these elements and make better use of the data. GOALS for department surfacing in 2020. Equality in the workforce. Business –professionalization- hiring the ‘best’ people. Workforce development and training.
Speaker -Linda Bailey
Quit line consortium (phoenix)
Telephone based counseling services to help people stop smoking.
-data sets -how to be effective in this effort
-best practices
20% of those served
Challenges –behavioral services as a part of health care (reimbursement?)
How to integrate with services that we partner with. Community based.
Letting people know how to access –excess objectives?-
We need a small set that we can ALL get behind.
We need to mature HPHP in a healthy way
Health care system change
Insurance –electronic medical records
Surveillance- feds have to be accountable (data tracking)
Process –technology create virtual communities that allow for more check-in than once a decade.
Speaker -Jude VanB
Epidem. Pub. Health
We stretch and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. People (in the government) want to know what you are producing with the money they give you in funding. Tracking the changes that are being made making realistic steps things that can happen. Infection rate reporting. –required in many states. People want you to show WHY this is happening and what is being done about it.
How to keep essential programs is the question. Report cards. –comparing the accomplishments to the goals. Accountability with the government is targeted/demanded. But it is VERY difficult to ‘control’ things –like obesity- but the squeeze has helped.
If you don’t have a vision you can’t get there.
Public health is doing a good job, but how do we show that? We can’t count bodies.
But there is a set of measurements to use. State level data is needed. Engaging the public health community –young people –out of the box, fresh thinkers to get us there.
Q&A
-What can be done about the perverse incentives for health care? –prevention programs run by hospitals end up costing them a loss of revenue and get cancelled. Panel thoughts are that business leads the way to get out of this. BIRD –CEO of Safeway has workforce issues with making the investment per employee. What is the initiative how much education is required in medical schools? There needs to be more outreach and looking at small victories along the way to getting these grand goals met.
-inherently what we do in public health is create partnerships
-evidence based practice in prevention/pubic health sphere is lacking –this is a problem-
we need more data collection to create best practice development.
Public comments:
Each person who signed up to speak was given three minutes to do so. Some people came as a part of an organized effort. Some people seemed to have just wandered in and said whatever came to mind. It was an interesting session. If anyone is interested, contact me and I will send you the full list of topics that were brought up in this session. After this comment period, we went into smaller themed breakout sessions to do some brainstorming on the method for handling these big topic areas more effectively.
The take home message for me was that the broad goals of our national public health institution, centered on prevention, environment, and lifestyle are all things that are a reflection of naturopathic principles and that ND’s are leading the way in terms of developing specific models reflecting these principles. So really, we should be applying for and getting all the public health R&D, as well as program money that is out there.
http://wonder.cdc.gov/data2010
www.cdc.gov/nchs/hphome
Research Recap
A few studies from this week that caught my attention.
Hawthorne and Heart Failure. Evidence based treatment recommendations from the Cochrane group on the use of crataegus sp.
AK-Clinically valuable?. A literature review is inconclusive. More study of this method is urgently needed.
Pod Cast Review -Part 1
I ride the bus to school. This trip, which is exactly 6.4 miles according to Google maps, takes about 1 solid hour each way. This is frequently not a time that I can do much of anything but sit, watch the city go by and listen to my pod casts. It is a time that is, while sometimes aggravating to someone as busy as I am, an opportunity to listen to some amazing programs.
I have searched itunes numerous times over the years looking for various things that interest me. I have found that the choices just seem to be increasing exponentially, while the quality is increasing as well, but at a somewhat slower pace.
There have been a few in the various branches of medicine and public health fields that have made ventures into pod casting and some who have taken it to a high level. Information on various topics is geared to the layperson as well as the highly trained professional.
This is part one of a series in reviewing some of the programs that in my estimation have floated to the top of the pot.
The Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity is a research and public policy organization that does a really great job of connecting the dots of how food, eating, marketing, and sustainability all fit together to create complex and not very healthy food policies in the U.S. There are several episodes that feature physicians from the Yale medical group. These pod casts are low on gimmicks, but are arranged around specific issues.
