What Is Holistic Care?
Taking a holistic approach to healthcare isn’t just important it’s also crucial for the general health, wellbeing, and outlook of our patients. Holistic care focuses on the person as a whole. This includes more than just their physical condition or symptoms. The medical team will take into account a patient’s social, spiritual, psychological, economic and mental aspects to help them prevent and manage acute and chronic diseases.
Our bodies need all systems and organs to function properly in order to optimally work together as a whole. So, when there is one area of the body that isn’t functioning properly the rest of the body experiences issues, as well. We often see this in patients with chronic disease. Chronic diseases can limit mobility and affect the quality of life. In turn, this leads to mental and emotional problems including anxiety and depression. Your physical, mental, emotional and psychological health are all interconnected, and in order to achieve optimal health and wellbeing, everything has to be working properly.
Treatment Options
We can provide conventional treatments and medication, as well as alternative therapies. This ensures that our patients get a wide range of treatment options that cater to their needs and treatment goals. For example, some chronic diseases require medication in order to control the disease and its symptoms; however, our team can also offer non-medicinal alternative therapies such as massage therapy or acupuncture, which could also improve your symptoms.
Additional Benefits
Another benefit of holistic treatment is that it allows us to provide patient-focused care. When someone walks through our doors we see the person, not their disease or medical history. This allows us to take time with each of our patients, getting to know more about them to take into account all facets of their life and how it plays into their health. Healing can take on many forms, and by providing our patients with treatment options tailored to their goals, health, needs, and lifestyle, we can help them make great strides in improving their mind, body, and spirit.
The Holistic Approach to Pain Management
Holistic care involves caring for the whole person. It is not just about treating physical symptoms, but also providing emotional support and stress relief, as well as meeting other needs. Holistic care is particularly beneficial in managing pain for patients with chronic or terminal conditions. Holistic care can include conventional medical practices, as well as alternative treatment methods. At Shenandoah Pain and Palliative Care Clinic, Ms. Garrison (NP-C), our experienced nurse practitioner utilizes a holistic approach to pain management.
Holistic Care
Holistic care can also be referred to as palliative care. The focus of holistic care is ensuring the overall health and wellbeing of the individual. It is more than just treating the patient’s specific injury, condition, or disease. Dealing with a serious illness or debilitating injury can be overwhelming for the patient, as well as their loved ones. The situation can result in depression, chronic stress, and feeling isolated, among other concerns. The goal with a holistic approach is to help patients deal with whatever struggles they might be experiencing in these different areas.
At Shenandoah Pain and Palliative Care Clinic, our holistic approach to pain management means we also offer emotional support and assistance dealing with stress and anxiety on top of providing relief from physical symptoms and treatment for specific medical conditions. We provide total care for our patients. Our holistic approach to pain management can benefit patients dealing with a wide range of conditions and illnesses, including:
- Cancer
- Lung disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Kidney or liver disease
- HIV/AIDS
- Dementia
Another aspect of our holistic approach is providing support for family members and caregivers. These individuals go through a lot emotionally and physically trying to provide the best care for their loved ones. It is not uncommon for a family member who is a caregiver to experience burnout trying to care for their loved one while also tending to other responsibilities. We are here to provide much needed additional support.
Our holistic approach to pain management aims to provide physical relief from uncomfortable symptoms, as well as improve the patient’s overall quality of life.