Moving through Ohio State’s Center for Integrative Medicine, one passes through two seemingly separate worlds – the world of conventional medicine and the world of alternative medicine.
The center has all the conventional trappings of a doctor’s office – a waiting room with old copies of Rolling Stone magazine,and drug advertisements on the coffee table and the hall of checkup rooms, with their butcher-papered tables.
Beyond this traditional facade, however, is an alternative healing oasis complete with slot-faced acupuncture tables, padded massage tables and the soft sound of crickets.
The center, which opened Feb. 28, specializes in what is called complementary medicine, combining conventional and alternative practices to give a patient more options in treatment, said Dr. Glen Aukerman, director of the center.
OSU spent $250,000 on renovations for the building, which is located on Kenny Road near Fred Beekman Park, said Emily Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the OSU Medical Center.
Aukerman and another physician, Dr. Diane Manos, provide the conventional care.
They are partnered with specialists in massage, psychology, acupuncture, yoga, chiropractic and Chinese healing practices. There are 26 different modalities, or methods or treatments, represented in the center.
“We are the only integrated medicine center that I know of with all these domains,” Aukerman said.
There was a mandate for the center to employ only highly qualified specialists at the top of their fields, he said. Only the best candidates were invited to join.
One of these candidates is Dr.David Wang, a licensed physician from China and a specialist in traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine. He practices acupuncture at the center, which uses fine needles to direct energy flow in the body.
“I think it is a wonderful combination (of treatments) – a melting pot,” Wang said in regards to the center.
There are also four specialists who offer massage therapy at the center and each professional has particular specialties ranging from shiatsu acupressure to myofascial therapy.
Medicine needs to move in the direction of this center, said Leesa Scott, a massage therapist at the center. She said patients will get better faster and stay better longer if they have a chance to be exposed to as many treatments as possible.
The center offers a bi-weekly program called “Healers on Call,” which combines the talents of all the specialists in the center, Aukerman said. A patient with a serious condition tells their story, and the healers take turns describing how they would treat the patient.
At the end of the session, Aukerman said he gathers up all of the healers’ name tags and gives them to the patient. They can then take them home and pursue the treatment that they think will help, he said.
Aukerman said this kind of “patient-centric” focus is at the core of what they are trying to do. It is important for the doctors to remember how it feels to be a patient and a person, he said.
“Sometimes in medicine it is hard to remember who you are,” Aukerman said.
As a university medical center, there is a responsibility to reach out to and educate the community, he said. The center is as open to the public as much possible while protecting a patient’s rights, he said.
Aukerman wants to start additional community outreach programs – such as an herb garden to grow healing plants outside the center – that would involve plant specialists from the university and local gardening clubs.
More traditional doctors not affiliated with the center have been supportive for the most part, Aukerman said. Much of the center’s business comes through referrals from other physicians, and many of the patients who seek treatment at the center still use their general practitioner.
The only resistance comes from doctors who either do not understand complementary practices or are uncomfortable recommending them to patients, he said.
There is no reason to fear any of the alternative medical practices, he said. Most have been around longer than what is considered “conventional” medicine.
Kathy Fisher became a believer in the healing powers of alternative therapy two months ago when she came to the center after seeing 40 different doctors for a spider bite that has been severely infected for the past six years.
The 51-year-old began seeing Aukerman about two months ago and she said he has helped start the healing process. Fisher also sees Hari Sharma, the center’s specialist in Ayurveda, a type of medicine from India that focuses on the body as a whole.
Fisher said the treatments have increased her energy levels, and friends have reported improvements in her mood. She plans to stick with alternative treatments.
“They’re going to save a lot of lives and limbs,” Fisher said.
