Patients today are often aware of the health and mental benefits of practices like yoga, meditation, and art and music therapies. Many physicians want a place to refer patients that can offer guidance in a clinical setting with a physician’s oversight. “This is information patients will go looking for on their own if they don’t get it from their doctors,” Salvador says. For example, Salvador provides guidance on supplements, educating patients about those that shouldn’t be taken while they undergo chemotherapy and informing them about more benign ones that should be used judiciously.
A physician referral is preferred for the full program. When the clinic was first announced, there was a misconception it was a “boutique” or concierge clinic that would be expensive for patients. It is quite the opposite, Salvador says. Insurance covers visits and counseling with Salvador as well as psychological counseling, and other lifestyle counseling is free to patients. Classes such as specialized yoga and weekly guided meditation have a $5 or $10 fee.
UAB’s AIM program, which is active throughout the hospital, uses painting, music, storytelling, and other creative outlets to help the Integrative Medicine Clinic’s patients feel like themselves again after so much of their lives revolve around fighting a disease. AIM Director Kimberly Kirklin says professional artists-in-residence work with patients in ways that are proven to be beneficial but don’t necessarily have measured outcomes. Patients who are non-ambulatory or are weak from chemotherapy can also enjoy these activities.
“It’s all about being in the moment with the patient and basing it on the needs of the individual,” Kirklin says. “We sometimes call it the ‘ministry of presence.’ We’re there to provide a safe space for creating art or just having creative interaction with no judgment. It’s about patient experience; it’s about empathy.”
Physicians may view some of integrative medicine’s effects as foreign in the clinical sense, but anyone can understand the benefits of its methods from a nonclinical perspective. “When you dance, you have a certain nonverbal awareness and joyfulness,” says Mark. “Dancing or drawing or listening to music also improves your stress response and your immune response.” It reminds patients of the beauty of the world, she says: “When someone is being torn apart by cancer, it’s about reconciling that person’s sense of self.”
Specialists trained in art, dance, and music from the UAB Arts in Medicine program work hand in hand with the Integrative Medicine Clinic by offering visual arts and guided meditation, dance and movement activities, storytelling and movement sessions, Zentangle Method drawing instruction, and The Joy of Singing.
UAB’s Pastoral Care team provides spiritual support, compassionate listening, companionship, and guidance to help meet each patient’s practical, emotional, and spiritual needs while tapping into their most cherished sources of meaning, power, and hope.
Your first visit to the UAB Integrative Medicine Clinic will last one hour and will include one or more of the services previously described. Other clinic services include:
- Nutritional counseling
- Physical activity counseling
- Supplement counseling
- Counseling on energy therapies, relaxation techniques, and activities such as yoga, tai chi, and qigong
- Referral to physician (in-house)
- Referrals to exercise physiology services
- Acupuncture
- Fatigue evaluation (in-house)
- Sleep counseling (in-house)
The Integrative Medicine Clinic is located at The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital, inside the Hematology/Oncology Clinic on the second floor. However, some services are offered at alternate locations, and clinic programs are always being expanded to better serve patients.
800.UAB.8816
500 22nd Street South
Birmingham, AL 35233
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