Rethinking the art of anatomical maintenance
With rice paper on the walls, bamboo floors and ambient music, the waiting room at Greenwich Center for Integrative Medicine seems at first more like a day spa than a serious medical facility.
Bernadette Johnson, the director of the integrative medicine program at Greenwich Hospital, founded the center six years ago and in June moved the program into a its own 75,000-square-foot facility on River Road in Cos Cob.
“We combine the best of conventional medicine with what used to be called alternative techniques,” said Johnson. “What we’re suggesting is that in addition to taking your pills, medicine, and taking part in any kid of surgery you need, don’t forget that your body has its own innate ability to help itself heal. We want to do the best job in preventing illness from happening again or from starting it to begin with.”
Johnson began her career as a nurse in Greenwich 19 years ago. What is now the Center for Integrative Medicine began in 1988 as the Healthy Living Center, a now separate program. Johnson was working in an outpatient program for patients with chronic illnesses, mostly heart disease, and noticed the patients with a better ability to cope with stress tended to have better outcomes.
Problems commonly dealt with by the center are insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, fatigue and a general feeling of not being well. Johnson says often people can’t put their finger on it, but they all agree they have stress.
Included in the center’s staff are two conventionally trained fulltime physicians, Dr. Henri J Roca III, medical director, and Dr. Spencer Martin, director of women’s health, as well as registered nurses, dieticians, massage therapists, acupuncturists, a chiropractor, yoga instructors, children’s specialist, a gynecologist and a naturopathologist.
Johnson credits much of the holistic style of medicine that is applied at the center to Dr. Herbert Benson, the director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine and the Mind-Body Medical Institute associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“Someone could have a lot on their plate in terms of the stress in their life, though if they learned how to cope well, that’s what matters; it’s really about perspective,” said Johnson.
The program teaches patients to first look at lifestyle and nutrition before applying pharmaceuticals. The wellness program teaches methods of yoga, meditation and breathing therapy, all designed to quiet the mind.
“We look at nutrition first before we suggest supplements,” said Johnson. “We talk to patients and tell them to start looking at food as medicine.”
0 Comments