Health Care
Issues/Research News ROBERT J.
SKLOVSKY, Pharm.D., N.D.,P.C.
Rebuilding and Restoring Health 6910 SE
Lake Rd., Milwaukie, OR 97267
(503) 654-3938
Naturopathic Medicine as an Alternative
Naturopathic medicine is an
alternative branch of medical practice founded on two
philosophic principles:
"vis medicatrix naturae" (the healing power of
nature)
and "Above all do no harm."
The natural therapies which comprise this alternative
system of healing are designed to correct bodily disorders
and restore health by stimulating the body's natural
healing powers.
Naturopathic medicine as a
system of healing dates back to the late nineteenth
century, although many of its therapeutic methods are
drawn from ancient as well as modern sources. In 1902, the
first class of naturopathic physicians was graduated from
a naturopathic medical college in New York City. The
profession grew rapidly in numbers, and during the 1920's
licensing laws were enacted in a number of states
throughout the country.
In later decades, this
rising interest in naturopathic medicine lost its momentum
as the fight against infectious diseases was being waged
through the use of antibiotics and other drugs.
Today, however, along with
an increasing awareness of the potential drawbacks
associated with the use of some drugs, individuals are
seeking alternative ways to heal chronic and other
diseases which remain resistant to conventional approaches
-- illnesses such as arthritis, heart disease, multiple
sclerosis, allergies, migraine headaches and colitis --
all of which have been successfully treated using natural
methods.
As a result, the merits of
naturopathic medicine have become apparent to more and
more individuals, so that the number of naturopathic
physicians has more than doubled in this state alone (to
well over 200) in the last decade.
A minimum of seven years of
training is required to become a naturopathic physician --
three years of standard pre-medical undergraduate
education followed by a four-year program leading to the
Doctor of Naturopathy (N.D.) degree.
The National College of
Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM) in Portland. founded in 1956,
is currently the oldest and largest of the naturopathic
medical colleges in the nation. NCNM graduates from thirty
to fifty naturopathic physicians a year. Other schools in
North America are located in Seattle, Washington and
Ontario, Canada.
NATUROPATHIC MEDICAL
PRACTICE
Naturopathic physicians are trained as general
practitioners, and they use standard diagnostic procedures
in assessing their patients' health needs. Naturopathic
medicine involves the use of natural medical therapeutics
which are designed to act in harmony with the body's
inherent self-healing powers.
The goal of the
naturopathic physician is to intervene in the disease
process as early as possible, and to do the least harm to
the patient by avoiding therapies which may have unwanted
side-effects. Because of this underlying philosophy and
approach, the naturopathic physician can frequently arrest
and reverse the disease process before more debilitating
and costly acute illness occurs.
Patients with conditions
that must be treated in a hospital setting or that require
treatment outside the legal scope of naturopathic practice
are referred to other practitioners, such as medical and
osteopathic doctors.
THE PUBLIC HAS A NEED FOR
NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
ALTERNATIVES TO THE
FOLLOWING GENERAL HEALTH CARE DELIVERY PROBLEMS MUST BE
FOUND: * Escalating medical costs twice the national average when
compared with existing inflation rates.
* The orientation of drugs and surgery (allopathic
medicine) toward technology only, not to the patient
needs.
* Outrageous laboratory use and costs with considerable
benefit going primarily to the clinical laboratory or
hospital.
* Surgical procedures are used on a public acceptance
cycle. Twenty to forty years ago it was tonsillectomies,
appendectomies, then hysterectomies. Currently the
surgical procedure of choice is the coronary by-pass.
* Over-prescribing chemically synthetic drugs which put
unnecessary stress on the body and may have devastating
side effects.
THE PUBLIC WANTS NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE FOR MANY REASONS To illustrate a few:
* As an alternative to escalating medical and hospital
related costs.
* As patient cate alternatives to include emphasis on the
"wellness" of the entire patient.
* As an alternative to excess laboratory work and costs.
* As an alternative to "unnecessary surgery" to
avoid a continuation of the health care crisis.
* To protect themselves from the unnecessary and
potentially harmful poisonous medications (such as the
mass public Valium experiments) being pushed on them as
legitimate prescriptions, and thereby significantly reduce
drug abuse.
NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE HAS AVAILABLE:
*An alternative to
allopathic (drugs and surgery) medicine.
*Time-proven, world-wide, cost effective health care
approaches/differing from allopathic medicine (drugs and
surgery) and its uncontrollable escalating costs.
* Clinical procedures consider the entire patient in
diagnosis and treatment.
* Time-honored, clinical diagnostic and treatment regimes,
treating the entire patient which reduces the need for
excessive long-term laboratory monitoring and unnecessary
hospitalization.
* Surveys/reports on surgery reveal 65% or more of
surgeries unnecessary, removal of normal tissue performed
according to Teamster Union Health & Welfare Trust
studies.
* Non-addictive, cost-effective, natural medicines
available that have stood the test of time, have worldwide
time-proven usage and acceptability, are proven safe, and
will answer the public's outcries for immediate
alternatives in patient-oriented, cost effective health
care.
IF YOUR HEALTH CARE BENEFITS PLAN DOES NOT INCLUDE
NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE,
YOU DO NOT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE!!!
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