12/ 9/11 - "Right now, veterans and their families are bearing the burden of the health impacts of a decade of war," Lt Col. Windy Hendrick, Air Force fighter pilot told the group gathered for the day-long seminar on Integrative Medicine in Action hosted by the Bravewell Collaborative. Working with the Wing Fitness program for the Arizona National Guard, Hendrick, a certified health coach, exemplifies the new face of integrative medicine in military settings. She blends physical fitness, mindfulness and coaching to support veterans addressing an array of health challenges.In the military, up until recently, it's been an unspoken taboo to avoid treatment, because "60 percent of the military believe that seeking psychological help will harm their career," said Hendrick. But now, without saying the "p" word -- psychology -- the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has turned to integrative health approaches to address physical and psychological health challenges that run the gamut from post-traumatic stress disorder and physical disabilities to divorce, brain injury and suicide.
"That," Hendrick noted, "is in addition to the obesity that also afflicts the U.S. population as a whole."
Due to major and chronic health challenges among vets, the VHA, which in 2010 treated six million veterans, now "partners with families," through offering quote-unquote "tactics" for veterans' quote-unquote "wellbeing plans." The miliary's re-languaging of integrative medicine signals a shift in military culture.
snip There are strong financial imperatives for this change of approach, according to Kenneth H. Paulus, President and CEO of Minneapolis-based Allina Health System. "Health care, the we way we do it is just too costly," he said. Especially since, with an annual tab of $2.5 trillion dollars, the "average U.S. life expectancy ranks 27th in the world."
snip The lifestyle changes many people have learned from the integrative approach have been adopted on an individual basis rather than encouraged systemically. The dilemma has always been, "How do you scale it up?" reflected Dr. Jonathan LaPook, M.D., the CBS Evening News Medical Correspondent, who moderated the seminar. "How do you build a system so that integrative medicine is not just for the well-heeled?" read more>>>
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