Nature Cures Health Clinic Health Chat is a podcast that comes out approximately twice a month (not enough!) and is based on review of the naturopathic perspective on a specific condition. This is one of my absolute favorites because it is so directly related to the subject I want to know everything about. The sound quality is unfortunately not the best sometimes (it seems to come through on only one side) but the conversation that unfolds between the two clinic doctors Dr. G. Eckel and Dr. G. Nigh regarding the holistic understanding of a disease and treatment is extremely valuable and enjoyable.
In Evidence We Trust
Measuring vs. Knowing
Where does evidence-based care take us?
The evidence--which is a huge body of information-- is so inconclusive, it seems that nothing we can do will be supported or denied by the literature to an extent that satisfies our insurance companies.
This is the essence of the health care crisis that we are all in.
Who decides who needs what?
The people who have the power and the money, (ie. The insurance companies and the government) don’t have much trust in the people who have the training and know how (ie. Physicians) to deliver what is needed in terms of care.
How did this happen? We don’t really need some disembodied formula that will be easily read by all telling us what should be done in any given medical care situation. This does seem to be what evidence based care is after, that magic formula that is supposed to arise out of the meta-analysis of decades of diligent RCTs.
The scientific method and the art of medicine have not always seen things eye to eye. There is a complexity in the human body, it’s response and relationship to the human mind, that science has not been able to adequately address.
Medicine has been struggling with establishing standards of care and professionalism in the modern age. People want assurance that their doctor is not a quack. The expectation seems to be perfection and an ability to know everything about the body. Sorry, but that isn’t possible so far.
We just are not spending enough time getting the question right. The disenfranchised clinician doesn’t seem to care or see the need to be invested in this disembodied process of finding out what is supported by the process of science. This is because medicine as a science is stuck in the last century. So then how do we make a decision? We –physicians-and our patients, cannot wait for research to tell us what needs to be done. Instinct and intuition must be cultivated to be an effective clinician. Research supports this idea.
“The notion of imitating whole natural systems stand in stark opposition to reductionist science, which works by breaking such systems down into their component parts in order to understand and then manipulate them…….A healthy sense of all we don’t know –even a sense of mystery—keeps us from reaching for oversimplifications and technological silver bullets”. Micheal Pollan
Where does evidence-based care take us?
The evidence--which is a huge body of information-- is so inconclusive, it seems that nothing we can do will be supported or denied by the literature to an extent that satisfies our insurance companies.
This is the essence of the health care crisis that we are all in.
Who decides who needs what?
The people who have the power and the money, (ie. The insurance companies and the government) don’t have much trust in the people who have the training and know how (ie. Physicians) to deliver what is needed in terms of care.
How did this happen? We don’t really need some disembodied formula that will be easily read by all telling us what should be done in any given medical care situation. This does seem to be what evidence based care is after, that magic formula that is supposed to arise out of the meta-analysis of decades of diligent RCTs.
The scientific method and the art of medicine have not always seen things eye to eye. There is a complexity in the human body, it’s response and relationship to the human mind, that science has not been able to adequately address.
Medicine has been struggling with establishing standards of care and professionalism in the modern age. People want assurance that their doctor is not a quack. The expectation seems to be perfection and an ability to know everything about the body. Sorry, but that isn’t possible so far.
We just are not spending enough time getting the question right. The disenfranchised clinician doesn’t seem to care or see the need to be invested in this disembodied process of finding out what is supported by the process of science. This is because medicine as a science is stuck in the last century. So then how do we make a decision? We –physicians-and our patients, cannot wait for research to tell us what needs to be done. Instinct and intuition must be cultivated to be an effective clinician. Research supports this idea.
“The notion of imitating whole natural systems stand in stark opposition to reductionist science, which works by breaking such systems down into their component parts in order to understand and then manipulate them…….A healthy sense of all we don’t know –even a sense of mystery—keeps us from reaching for oversimplifications and technological silver bullets”. Micheal Pollan
GARLIC!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3344325.stm
"Dr Ron Cutler and his team discovered the effectiveness of allicin in laboratory tests five years ago.
