Why is Natural Medicine so Important?

...a Mission Statement of sorts.

I am often asked why I left Oregon and came to Chicago to set up my practice. Why leave a place where Naturopathic Medicine is accepted, licensed, and covered by insurance, to come to the Midwest, where licensure does not exist (yet), and where most people have never heard of my profession? The attitude seems to be that we are a little bit behind the times, here, slow to accept those "woo-woo" types of healing that the New-Age-ridden West Coast is open to.

The answer is fairly simple: I came back to Chicago because it is my home, and I felt Midwesterners deserve and desire the medicine I love. We live in a time and place in which technological medicine is highly developed and widely used; and yet, I doubt any physician of my acquaintance, no matter their philosophy, would claim that the health system in the US is working. Chronic diseases of all kinds are on the rise; too many people live without access to health care. Too few doctors feel fulfillment in their work, as they are pressed to deliver diagnoses in mere minutes spent with the patient. I can't fix the insurance mess in the US, but I can try to fill some of the gaps.

What is missing? Time, for one thing; as an ND, I am trained to spend comparatively vast amounts of time with my patients--60-90 minutes, on average. Time to listen, to understand, to explore the true cause of their illness. Empowerment, for another; I am happiest when my patients find a route to their own healing, taking the recommendations I offer and applying them in their own way to their lives. Common sense, for a third; NDs often say that we practice true preventive medicine, in that a large part of what we do involves detailed guidance in diet, exercise, and stress management--the three supports of good health. Finally, the methods I love best--nutrition, herbal medicine, movement--are sustainable, powerful, and inexpensive.

They combine well with conventional pharmaceuticals, or stand well on their own. I believe my background as a Chicagoan influences the way I practice--where do you think I got the emphasis on common sense, for instance? Right here. The Midwest, by the way, has a long tradition of natural medicine--Dr. Henry Lindlahr operated his highly successful Sanitarium in Elmhurst in the early part of the century (not far from where I was born, actually). Chicago has some of the best conventional medicine in the world; I see no reason why we should be denied the benefits of natural medicine.