Alternative treatments like the yar- row wrap are the order of the day at the Paracelsus Spital, in the Swiss town of Richterswil, outside of Zurich. Founded in 1994, the clinic is one of a handful of hospitals in Europe devoted to comple- mentary healing. In addition to orthodox treatments and drugs, the conventionally schooled doctors here also use therapies and medications based on the holistic approach to medicine inspired by the anthroposophy of Waldorf education founder Rudolf Steiner.


“If you want to understand a person’s disease and support his self- healing powers, it’s of central impor- tance to look at the human being as a whole—body, spirit and soul,” says Paracelsus Medical Director Erich Skala. “This may require more time and effort, but it’s how you treat the causes, and not just the symptoms.”


Dr. Daniel Dunphy, of the San Francisco Preventive Medical Group, believes the Paracelsus approach is what the United States needs. “You have to take time to get to know the patients and listen to their stories,” he counsels. “I want to know their personal history, their traumas, how they do at work, what they eat and at what times of the


“What we now have is


not a health care system; it’s a medical delivery system.”


Dr. Daniel Dunphy, San Francisco Preventive Medical Group


day—and then I know what to do about their problem.” The Bottom Line


Of course, the bottom line in the debate about health care is cost. Proponents of integrative health argue that the promo- tion of preventive steps such as eating healthy food and mak- ing positive lifestyle changes, as well as using complementa- ry methods to treat the whole person and not just the disease, will result in “… the biggest return on investment this nation could ever have,” in the words of William Novelli, a profes- sor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Busi-


ness and the former CEO of AARP. Kenneth R. Pelletier, clinical pro- fessor of medicine at the University of Arizona School of Medicine and the University of California School of Medi- cine, has been putting numbers behind the arguments for integrative health. Pel- letier has studied the cost-effectiveness of corporate programs to promote health and manage disease among employees. The programs encompassed everything from subsidized gym memberships and smoking cessation classes to biometric screening and serving smaller portions in company cafeterias. Pelletier found that companies with such programs in place realized healthier, more produc- tive workforces, fewer sick days and less staff turnover.


He estimates that it takes, on aver- age, just over three years before firms see a financial return on this kind of investment. “These reviews clearly indi- cate that comprehensive interventions do evidence both clinical- and cost-ef- fectiveness,” says Pelletier. “There’s a very good payback. It makes us think about health as an investment.” More money, more pills and more technology don’t necessarily lead to better health. Advocates of integrative


medicine generally take a “less is more” approach—less needless medications and medical procedures and more pre- vention and healthy personal lifestyle changes can add up to big financial savings and big improvements in an individual’s quality of life.


Marco Visscher is the managing editor of Ode, Ursula Sautter and Carmel Wroth are contributors. Adapted from an article that first appeared in Ode, the magazine about positive change.


38 Collier/Lee Counties


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