Panel urges alternative medicine
Student Center hosts health care experts
Tim McGovern
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An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but some more unconventional methods got students' attention Monday.
A panel of medical personnel and experts in the health field gathered in the Student Center to discuss complementary health care and alternative medicines to an audience of several hundred.
Keynote speaker Tieraona Low Dog serves on the faculty at the Program of Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. She said patients need to harbor a healthy skepticism of the medical field and that they have a right to choose any therapy, which may include alternative medicines and methods such as acupuncture, chiropractics, herbs and mind-body medicines.
"Conventional medicines may cause side effects. … It is okay to explore other options," Low Dog said. "People need to have a mind-body management. I am sometimes shocked by what people eat and their lack of exercise."
She said health science education should be promoted and should begin at an early age. This would eliminate bad habits and ease poor health when one reaches maturity. She added that people have an abysmal understanding of science and health in general.
"We need to promote health and well-being," Low Dog said. "I am here to serve, and service gives you great hope."
Speaker Lola Lehman, a certified Healing Touch Practitioner, is a nurse at the United Methodist Church in Anna. Lehman said there is an acute difference between curing and healing.
"Curing eliminates disease. It is a one-time thing," Lehman said. "Healing is more of an ongoing process. We heal ourselves."
Healing may involve less conventional methods such as yoga and meditation, methods used by speaker Shyam Bhat, an assistant professor of internal medicine and psychiatry at SIU School of Medicine. Such practices, he said, are common in countries such as India.
"In India people don't seek out Western medicine. Hospitals are seen as scary, foreign places," Bhat said.
While the panel propounded the need for healthy lifestyles and encouraged the uses of alternative medicines and practices, students listened attentively.
Jessica Rolla, a junior from Christopher studying food and nutrition, said she thought Low Dog's speech was interesting. Rolla said she agreed that people tend to approach the issue of health with trepidation.
"Most people are extremely uneducated when it comes to health," Rolla said. "We need to enforce the issue of health care."
Tim McGovern can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254 or tmcgov@siu.edu.
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