|
Integrative Medicine
Integrating Western
Medicine with Traditional,
Complementary and Alternative Healing Methods
What
is Integrative Medicine?
Goals
and Objectives
Institutional
Support/Advisory Projects
Educational Programs
The Global Academy
recognizes the value of Integrative Medicine in terms of disease prevention,
healing capacity, and greater accessibility. GA strives for acceptance of
integrative medicine by leading medical schools and hospitals, insurance
companies, and governmental healthcare organizations.
Initially, through the Institute of Integrative Medicine, the Global Academy
had chosen to work with a few, carefully selected institutions on strategic
initiatives that served as convincing models, and therefore be of
significant international impact. To these institutions the Institute for
Integrative Medicine provided advice ranging from strategy and
organizational development to economically viable educational initiatives.
The Institute has also provided catalytic funding and organized educational
programs and conferences, creating an innovative forum for dialogue between
panelists and attendees.
Currently The Global Academy’s work in Integrative Medicine is focused on
research, as well as the development of the Integrative
Nursing Institute, a training and consulting organization that responds
to critical issues of nursing by using a Complementary and Alternative
Medical model.
What is Integrative Medicine?
Integrative medicine combines
conventional medical therapies with alternative and traditional medicine in
which patient and practitioner work in partnership to select therapies most
appropriate to the person’s needs and inclinations. Integrative medicine is
a healing oriented medicine that draws upon all therapeutic systems to form
a comprehensive approach to the art and science of medicine. This holistic
philosophy views disease as influenced by imbalances and stress, and
emphasizes the body’s natural tendency towards self-healing.
Alternative and traditional healing methods, ranging from homeopathy,
Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture, to Yoga and Ayurvedic approaches
commonly used in India, have existed for thousands of years. Most of these
methods are oriented toward preventative as well as curative care. They have
proven to be highly successful, and are often less expensive than
conventional Western treatments.
(top)
Goals and
Objectives
The long-term goals and objectives of the Global Academy for Integrative
Medicine include:
- Through its research,
to help promote knowledge, understanding, application, and credible
scientific research efforts in integrative medicine, combining the best of
conventional, traditional, alternative and complementary medicine.
- To develop
communication and cooperation among researchers, practitioners, policy
makers and organizations in order to address the diverse and complex
issues that impact integrative medicine with respect to practice, medical
research and public health.
- To strengthen
healthcare organizations through the creation of networks that will become
a recognizable entity in the field of integrative medicine.
- Through the
Integrative Nursing Institute, to respond to the crucial issues of nurse
retention, staff training and the ongoing development of nurses. We
believe this is an extraordinary time of opportunity to redefine the
meaning of nursing and to refocus the profession of nurses in the 21st
Century.
(top)
Institutional
Support/Advisory Projects
The
Global Academy has completed the following model projects that illustrate
its strategy:
Albert Einstein School of Medicine, New York, is one of the world’s
premier medical schools. The Global Academy has worked with the Handler
Endowment to advance the incorporation of Integrative Medicine education
into a broad spectrum of courses for all years of the curriculum. The
development of an institute that can provide outreach and training for the
wider community is also planned. (More....)
Greyston Foundation directs the
social mission of Greyston Bakery and several other businesses, which
provide employment and empowerment for local disenfranchised and
non-empowered members of society. The Foundation supports diverse programs
including housing and healthcare for the homeless and people living with
HIV/AIDS. It has recently opened the Healing Center to provide low-cost
integrative medical services to the Greyston community, and launched a
public programming initiative designed to link spirituality with social
action, for which the Global Academy provided advice and catalytic funding.
Global Academy chairman, Walter Link, also supports the overall development
of the project in his position as a board member of the foundation.
(More....)
Centre for Integrated Healing, Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of
Canada’s foremost integrative cancer treatment facilities. The Canadian
National Cancer Agency considers the Centre to be a model that could be
replicated throughout the Canadian health care system. The Global Academy
has supported the Centre with a broad range of advisory services and
provided catalytic funding to expand its management team at a critical
juncture. The Institute continues to advise the Centre on strategic
orientation and organizational development.
(More....)
(top)
Educational
Programs
The
Global Academy has also created meetings and conferences that provided a
neutral forum in which representatives from diverse sectors of society
explore issues relating to integrative medicine. The Global Academy’s deep
dialogue process and distinctive educational format creates a dynamic
environment in which all voices are heard. Since its inception, The Global
Academy has convened the following events:
Public Conference on Health, Panama
The Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine recognizes that
Integrative Medicine, by virtue of its cost advantage and openness to
traditional healing methods, can be of particular value to developing
countries of the South. Accordingly, the Institute cooperated with the
United Nations Development Program and the government of Panama to convene a
public conference to take place in the context of the annual meeting of the
Ibero-American Summit of Governments. The conference, entitled Health
Today – Realities, Obstacles and Perspectives, informed the medical
community and representatives of other sectors about integrative medicine.
(More....) At the same time, the Global Academy also convened an
international briefing panel for the ministers of health of Latin America,
Portugal, and Spain.
(More...)
State of the World Forum 2000
The State of the World Forum convened
its 2000 meeting in New York to coincide with the UN Millennium Summit of
World Leaders. Forum 2000 invited the Institute for Integrative Medicine to
convene a panel dialogue on Restoring the Soul to Healing: The Future of
Integral Medicine.
(More....)
International Scientific and Medical Network Annual Dialogue
Together with the Genome Institute, the Institute for Integrative Medicine
designed a program for the International Scientific and Medical Network that
gathered together a team of international scientists, researchers, and
ethicists to explore the contrasting images of the human emerging from
medical genetics and complementary medicine. The public conference was
entitled Frontiers of Medicine: Human Genome – Human Being.
(More....)
Association of American Indian Physicians Annual Meeting
The Association of American Indian
Physicians invited the Institute for Integrative Medicine and its partner,
the Genome Institute, to convene a panel at its annual meeting in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The two Institutes convened experts on law,
bioethics, and medicine to discuss the implications of gene research in the
context of its effects on indigenous peoples, particularly Native Americans,
in a panel discussion entitled, Human Genome: Implications for Indian
Health.
(More....)
(top)
|
