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Health Medicine Forum |
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Who We Are |
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We're a group of
health practitioners from all disciplines who are dedicated to the
collaborative exploration, practice and advancement of the emerging
discipline of Health Medicine. Health Medicine
Forum serves to inform, educate and connect those interested in a
holistic and integrative approach to medicine, one that is focused
on prevention and person-centered care.
Also see
About Us
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History of The Health
Medicine Forum |
Coining the Term “Health Medicine”
In 1992 a group of ten integrative healthcare pioneers, at the
invitation of Russell Jaffe, MD, met in a San Francisco hotel for
one day with the thought in mind of creating a name that could
represent the “new medical paradigm” that had been emerging since
the early 1970’s. Because part of the basis for the new healthcare
model was to shift from “disease care” to “health care,” it was
agreed that the word “health” seemed appropriate to be part of the
new name.The word “medicine”
has existed for millennia and has described treatments or remedies
for illnesses. The term “Health Medicine” was chosen to characterize
a paradigm based primarily on wellness and prevention, but one that
could also include a wide variety of therapies for treatment when
needed.
Exploring
Health Medicine
One of the original ten integrative healthcare practitioners, Len
Saputo, MD, began an intensive search to define more precisely
what the practice of Health Medicine might include. In October of
1994 he met with five of his colleagues who agreed to begin this
exploration. Within three months this group had expanded to 90
members. It was time to develop an organization that could guide
this effort—the Health Medicine Forum (HMF) was born in December of
1994.
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The Principles
of Health Medicine |
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- Integrative
During the first two years our twice-a-month
meetings were oriented to learning about healthcare disciplines
other than the ones we had formally trained—learning about
integrative practice. This “show and tell” approach culminated in a
weekend symposium where more than 45 practitioners participated in
presentations describing their professions and, equally importantly,
also learned about their colleagues’ disciplines. More than 200
people attended this highly spirited event. We were going beyond
where our training stopped, learning to work together in an
integrative style.
- Holistic
Woven into the fabric of this symposium was the concept of
holism—the inseparable nature of body, mind, emotion, and spirit.
While much of the symposium was oriented to exchanging the technical
aspects of individual disciplines, the entire event was explored in
the context of “the role of spirit in healing.” As one of our
colleagues and mentors, Richard Miles, commented, “The focus of
attention of the HMF is transcending from “information exchange” to
“connection.”
We have learned that
healing goes far beyond treating a “set of symptoms” with a “bag of
tools.” And, we began to appreciate that the healing process
requires not only an understanding of the nature of disease and the
nature of the patient, but also the nature of the interrelationship
existing between them as well as the meaning of illness as a process
of personal transformation.
- Person-Centered
Care
Everyone knows that you can lead a horse to water, but you
can't make it drink. We discovered that by inspiring our patients to
take responsibility for their healthcare choices, it is hard to keep
them from taking the action they believe in.
Promoting
self-empowerment through the development of a deep, caring, personal
relationship where the healthcare practitioner is an active and
sensitive listener makes it possible to create a sacred space where
a meaningful dialogue may emerge. An alliance often follows wherein
there is a joint willingness to be vulnerable and “not know.” This
setting encourages the development of new insights that can lead to
transformations that may promote new and innovative possibilities
for healing.
- Preventive
Health
Medicine practitioners believe that true primary care is based
on using healthy lifestyle choices and tools that insure proper
nutrition, relaxation, adequate sleep, avoidance of toxic
exposures in our food, water, and air, detoxification, and
finding meaningful purpose in life. In instances where this
fails, natural remedies are utilized before more invasive
approaches such as pharmaceutical drugs and surgeries are
considered. Therapies are blended from whatever best fits the
needs of each unique patient. Prevention, along with with
restoration and maintenance of optimal health form the
cornerstones of Health Medicine — a new healthcare paradigm.
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