At the Heart of Healing :: Health and Disease :: Cancer

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At the Heart of Healing
by author Susan Safyan

“I have good news,” facilitator Carol Thatcher tells the 20 cancer patients who are beginning the Centre for Integrated Healing’s Introductory Program. Good news isn’t what this group of people has been used to getting lately.

Imagine hearing the worst news from your physician: you’ve got cancer. In response to this crisis, you may be faced with some tough choices: Do you grab on to the chemotherapy/
radiation life raft that the conventional medical system holds out to you? Or do you jump into the sea of alternative treatments, wondering which, among the myriad of options, are the best for you? Where do you turn? Who can you trust?
There is one place in Canada where cancer patients can find their own answers to these and other questions without being forced to make the black-or-white choice between conventional and alternative cancer treatments. This place offers them the best of both worlds.

One of a Kind

Founded in 1997 by Order of BC recipient Dr. Roger Rogers and current medical director and CEO Dr. Hal Gunn, the Centre for Integrated Healing (CIH) is Canada’s only not-for-profit complementary cancer care centre. The Centre is primarily supported by private foundations, such as the BC Cancer Agency and the Canadian Cancer Agency, and individual donors. The agencies’ support, says Gunn, has been helpful in mainstreaming the concept of integrated cancer care.

All patient visits with its medical physicians are covered by BC’s Medical Services Plan (MSP). Despite a recent climate of health care cutbacks in the province, funding for the CIH has never come under fire.

A naturopathic doctor, a registered nutritional consultant, a counsellor, a music therapist, and a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine work with the Centre’s medical doctors, and they can be consulted, on site, for a fee. Patients may receive acupuncture, vitamins, massage therapy, or music therapy, all under the care of a medical physician. Patients of the Centre can take free classes in relaxation and visualization, meditation, yoga, nutrition and cooking, and, with family or friends, participate in support groups. (To read more about the CIH Eight-Step Patient Approach to complementary cancer care, see our web exclusive at alive.com.)

The Body-Mind Connection

That “good news” that Carol Thatcher has for cancer patients is that there is an increasing collection of credible, current research demonstrating the effectiveness of the body-mind
connection on healing.

We all know that an injured body can heal itself, given the right support; broken bones, when set, will mend; open wounds, if cleaned and bandaged, will close–and it’s not a physician who sends blood cells to repair the injuries. Our bodies do this healing work. So how can patients and physicians best support the body’s own healing process when the diagnosis is cancer?

The future of cancer care, say the practitioners at the Centre, is based on the knowledge that mind and body are inseparable; illness is not separate from self, and an empowered sense of self translates, on a physical level, to an empowered immune system, better able to help the body heal itself.

Multiple studies with various types of cancer patients show that body-mind practices, such as meditation and guided imagery, not only help cancer patients deal with disease- and
treatment-related symptoms such as pain and nausea, but have a direct impact on the efficacy of their immune systems. How? Studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) show that meditation, for example, activates parts of the brain involved in the control of the autonomic nervous system, a channel of communication between the brain and the immune system. We can activate our immune systems with our minds.

While integration of body, mind, and spirit is the “foundation and essence of the work we do” at the Centre, says Dr. Janice Wright, one of the on-staff physicians, integrated healing also means bridging the divide between the patient and the practitioner, as well as the gap between conventional and complementary health care treatments. That’s why you’ll find a music therapist in the office next to one of the MDs’, and patients who are encouraged to decide what mix of treatments are right for them.

You’re a Person, Not a Tumour

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Susan Safyan is an alive magazine editor and contributor.

Source: alive #294, April 2007

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