Creating a Culture of Wellness

Note: This is a guest post that is part of the discussion on the Summit on Integrative Medicine

By Lucrezia Mangione, CHTP/I, CMT 

Have you ever thought about . . .

• What a healthy health care system looks like?

• What a patient or person-centered approach to health and healing is?
• A place for certified, credentialed and/or licensed health care practitioners co-existing within a system that engenders cross-disciplinary connection, discussion and collaboration? 
• What happens when all credentialed and/or licensed health practitioners collaborate together, in support of the suffering person/patient with an individualized well-care program? 
• What an honest, authentic discussion of the inherent problems with our health care industry and its' sick care model sounds like? 
• The behavioral challenges to better health?
• The class/social  issues that prevent access to health care?

Six hundred health professionals joined together for a lively discussion on these topics and more on Feb. 25-27, 2009.  It was a thought provoking and collaborative experience where I was sincerely surprised to be among peers.  We, the people who genuinely wish to alleviate suffering, engaged in dialog on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public at the Institute of Medicine and Bravewell Collaborative's Summit in Washington D.C.

It was powerful. I was positively impacted.  There were more questions than answers and there is so much to share.  In the spirit of brevity, however, I'll speak to a few points that stood out for me.

This Is What I Learned:

"Person-Centered Care" Is the New Model for Health

Because of the efforts of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners and their holistic work over the years, the new model emerging for health care is a shift to "patient centered cared" or "person-centered care".    The individual is returned to the center of the health care wheel and s/he is the hub around which all else happens.  This shift will take time but there are models that are working already like the eight integrative centers of Bravewell Clinical Network. 

In the meantime, business is the force driving the shift.  Employee wellness centersare arising within large companies.  Why?  Because the return on investing in an employee's wellness is significant:  employees perform better. There are studies that prove meditation, fitness and health coaching are helping in "presenteeism: be here now" as Dr. Kenneth Pelletier puts it.  Businesses are bringing about the person/patient centered care and self-care empowerment.  See this article on Medtronic:

This Is What I Realized:

Integrative Practitioners Are on the Same Page

In the cross section of specialties at this conference, I realized that medical doctors, Healing Touch practitioners, coaches, and the variety of certified practitioners in between are all on the same page.  This is a pivotal time in health care history and there is a genuine, sincere desire to collaborate and work together as a health care collective. 

At the practical level we continue to do what we as individual practitioners do and naturally we'll drive the healing of our "sick-care model" to a "well-care model".  We also reach out, network and collaborate with other health practitioners to work together in bringing about individualized help for the person/patient who seeks our assistance.

On a larger scale there are collaborative models in existence.  These aren't definitive but they are an example.  One of these is the
Bravewell Clinical Network, which has eight centers that deliver integrative care. 

This Is What I Heard:

There Are Many Challenges

Some of them are:

• How can the broken health care model be healed?
• How can Healing Touch and so many other modalities receive reimbursement?
• Most doctors are reluctant to refer out.
• Doctors are educated in being territorial and receiving rewards for accomplishments.
• Evidence based research is necessary for CAM modalities to be proven safe and effective, however, the same evidentiary scientific focus is not applied to much of allopathic, conventional medicine:  a double standard exists.
• How are behavioral and lifestyle changes encouraged?
• The insurance model has a focus on sick care rather than providing incentives for wellness.
• How to include the non-licensed health professional?
• How do we change the language and vocabulary of health?
• What is the public's perception of integrative medicine?

This Is My A-HA! Moment:

We Are the Answer We've Been Waiting for

We, as CAM practitioners, are a part of a quiet revolution comprised of many health care professionalswho are "the answer".  Every person in that room and those "integrative" individuals who were unable to come are the leaders in the integrative health and health care reform.

There are no answers "out there".  We are, in fact, the answer and solution we've been waiting for.  There is no one else but us to effect the changes necessary in policy and in the day-to-day practical application of our "person/patient-centered work".  We will continue to dissolve the barriers between ourselves and fellow practitioners who sincerely want to work together to simply do what we do best: help others on their road to greater well-being.

This Is What I See: 

A Sea Change Is Occurring

I walk away from this IOM conference with what I feel is the most telling example of the sea change that we are all a part of.  It's in the language.   Throughout the conference it was suggested frequently that we use the language of inclusion respecting the integrative practitioners who are not medical doctors.  Instead of  using "integrative medicine" the suggestion was "integrative health care" or "integrative health". 

• By the middle of the conference many presenters began using the words "integrative health" or "integrative health care".
• Senator Tom Harkin made a note of it during his talk stating he may consider renaming his foundation to include the words "integrative health" or "integrative health care".
• The conference ended with Ralph Snyderman of Duke University asking the Institute of Medicine to consider changing their name from the Institute of Medicine to the Institute of Integrative Health.

The sea change is upon us.

Interested in discovering this for yourself?  Go to the IOM website  to watch the taped conference.  It will be available as of March 4th.

About the author:
Lucrezia Mangione invites you to cultivate optimum health through integrative health and energy medicine. As a Healing Touch Instructor/Practitioner, Somatic therapist and Health Coach she helps individuals and groups, like you, to access, reconnect and consciously restore balance to your body and your life.   Join her mailing list and learn more by visiting www.HandcraftedHealth.net where whole body integrative health is a creative journey handcrafted by you.