They found it can cure MRSA within weeks.
It is even effective against the newer strains which cannot be treated by the "last line of defence" antibiotics Vancomycin and Glycopeptides."
Stay tuned as the modern medical research world catches up to what we have known clinically since the pyramids were built.
Absence of Evidence
The IOM --Institute Of Medicine-- just released the results of a meta-analysis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder -PTSD-.
After searching thousands of studies and weeding out the severely flawed ones, the committee eventually reviewed 90 of them (53 pharmaceutical treatments and 37 psychotherapy treatments) and concluded that there is not good enough evidence to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of most treatments.
The question of design in the case of these studies is extremely important and it illustrates a major point about the way we collect data.
PTSD-ICD-9 code=309.81
Patients that are given this diagnosis are eligible to be studied as a group. The trouble here is that there is HUGE variation in what these people are presenting with. The underlying strengths and weaknesses of people, their health, their IQ, their social and cultural structure, before they experience any trauma, has a big role in the degree and type of symptoms they experience.
For many, diagnoses of anxiety, depression, personality disorder, and other psychiatric issues could be applied to their symptom picture just as well. Naturopathic treatments should be designed to treat the individual, not just certain symptoms. So these designation don't really count for what we should be focusing on.
The traumatic event is a trigger; most people have some type of response to that trigger. Physically we don't even have a definition of what happens during a traumatic event that may later lead to PTSD. What a persons response is, physically, as well as emotionally varies. We need to find out what the range of this variation is, and stop looking for a magic bullet. Treatment that is powerfully effective and long lasting DOES exist. People who are experience this reality and have good support that continue to struggle and experiment with various therapies often eventually get better.
We need to re-think the basic design of this research and test specific treatments based on the actual experience and issues that individuals are dealing with rather than ...309.81. otherwise we will never find it.
After searching thousands of studies and weeding out the severely flawed ones, the committee eventually reviewed 90 of them (53 pharmaceutical treatments and 37 psychotherapy treatments) and concluded that there is not good enough evidence to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of most treatments.
The question of design in the case of these studies is extremely important and it illustrates a major point about the way we collect data.
PTSD-ICD-9 code=309.81
Patients that are given this diagnosis are eligible to be studied as a group. The trouble here is that there is HUGE variation in what these people are presenting with. The underlying strengths and weaknesses of people, their health, their IQ, their social and cultural structure, before they experience any trauma, has a big role in the degree and type of symptoms they experience.
For many, diagnoses of anxiety, depression, personality disorder, and other psychiatric issues could be applied to their symptom picture just as well. Naturopathic treatments should be designed to treat the individual, not just certain symptoms. So these designation don't really count for what we should be focusing on.
The traumatic event is a trigger; most people have some type of response to that trigger. Physically we don't even have a definition of what happens during a traumatic event that may later lead to PTSD. What a persons response is, physically, as well as emotionally varies. We need to find out what the range of this variation is, and stop looking for a magic bullet. Treatment that is powerfully effective and long lasting DOES exist. People who are experience this reality and have good support that continue to struggle and experiment with various therapies often eventually get better.
We need to re-think the basic design of this research and test specific treatments based on the actual experience and issues that individuals are dealing with rather than ...309.81. otherwise we will never find it.
Profession Protection.
If you are a part of, or support the Naturopathic Medicine profession, please email the State of Oregon Dept. of Justice.
Dear Hardy Myers,
Thank you for protecting the investment I have been making in my education as a future Naturopathic Physician by stopping unqualified persons from using the title ND or Naturopath.
Sincerely,
Your Name
http://www.doj.state.or.us/releases/2007/rel092807a.shtml
Because it is important to ask for what we deserve and be grateful when we get it.
Dear Hardy Myers,
Thank you for protecting the investment I have been making in my education as a future Naturopathic Physician by stopping unqualified persons from using the title ND or Naturopath.
Sincerely,
Your Name
http://www.doj.state.or.us/releases/2007/rel092807a.shtml
Because it is important to ask for what we deserve and be grateful when we get it.
