Displaying items by tag: Integrative Healthcare

Principles embraced by the Members of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine

1. Optimal Health is the primary goal of holistic medical practice. It is the conscious pursuit of the highest level of functioning and balance of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of human experience, resulting in a dynamic state of being fully alive. This creates a condition of well-being regardless of the presence or absence of disease.
    
2. The Healing Power of Love. Holistic healthcare practitioners strive to meet the patient with grace, kindness, acceptance, and spirit without condition, as love is life's most powerful healer.
    
3. Whole Person. Holistic healthcare practitioners view people as the unity of body, mind, spirit and the systems in which they live.
    
4. Prevention and Treatment. Holistic healthcare practitioners promote health, prevent illness and help raise awareness of dis-ease in our lives rather than merely managing symptoms. A holistic approach relieves symptoms, modifies contributing factors, and enhances the patient’s life system to optimize future well-being.
    
5. Innate Healing Power. All people have innate powers of healing in their bodies, minds and spirits. Holistic health care practitioners evoke and help patients utilize these powers to affect the healing process.
    
6. Integration of Healing Systems. Holistic healthcare practitioners embrace a lifetime of learning about all safe and effective options in diagnosis and treatment. These options come from a variety of traditions, and are selected in order to best meet the unique needs of the patient. The realm of choices may include lifestyle modification and complementary approaches as well as conventional drugs and surgery.
    
7. Relationship-centered Care. The ideal practitioner-patient relationship is a partnership which encourages patient autonomy, and values the needs and insights of both parties. The quality of this relationship is an essential contributor to the healing process.
    
8. Individuality. Holistic healthcare practitioners focus patient care on the unique needs and nature of the person who has an illness rather than the illness that has the person. 
    
9. Teaching by Example. Holistic healthcare practitioners continually work toward the personal incorporation of the principles of holistic health, which then profoundly influence the quality of the healing relationship.
     
10. Learning Opportunities. All life experiences including birth, joy, suffering and the dying process are profound learning opportunities for both patients and healthcare practitioners.

Our values reflect our focus on quality of care; on the relationship between the practitioner and the client. It is our intention to provide access to high quality healthcare products and services, while maintaining our cooperative integrity through the internalization of six interdependent values.

"We never change things by fighting the existing reality.

To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

R. Buckminster Fuller

Everspring Health is a Minnesota based lifestyle, health and healing cooperative founded by healthcare practitioners who are determined to change the existing reality in healthcare. Focusing on the area of preventive, rehabilitative and quality of life services Everspring Health seeks to change the way we look at health and then change the way we approach healthcare.

Changing the landscape of healthcare requires that we begin by promoting wellness and enhancing quality of life as the core objective of healthcare and healthy living. Utilizing a cooperative business model it is our intent to develop a community resource where everyone involved seeks to do their part in the pursuit of greater health and a better life. Everspring Health is a simple, fundamental concept where healthcare becomes a partnered, integrated and personalized effort between practitioners and clients. Where practitioners become facilitators of lifestyle, health and healing programs and clients embrace the responsibility for their choices and intentions in the experiences they wish to create.

Our vision for Everspring Health is to renew the concept of everyday healthcare as one of personal health facilitation where the first line of healthcare is a proactive effort towards quality of life. It is important that healthcare resources serve as a first line of defense. However, the current standard of care focuses too much on a defensive posture attempting to "catch" disease as a means of preventing the worst outcomes.

The mission for primary healthcare resources must be the space where data informs customized strategies to support the need of the individual, to make sure everyone can be included in a better experience of their day and their world. When we define disease and the subsequent care in a way that forces an individual to meet the data, we build in inherent bias and limitations for our ability to support the individual. This is why you hear us talk about the fundamentals more than anything else.

The fundamentals of health are beneficial for everyone because they can meet people where they are while providing the objective structure to accomplish three objectives.

1. Help people create awareness of the quality of life they desire.
2. Help people understand how to process information to their benefit.
3. Finally, help people put awareness and information processing in play to achieve an outcome.

We feel strongly that an effort towards quality of life provides a more honest and genuine means of benchmarking progress and validating the needs of the client. Nobody wants to experience injury or disease and to spend all our time and effort on "catching" all possible outcomes of worst-case scenario is unrealistic and sets up everyone involved for some level of disappointment.

By focusing on personalized service and better quality of life even if a disease is still present as partners we can seek the best options for improving peace and productivity. We can pursue a genuine experience for the individual and still pursue the best possible outcome with regards to any condition being addressed. By seeking this path as partners this perspective empowers the client and practitioner by pursuing a productive goal and by providing a realistic means of measuring progress. This is just one example of the Everspring Health mindset – a vision continuously renewed and further cultivated on a daily basis.

