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.
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.
Whole Person. Holistic healthcare practitioners view people as the unity of body, mind, spirit and the systems in which they live.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learning Opportunities. All life experiences including birth, joy, suffering and the dying process are profound learning opportunities for both patients and healthcare practitioners.
International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-Ata, USSR, 6-12
September 1978
The International Conference on Primary Health Care, meeting in Alma-Ata this twelfth day of September in the year Nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, expressing the need for urgent action by all governments, all health and development workers, and the world community to protect and promote the health of all the people of the world, hereby makes the following
Declaration:
I The Conference strongly reaffirms that health, which is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, is a fundamental human right and that the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a most important world-wide social goal whose realization requires the action of many other social and economic sectors in addition to the health sector.
II The existing gross inequality in the health status of the people particularly between developed and developing countries as well as within countries is politically, socially and economically unacceptable and is, therefore, of common concern to all countries.
III Economic and social development, based on a New International Economic Order, is of basic importance to the fullest attainment of health for all and to the reduction of the gap between the health status of the developing and developed countries. The promotion and protection of the health of the people is essential to sustained economic and social development and contributes to a better quality of life and to world peace.
IV The people have the right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care.
V Governments have a responsibility for the health of their people which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures. A main social target of governments, international organizations and the whole world community in the coming decades should be the attainment by all peoples of the world by the year 2000 of a level of health that will permit them to lead a socially and economically productive life. Primary health care is the key to attaining this target as part of development in the spirit of social justice.
VI Primary health care is essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination. It forms an integral part both of the country's health system, of which it is the central function and main focus, and of the overall social and economic development of the community. It is the first level of contact of individuals, the family and community with the national health system bringing health care as close as possible to where people live and work, and constitutes the first element of a continuing health care process.
VII Primary health care:
reflects and evolves from the economic conditions and sociocultural and political characteristics of the country and its communities and is based on the application of the relevant results of social, biomedical and health services research and public health experience;
addresses the main health problems in the community, providing promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services accordingly;
includes at least: education concerning prevailing health problems and the methods of preventing and controlling them; promotion of food supply and proper nutrition; an adequate supply of safe water and basic sanitation; maternal and child health care, including family planning; immunization against the major infectious diseases; prevention and control of locally endemic diseases; appropriate treatment of common diseases and injuries; and provision of essential drugs;
involves, in addition to the health sector, all related sectors and aspects of national and community development, in particular agriculture, animal husbandry, food, industry, education, housing, public works, communications and other sectors; and demands the coordinated efforts of all those sectors;
requires and promotes maximum community and individual self-reliance and participation in the planning, organization, operation and control of primary health care, making fullest use of local, national and other available resources; and to this end develops through appropriate education the ability of communities to participate;
should be sustained by integrated, functional and mutually supportive referral systems, leading to the progressive improvement of comprehensive health care for all, and giving priority to those most in need;
relies, at local and referral levels, on health workers, including physicians, nurses, midwives, auxiliaries and community workers as applicable, as well as traditional practitioners as needed, suitably trained socially and technically to work as a health team and to respond to the expressed health needs of the community.
VIII All governments should formulate national policies, strategies and plans of action to launch and sustain primary health care as part of a comprehensive national health system and in coordination with other sectors. To this end, it will be necessary to exercise political will, to mobilize the country's resources and to use available external resources rationally.
IX All countries should cooperate in a spirit of partnership and service to ensure primary health care for all people since the attainment of health by people in any one country directly concerns and benefits every other country. In this context the joint WHO/UNICEF report on primary health care constitutes a solid basis for the further development and operation of primary health care throughout the world.
X An acceptable level of health for all the people of the world by the year 2000 can be attained through a fuller and better use of the world's resources, a considerable part of which is now spent on armaments and military conflicts. A genuine policy of independence, peace, détente and disarmament could and should release additional resources that could well be devoted to peaceful aims and in particular to the acceleration of social and economic development of which primary health care, as an essential part, should be allotted its proper share.
The International Conference on Primary Health Care calls for urgent and effective national and international action to develop and implement primary health care throughout the world and particularly in developing countries in a spirit of technical cooperation and in keeping with a New International Economic Order. It urges governments, WHO and UNICEF, and other international organizations, as well as multilateral and bilateral agencies, nongovernmental organizations, funding agencies, all health workers and the whole world community to support national and international commitment to primary health care and to channel increased technical and financial support to it, particularly in developing countries. The Conference calls on all the aforementioned to collaborate in introducing, developing and maintaining primary health care in accordance with the spirit and content of this Declaration.
The vision we hold for the new landscape of healthcare is one where healthcare returns to neighborhood clinics where people feel heard, where they feel validated for who they are and what they want to experience. We seek to create a space where service is provided by practitioners who know clients personally and advocate for individuals in the pursuit of improved health and longevity. At Everspring Health we believe the application of client centered care is the single focus of first-line lifestyle, health and healing services. Our vision of a more appropriate model involves an integrative healthcare strategy where the first line of healthcare is focused on the fundamentals of good health and effective healthcare. Chronic disease care is the number one medical need worldwide, the system we have today developed during a time of acute care need and is not sufficient to meet the specific needs of our time.
To effectively meet the modern need for care and pursue personalized quality of life an integrative healthcare model is the most accessible means of delivering high quality care. Integrative healthcare is the hub where all therapies, prescriptions, procedures and lifestyle components meet to create optimal outcomes. The most effective model for delivering integrative healthcare is a high performance care model. High Performance Healthcare is a care model seeking to personalize daily healthcare to such precision that you experience your best life, on your terms, with our support. High Performance Healthcare requires that we must understand your needs, your goals, your aspirations so that we can craft a personalized approach to your best experience. To accomplish this task our model is rooted in Foundational Care, our vision of what primary care should be - scientifically sound, accessible medical care balanced with medical therapies like acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy, nutrition and sound strategies for lifestyle development. The path through which we seek to help you perform at your best begins with foundational care, empowers you with developing a self-care discipline and enables you to perform at your best as you see fit.