Queers and Allies
Last night was the first meeting of the newly formed Queers and Allies student group at National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM).
We are working towards creating awareness of queer health issues in the alternative medicine community. The meeting was good, and though I had to leave early there were some good things accomplished just in the hour I was there.
In addition to supporting LGBT medical students by providing a supportive educational environment, NCNM Queers and Allies also advocates for LGBT patients in the larger community by supporting the inclusion of queer health issues in medical school curricula and improving the quality of patient care through physician sensitivity. In another few years, the founding students of this group will be practicing Naturopathic physicians whose patient care goals center around holistic healthcare with awareness of and concern for the LGBT community.
Oregon Lobby Day
I had the opportunity to participate in OANP's lobby day over spring break. It was quite interesting and I truly hope that we do this again every legislative session.
My experience with participation in politics is so different. It usually involves me and a couple hundred friends, holding up signs and marching in a parade through traffic. This type of thing is great for coming together and building an understanding of what is on people's minds in the streets, but for getting specific goals accomplished...-Not so effective-
Laura from the OANP, Leah the NCNM-OANP rep., and the formidable Sue Yirku planned out a day of events. I got to meet with my own state Senator and Representative and explain to them why advancing the Naturopathic profession is good for all of us. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Almost everyone we talked with knew about our medicine first hand! The only one who didn't said that he had no issues with any of the bills or ideas that we were bringing to him. At the end of the day one of our bills made it through a house committee, and we were informed that one of the bills we were trying to block had been effectively killed.
Overall it was good experience with the political process and has me really excited to participate in a similar exercise in the national government (DC-FLI) in May.
My experience with participation in politics is so different. It usually involves me and a couple hundred friends, holding up signs and marching in a parade through traffic. This type of thing is great for coming together and building an understanding of what is on people's minds in the streets, but for getting specific goals accomplished...-Not so effective-
Laura from the OANP, Leah the NCNM-OANP rep., and the formidable Sue Yirku planned out a day of events. I got to meet with my own state Senator and Representative and explain to them why advancing the Naturopathic profession is good for all of us. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Almost everyone we talked with knew about our medicine first hand! The only one who didn't said that he had no issues with any of the bills or ideas that we were bringing to him. At the end of the day one of our bills made it through a house committee, and we were informed that one of the bills we were trying to block had been effectively killed.
Overall it was good experience with the political process and has me really excited to participate in a similar exercise in the national government (DC-FLI) in May.
ND, NMD, NP, AANP, CNME, WTF?
The history of the naturopathic 'profession' is somewhat murky. There are a lot of opinionated people who each present their own version of how it all began. There is also a distinct lack of a recognized 'authority' regarding the history and the true nature of the profession. That is part of the appeal of naturopathic medicine, but I digress.
This is not an article about the history of naturopathy.
There is a goal for most, if not all of the hundreds of students of CNME accredited naturopathic schools in America today. And that is, to practice the medicine we have been trained for, to get past all of the political hurdles and be professionally respected.
There are obstacles.
* The AMA. They tend to both believe and assert that their way is the only way to medicine. They have a lot of money. They have a lot of power. They aren't afraid, ashamed or unwilling to use it to protect their interests. Health and harmony be damned.
We need to do some outreach. There are student organizations that are recognizing that natural medicine is an important answer to the human problems that modern medicine has. But we need to make a the effort to initiate the conversation with them.
* The disorganized residency programs. This seems like a truly core issue. If the various powers that be could gather around this issue and support a single clearinghouse/umbrella organization, they could administer naturopathic and/or integrative residency programs and match qualified candidates. The possibilities for expansion would increase dramatically.
Who are the current players?
o The CNME itself....is it even on their agenda?
o The NERC...they are ready and willing, but do they have the political will and backing to make it happen?
o The schools....they are already doing what they can, they need to be relieved of this job so that a more specialized organization can do the work.
o The AANP...is there an opinion brewing over there? It's so hard to tell...