As practitioners we believe we have a responsibility to ourselves, to our clients as well as to the system of which we are apart. Health and wellness is in need of a more appropriate perspective; one that is client centered, where quality of life is a top priority and where effective intuitive protocols take precedent over habitual diagnostics and generalized treatment strategies. We don’t want to be the best for the system, for our peers or for some extrinsic reality; we want to be the best for the individual – each individual, every individual - who walks in our door. The Everspring Health mission merged with our model is long over due and we are asking our clients to join with us so that together we can help cultivate a new era in health and healing that benefits all involved.

The desire to break undesirable habits varies from person to person and thus the programs for helping one change their habits must meet their specific needs. The cornerstone of any program must include the motivation to actually create change in one’s lifestyle for the better. In any addiction, body chemistry is highly invested in the chemical pathways on which it has been trained over the course of months or even years. To relieve and retrain these chemical pathways one will inevitably be challenged by the body as it will prefer to reinforce the current habit versus deciding to break from these normalized patterns. It is for this reason that having the desire and motivation to change our habits is really a key component for changing our lifestyle.

The next key component is to make sure the body is well supported to reduce the demands from both the chemical withdrawal (body) as well as the habitual withdrawal (mind). At Everspring Health, we want to know why and how your habit formed and what enables it to remain a part of your daily life. Does it help alleviate stress? Is it something you do with friends? Is there a pattern to when or where your habit is strongest? Understanding how your habits influence your life helps us build a strategy that will be the most successful for you. As mentioned above we need to both break from the body chemistry as well as the mental or emotional connection with the substance. Everspring’s lifestyle, health and healing programs integrate well with any outside program you may be utilizing, including support groups.

Acupuncture, diet and sleep along with herbal therapies can all reduce the intensity and frequency of cravings, and even get rid of them entirely as we remodel the body chemistry. At the same time we educate you about what the cessation process will be like, and how you can position yourself to be most successful. Ultimately, we help you understand and identify what kind of life you want to create - one that doesn’t need to rely on addiction - and proceed towards creating that experience. By pursuing what we want it becomes much easier to let go of the things we don’t want.

At Everspring Health, our pursuit of healthy weight involves creating a solid awareness of how stress, diet and sleep influence our body composition. Too often we are made to believe that a healthy body is an extension of healthy weight, when in reality healthy weight is an extension of a healthy body and healthy mind. The people who are credited with the healthiest and longest lives focus on living good and fulfilling lives, they don't chase marketing fads. They eat real food, they relax alone and socialize with friends, they move as a natural part of their day and their weight naturally corresponds with this reality. There is no issue in pursuing healthy weight as a primary goal but the most successful people who pursue this goal embrace the fundamentals of health and build it into who they are and the lifestyle they lead. By creating a foundation of healthy fundamentals it allows us to understand the principles of healthy weight and a true reliable resource evolves, one where we can always return to for reliable results. The Everspring Health healthy weight program focuses on awareness in our daily lives, on nourishment of our body and mind, where healthy movement is a natural extension of our day.

The fundamentals begin with awareness. Awareness is focused on three lifestyle factors: stress, diet, and sleep because these three things influence all disease and are primary fundamental principles in the pursuit of healthy body composition. When discussing stress we are looking to reduce inflammatory burden on the body which is demanding on tissues and creates waste products that can interfere with healthy cellular function. Impaired cellular function then leads to impaired cellular metabolism, which plays a key role in our metabolism as a whole. As we are able to get waste out of the way, we want to leverage diet to make sure each cell gets the nourishment it needs to optimally function so the body can safely lose weight. Sleep then becomes key time to remove waste from the body and the to make sure the cells and tissues get a change to repair to function at their optimal level.

Once we establish a connection to our body and awareness of how our lifestyle habits influences our body then we seek to understand how movement influences our day. For many, we have the opportunity to move more in our day than we might realize. We should first seek to maximize this opportunity as this fits right into our daily life. From here we can begin to seek other opportunities to move in ways that are both enjoyable and productive. The key here is to seek to move in a way that is sustainable and productive. Too often, our ambitions lead to burnout or injury and our troubled relationship with weight continues.

At Everspring Health we talk about the value of a healthy life and the relationship with a healthy body, mind and spirit. We seek to help you create achievable health goals and create a lifestyle that results in long-term optimal weight and overall health. We use clinical therapies to help improve digestion, regulate metabolism and reduce stress. As movement and exercise plays a more key role, we help you develop a program that will balance workouts with proper rest because that is most productive. We help you develop a personalized dietary plan, which will help you sustain a long term healthy weight and empower you to understand how food influences your life. Ultimately, we create a space where you can be healthy, and then we let your weight adjust to your improved level of health.

