The Future of Healthcare?

I hope you had a happy Father’s Day. If your Dad is no longer in your life then I hope you were able to send him some loving thoughts. I know quite a few people whose fathers have passed on recently and so Father’s Day may well have been a sad or difficult time.

My Dad is actually in hospital at the moment so Harry and I took his 90 year old sister up to Ballarat to visit on Sunday. My grandchildren and their mum and dad came along as well so we created quite a lot of noise and busyness in his hospital room. Luckily dad had a private room.

My Auntie is one of the most positive and appreciative people I know. It was a pleasure to spend the day with her. She is also very health conscious and tells us that she puts kale into or onto everything she cooks. She’s also taking turmeric capsules for a touch or arthritis and says it works a treat.

Although my dad has taken pretty good care of his health over the years he’s not well at the moment but hopefully he’ll be home soon. Dad has tended to rely on conventional medicine and trusted whatever his doctor told him. This is not always a good thing.

Yesterday I watched a video of Pete Evans (The Paleo Diet) interviewing a medical doctor from the US. This doctor was a classically trained medical practitioner who became ill during her medical training. She discovered that natural therapies were the only thing that helped and so when she graduated she began to explore how best to help her patients.

This doctor spoke about discovering and incorporating things like nutrition, supplements, stress reduction, meditation etc in her patient care. She began doing the things that Naturopaths have been doing for many decades. When a medically trained doctor practices in this way it’s called Integrative Medicine or Functional Medicine because it takes into account the function of the whole body not just one organ or system. It utilises natural remedies and lifestyle changes. It treats the whole person rather than one part of them. It’s holistic medicine.

Pete asked this doctor if using nutrition, supplements and lifestyle changes to treat illness would be the future of healthcare. She agreed that it had to be because our current level of toxicity, stress, genetically modified organisms and poor nutrition was a perfect storm for an even worse health crisis than we’re currently experiencing. She suggested that the rise in autoimmune disease was a result of these things and that lifestyle medicine was the only thing that would reverse that trend. In fact she said that anyone with an auto-immune disease should be totally gluten and dairy free. Hmmm….my dad has an auto-immune disease and his doctor told him to drink more milk.

Lifestyle medicine may be the future of healthcare, and many studies are now showing that lifestyle changes can reverse many chronic diseases but unfortunately it takes about 20 years for clinical practice to catch up with new scientific research.

In this fast paced world you have to question why changes are so slow to be implemented. Well the problem is that it takes many years for new research findings to be accepted in the scientific community. Initial studies that contradict the current paradigm are met with resistance and scepticism and need to be repeated, peer reviewed and published many times over many years to be accepted. It then takes several years for those new findings to be reflected in textbooks and university curriculums. Then it takes a number of years for new graduates, (who are mentored and supervised by doctors with “old school” training) to out-number the doctors with out-dated knowledge and practices. It’s only then that new procedures and protocols are introduced into clinical practice. Of course by then those procedures and protocols are probably out-dated. 🙁

Anyway, while you’re waiting for your doctor to catch up with how to really take care of your health you might want to explore Naturopathy.

One of our Naturopaths, Kimberley Nightingale, recently wrote about her work and Naturopathy in general. Here’s what Kimberley has to say:

“One of the most important things we have is our health. Valuing our health and being proactive in creating great health is something we as a community need to encourage. Like all good things, great health starts with understanding healthy habits and introducing them into our daily lives.

As a Naturopath and someone who enjoys helping her clients improve their health, it may not surprise you that I encourage a healthy diet, clean water and fresh air. This is because, as a natural healthcare provider I practise within the Naturopathic guidelines and code of conduct (link below) in addition to the six core Naturopathic Principles:

First do no harm– by utilising the most natural, least invasive and least toxic therapies.
Doctor as teacher– educate clients in the steps to achieving and maintaining health.
Identify and treat the causes– look beyond the symptoms to the underlying cause.
Treat the whole person– by viewing the body as an integrated whole in all its physical and spiritual dimensions.
Prevention– focus on overall health, wellness and disease prevention.
The healing power of nature– trust in the body’s inherent wisdom to heal itself.

So when a client comes in for his/her consultation, I take a thorough case history. I might do some non-invasive diagnostic tests in addition to asking questions about different body systems. I do this to help create a clearer picture of what is going on for the client now and to get a better understanding of their needs, wants and expectations of the practitioner client relationship.

From this I evaluate and develop treatment strategies and recommendations that will help meet these needs, wants and expectations, while working according to Naturopathic principles. Where the wants of the clients are not in alignment with the possibilities of what I can do for them, we discuss the possibilities and limitations of my treatments in achieving their health goals. My aim is to support the healthy function of the body and all its parts.

Naturopathically, we respect the wonder that the human body is and how food, nutrients and herbal remedies, when used wisely and with respect, can help the body towards greater levels of health.
We do this by understanding the processes that lead to signs and symptoms and we nurture the healing process. This can include an understanding of what caused them to seek treatment of their body and the factors that led to feeling unwell in the first place.

Through my role as a Naturopath, my clients often feel healthier, see improvements and become more empowered and joyful. This is one of my greatest pleasures, that my clients are able to take positive steps towards improving their health and feeling better for the long term.

I look forward to meeting you in practice.” Kimberley Nightingale

Please call us on 9842 7033 to book an initial appointment or a FREE 15 Iridology session with Kimberley or Anna.

Links: The code of conduct for Naturopaths can be viewed HERE
What is Naturopathy? CLICK HERE

This week we’re again offering a limited number of FREE INITIAL CONSULTATIONS. Please call us on 9842 7033 or….