Students need to get behind the solution they think has the most potential and put some pressure on them to get moving in a unified direction. This can't wait.
• -The 'traditional' naturopaths, blocking the efforts of licensure in many states. This is tricky. This is at the root of what is changed and or changing about this profession. There is no way to get around the fact that establishing yet another monopoly that keeps out those who aren't trained in one of the 'accredited' schools is what is going on.
What we need to build is a statement that addresses the concerns of the traditional naturopaths. What position do Naturopathic Physicians occupy that is distinctly not the same thing as and MD or DO but is also a legitimate HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL? How can naturopaths show that we can be trusted by the general public, the government, and the insurance companies, to be primary care physicians who INTEGRATE diagnostic and clinical medical differential diagnosis with Naturopathic healing modalities?
This is not an article about the history of naturopathy.
There is a goal for most, if not all of the hundreds of students of CNME accredited naturopathic schools in America today. And that is, to practice the medicine we have been trained for, to get past all of the political hurdles and be professionally respected.
There are obstacles.
* The AMA. They tend to both believe and assert that their way is the only way to medicine. They have a lot of money. They have a lot of power. They aren't afraid, ashamed or unwilling to use it to protect their interests. Health and harmony be damned.
We need to do some outreach. There are student organizations that are recognizing that natural medicine is an important answer to the human problems that modern medicine has. But we need to make a the effort to initiate the conversation with them.
* The disorganized residency programs. This seems like a truly core issue. If the various powers that be could gather around this issue and support a single clearinghouse/umbrella organization, they could administer naturopathic and/or integrative residency programs and match qualified candidates. The possibilities for expansion would increase dramatically.
Who are the current players?
o The CNME itself....is it even on their agenda?
o The NERC...they are ready and willing, but do they have the political will and backing to make it happen?
o The schools....they are already doing what they can, they need to be relieved of this job so that a more specialized organization can do the work.
o The AANP...is there an opinion brewing over there? It's so hard to tell...
Students need to get behind the solution they think has the most potential and put some pressure on them to get moving in a unified direction. This can't wait.
• -The 'traditional' naturopaths, blocking the efforts of licensure in many states. This is tricky. This is at the root of what is changed and or changing about this profession. There is no way to get around the fact that establishing yet another monopoly that keeps out those who aren't trained in one of the 'accredited' schools is what is going on.
What we need to build is a statement that addresses the concerns of the traditional naturopaths. What position do Naturopathic Physicians occupy that is distinctly not the same thing as and MD or DO but is also a legitimate HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL? How can naturopaths show that we can be trusted by the general public, the government, and the insurance companies, to be primary care physicians who INTEGRATE diagnostic and clinical medical differential diagnosis with Naturopathic healing modalities?
rebirthing
Slowly I am becoming what I have been projecting for, and hurling myself towards.
I am taking stock of what that is along the way. Just to try to keep it real.
I've come from a place where no one does anything to change the course of their lives. They pray, and they wait to die. Those voices are loud in my programming. At the core of what I am leaving behind.
That inertia has to go into the ground, to be decomposed as is the nature of the cycle of life. I can't say it doesn't hurt, that it doesn't scare me to look at those edges of the end of everything and just let go of it and have faith in the future. or the right now.
or whatever, one in the same.
i'll just take a deep breath and let in the smell of the daphne. the smell of soil. the smell of my own spring sweat. and let my exhale be the cry for letting go of all I've come through to be here, alive in this new being that is me.
I am taking stock of what that is along the way. Just to try to keep it real.
I've come from a place where no one does anything to change the course of their lives. They pray, and they wait to die. Those voices are loud in my programming. At the core of what I am leaving behind.
That inertia has to go into the ground, to be decomposed as is the nature of the cycle of life. I can't say it doesn't hurt, that it doesn't scare me to look at those edges of the end of everything and just let go of it and have faith in the future. or the right now.
or whatever, one in the same.
i'll just take a deep breath and let in the smell of the daphne. the smell of soil. the smell of my own spring sweat. and let my exhale be the cry for letting go of all I've come through to be here, alive in this new being that is me.
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