The skin is the largest organ in the body and is often a reflection of our systemic health. When we observe how the skin reacts to stressors we can often catch chronic or even potentially serious issues early. The most common issues people face include acne, bug bites, cold sores, eczema, hives, ringworm, rashes, psoriasis and shingles. Many of us suffer from these common skin issues that can range from an inconvenience to something demanding enough to consume or interfere with our daily lives.

At Everspring Health, we’ll look at the health of your skin and any history you might have with your skin condition. Based on your diagnosis, we can make a plan that will seek to reduce symptoms and address any underlying systemic cause. Stress, diet and sleep will be the prime elements of an effective lifestyle focused medical program as well as a specific nutritional program to target the primary symptoms.

We often use therapies such as acupuncture and massage to help address systemic issues and help with the body’s normal system regulation. Since each case is unique, each treatment will be specifically tailored to you and your needs. Dermatological conditions are often the hardest to treat because of the daily commitment needed to support the healing process. We will educate you about these demands but it is important to understand that if these issue have been chronic for sometime it make take some time to appropriate repair the tissue not just eliminate the symptoms.

The Everspring Integrative Oncology program is dedicated to focusing on your quality of life before, during and after treatment. We work with any program with which you are currently engaged and support you throughout your treatment program. Our clinical focus is on therapy integration. Cancer is a complex disease and we need all resources on the table to make sure we optimize your experience throughout treatment. The foundation of our program is focused on stress, nutrition and your ability to sleep as these three key elements dramatically influence quality of life and overall success in any oncology program. The most challenging issue we have found during treatments is the demand on the mind and body. Exhaustion from both treatment and just life management is the number one demand we seek to reduce. From there we seek to make sure you understand your options for everyday living, how to manage these options and make decisions that bring you the most benefit. We work with individuals at any diagnostic stage and we have the experience of working in concert with any program your oncology team might be planning for your care.

We help you develop a strategic plan to help reduce stress, improve diet and improve sleep and to develop dynamic program modifications as we anticipate progression throughout the care plan. We often use acupuncture and similar therapies to reduce pain, nausea and neuropathy. We help you understand and plan for nutritional options to improve fatigue and endurance through both chemo and recovery stages. Further, we use nutritional programs to help make home life more productive and comfortable. This is very important as the digestive system is taxed throughout the treatment programs. Our practitioners also serve as a source of comfort during stressful or demanding times and help bridge the gap during times of waiting and recovery.

Symptoms we seek to help improve include - Fatigue • Insomnia • Stress • Dry Mouth/Difficulty Swallowing • Loss of Mobility • Constipation/Diarrhea • Hot Flashes & Night Sweats • Low White Blood Cells & Platelets • Weakened Immunity</>

Don't take your eyes for granted.

Our integrated eye health program is individualized to address the unique needs of our patients. Family history can play a key role in eye health, however, there are three general anatomical differentials for eye disorders - neurological, muscle and moisture regulation. Our goal with your program is to understand how stress, diet and sleep influence your current state of health and help build a strategy to address eye conditions and maintain eye health for as long as possible.

Stress – Ultimately, any eye condition is the result of stress. Too much demand on any part of the body will strain that part of the body, eyes are no different. Our goal with your program is to understand the demands on your eyes and develop a strategy to help them recover. Common stressors in our daily lives include smoking, sunlight exposure, impact injury (not wearing safety glasses) and strain from use (computers, focused labor).

Diet – Because our eyes are an organ and they require a substantial part of our brain to function properly, there is a distinct demand for nutrition regarding eye health. Good eye health requires nutrients like healthy fats, vitamins A, C and E as well as lutein and zinc for the organ itself. It also requires nutrients for a healthy brain and nervous system both of which includes keeping inflammation at bay. Our daily veggies are important for good eye (brain) health along with healthy fatty acids and proteins. The key for nutrition is nutrient density, which in turn results in lower inflammation because we are not taxing the body to digest more than it is necessary. Good nutrients then further reduce inflammation internally.

Sleep – Good sleep is imperative for the body to heal and most certainly for eye health. One way to check in on if you are getting enough sleep for your eyes is to see if your eyes water in the wind. If your eyes water when it is windy it is likely that your eyes are not recovering while sleeping. This could be related to age but most likely because your conjunctiva is thinning or is scratched and not getting a chance to repair while sleeping. Further, sleep is the time the brain and nervous system repair as well. So, for the eye organ and for the eye function sleep is a must for good eye health.

These three elements are the foundation to good eye health and we work with you to identify the needs within these three areas and develop an eye health program to reduce or eliminate eye conditions and improve eye health over the course of your daily life.