The Institute for Holistic Healing Studies will open a new resource center today that focuses on student wellness and education.
The opening of the Holistic Health Resource Center features a raffle with prizes ranging from certificates for one-hour massages and acupuncture to books about holistic health, according to Kenn Burrows, holistic health lecturer. Personal massages will be offered for a small fee, as well as demonstrations of various alternative therapies and videos.
The center has been designed as a place for all students who are interested in becoming healthier as well as those students taking classes in holistic health. It will offer books, videos and eventually computer programs based on holistic health issues.
A survey of 342 students from around the campus, including those in the program, showed the top four interests in holistic health to be stress management and self-care, acupuncture and Chinese medicine, nutrition and herbalism, and chronic illness treatment alternatives.
The Institute for Holistic Healing Studies, which was founded 18 years ago at SF State, offers a certificate program through Extended Education, and a minor for anyone pursuing a bachelors degree.
Burrows said, as far as he knew, it is the only holistic health program at a public university.
The institute, originally a part of the School of Science, became a part of the College of Health and Human Services when it was threatened with budget cuts about two years ago.
Holistic health is an alternative to traditional Western medicine which uses unconventional treatments such as chiropractics, biofeedback, spiritual healing, herbal medicines and acupressure.
According to an article in the Jan. 28, 1993, New York Times, The New England Journal of Medicine published a survey in 1993 showing that Americans visited alternative care providers 425 times in 1990, compared with 338 million visits to traditional medical providers.
Burrows described holistic health as a combination of Eastern and Western teachings. While he said Western teachings emphasize a more formal, reductive approach, Eastern teachings focus on an individual's mind, spirit and essence. Holistic health combines the two philosophies to teach stress and lifestyle management and alternative therapies.
Health care is currently "crisis-oriented," while holistic health is preventive, Burrows said. He said patients learn to listen to their body's signals and manage their lifestyle accordingly.
Holistic health is more than the absence of disease or symptoms. The key to holistic health is preventing illnesses before they occur, Burrows said. Education gives people the skills to prevent disease and optimize health.
As a former congressional aide, Burrows has seen the politics surrounding health care in this country.
"There is so much discussion about health reform that is financially based," Burrows said. "Put the health in health care reform."
Living holistically is less expensive, more preventive and people live longer, according to Burrows. Right now, Burrows said, 14 percent of the country's Gross National Product is health care and most of that is spent on heroic measures in the last year of life.
"There are alternatives that need to be looked at," Burrows said.
Currently, regulations discourage the use of holistic methods. Some physicians hire holistic health practitioners to work under their auspices, but the doctors can lose their license for practicing holistic medicine.
Burrows feels people "are defending their turf too much and the public needs to break out of mass hypnosis and learn to expand their horizons."
"It upsets the activist side of me that we don't have an honest, open dialogue," Burrows said.
Students in the program come from all different backgrounds and are pursuing majors in a variety of fields. Some are looking for a way to take care of themselves, others have taken electives in the program and stayed for more. Other students have had personal experiences with themselves or friends healing themselves from a major illness, Burrows said.
One intern, who is also a nurse, has a friend with cancer. She is doing a research project on holistic healing methods for cancer. In its literature, The National Cancer Institute defines holistic treatment as a "focus on the whole person rather than treating illness as an isolated event." It "recognizes the importance of a treatment approach that addresses the psychological as well as the physical well-being of the patient."
The opening of the center in Hensill Hall, Room 716, will be today, 1 to 7 p.m.