Director: Dr. Martine Toledano

E-mail: toledano@hadassah.org.il

In 1990, Hadassah became the first institution in Israel to open a complementary clinic to answer the needs of the population for new health services. The clinic covers both traditional and complementary medicine, offering patient a unique way to approach their needs and providing optimal treatment by drawing from the best of both conventional and complementary medicine.

The clinic operates within the framework of the Medical Center, enabling close contact between staff and patients and access to laboratory and imaging facilities.

More than 600 patients use the clinic services monthly – among them, a third are new patients – and enjoy benefits.

The clinic team includes qualified doctors and therapists in a wide variety of disciplines in both conventional and non-conventional medicine, specially trained in the integrative approach to both sickness and health promotion.

After complete medical evaluation and diagnosis, the patient is sent to any or several treatment programs that may include:

- Complementary modalities administered by physicians (MD/DO): Acupuncture; Homeopathy; Auriculotherapy; Mesotherapy; Osteopathy

-  Wide range of body and mind techniques and physical education: Reflexology; Shiatsu; Tui-na; Qi-gong; Bach flowers

- Nutritional consultations: promoting healthy eating habits; use of herbs; vitamins

Each patient is re-evaluated after a number of treatments. At that time, decisions are made about the continuation of the treatments and possible modifications.

The complementary clinic works in cooperation with the unit of Oncology and Pain clinic, assisting with alleviating the side effects of chemotherapy, pain reduction, stress control and improvement of quality of life and offering additional or alternate replacements for pain killers. Additional integrative connections with other departments in the hospital are planned in the future.

The importance of this integrative approach is presented in the following essay:

A HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE

by Wendy Elliman