Therapies and lifestyle development are critical to long-term success and beneficial to all health programs because they are dynamic to the medical needs of the individual yet grounded in the fundamental principles of health cultivation. Therapeutic strategies that consider the spirit, mind and body in the practical pursuit of optimal health are the cornerstone of the Everspring Health service model.
Our model has been recognized as an emerging leader in integrative healthcare, demonstrating that a therapy centric model not only reduces much of the wasted spending but also reduces actual cost of service while, most importantly, improving personalized care at the same time. By utilizing a therapy first model healthcare can realistically become affordable, accessible, personalized care.
In general the modern healthcare model is a procedure model where the first line of service prescribes procedures or if a diagnosis is inconclusive requires procedures to further the diagnosis. The procedure first model is ideal for medical application where emergency, urgent or acute care is determined to be necessary. However, with regards to chronic disease in general not to mention preventive, rehabilitative and quality of life care specifically, the current model has generally proven to be costly, variably effective and marginal at best with regards to overall progression towards quality of life.
An integrative healthcare model on the other hand allows for a more appropriate non-emergency first line resource by allowing for personalized treatment protocols for subclinical as well as chronic conditions. A integrative model enables healthcare to remain affordable for clients and reduces much of the inflation we have seen in the system. Much of our confidence in this model stems from the four interrelated therapy based practice components that contribute to effective integrative healthcare.
A true integrative healthcare model requires practitioners to engage with clients, to develop an effective client-practitioner relationship for improving quality of life - merging healthcare and wellness. Integrative healthcare improves the client-practitioner relationship via a better understanding the daily lives of individuals allowing for more complete diagnoses and better compliance.
The second component of effective integrative healthcare involves the training of qualified therapists which includes more experience with hands on diagnostic skills and can lead to a more timely diagnosis. At the same time if procedures are deemed to be necessary to better understand the diagnosis we can still pursue those as needed.
The third component is that integrative healthcare leverages therapies as a form of treatment as well as a means of furthering the diagnosis. Even if more program development is needed an integrative practitioner can more often than not make sure treatment is available before a client leaves the office while still gaining a better understanding of the diagnosis.
The fourth and most significant component is that integrative healthcare must be personalized. Even if generalized protocols are used they are used after personal and genuine interaction between the client and the practitioner. The one-on-one relationship allows for greater accessibility for the client because personal concerns are recognized, strengths are embraced and limitations are accommodated.
By increasing time, improving diagnostics and most often offering treatment all in the same visit it is not hard to see the benefits of an integrative healthcare model.
Furthering our vision for a more appropriate model is our system and service integration including our team practice concept supported by an improved client-practitioner partnership via our cooperative business model. These design concepts enable us to utilize an integrative model to validate everyone involved including our practitioners. This last point is something that we believe to be diluted in the current healthcare environment, it is our belief that empowered practitioners, practitioners who are allowed to perform at their best, inherently provide better service and benefit most with regards to their own health and wellbeing.
The Everspring Model was developed to be aggressively dynamic and flexible so that we may be able to maintain our commitment for improving healthcare accessibility on a daily basis. We believe that client-centered integrative healthcare is one of our primary competitive advantages because our model enables us to appropriately serve the needs of each one of our clients.
Our commitment is to quality of service. As our values state: Our focus is on service; service to our members, to our community, to the environment, and to ourselves. Our commitment to better care is rooted in principle, strengthened by values and dedicated to cultivating a healthy community.
Everspring Health Community Principles
As cooperative members of Everspring Health we recognize the benefits of a community healthcare resource and agree to pursue the fulfillment of the following principles for personal and community benefit.
We agree to work to internalize the mission and values of Everspring Health and demonstrate the benefits of this cooperative resource to ourselves and our community
We agree that it is important to seek a more effective, compassionate health and healing resource within our own lives and within our community
We agree to hold ourselves to a higher standard in the pursuit of a high quality, sustainable health and healing services for ourselves and our community
We will embrace patience and persistence for our own personal efforts and understand as individuals we are personally responsible for health and healing within our own lives
We understand that health is not a static experience and that it requires a personal daily commitment to maintain and improve the experience of our lives
We will approach each day with intention and gratitude for the lives we are blessed to experience and use cooperative resources to help refine that experience
We seek to create partnerships between clients and practitioners to better our own lives and those of our community
We understand that as cooperative members, benefits are provided through active use of cooperative resources and are not guaranteed or granted through entitlement
We will seek to encourage others to believe in our cooperative resource, because we will believe in them and in the wellbeing of our community
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.
Excellence: From our standards of practice to the products and services we offer and the environment in which we offer our services we will pursue excellence on all levels of the organization.
Diversity: We understand that to seek excellence in our daily commitments we must not only be accepting of diversity on all levels but also proactively pursue diversity enabling the Cooperative to evolve for years to come.
Knowledge: We commit to a pursuit of knowledge that refines our understanding for the betterment of our mission and lives we touch.
Integrity: We will take pride in our presentation of products and services that reflect the integrity of the individuals who participate in the fulfillment of our mission. It is our integrity that will be the cornerstone of our endeavors for creating healthy and fulfilling lives.
Sustainability: We understand that for true health to exist it must be sustainable for our clients, our employees, our environment and our communities. Our model will be sustainable for the benefit of all involved or influenced by our actions.
Service: Our focus is on service; service to our members, to our community, to the environment, and to ourselves.