The Problem

Unfortunately, Western Medicine focuses on diseases and not people, leaving gaps in physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. For this reason, bridges must be built between the millions of Americans practicing alternative medicine and the powerful world of modern medicine. Many people utilize mainstream medicine for diagnosis and basic information, while turning to alternatives for what they believe to be health-enhancing measures. Studies indicate that a majority of people use alternative approaches in conjunction with conventional medicine.

Wellness is already a major concern and continues to rise in America. According to Paul Pilzer, a leading wellness industry authority, and others, they project the $400 billion Wellness industry to be the next trillion dollar U.S. industry by approximately 2010. This is a growth rate of $250 million per day. This growth is being driven by the aging baby boomer generation and by the modern lifestyle which is full of stress, pollutants, toxins, lack of exercise etc, all of which fuel premature aging and increase in disease.

Western medicine and Alternative Medicine worlds are merging, but people do not know how to take advantage of this opportunity. In three separate research surveys that surveyed 729 schools in the United States (125 medical schools offering a MD degree, 19 medical schools offering a Doctor of Osteopathy degree, and 585 schools offering a nursing degree), 60% of the standard medical schools, 95% of osteopathic medical schools, and 84.8% of the nursing schools teach some form of CAM. Increasing the funding for research of alternative medicine techniques was the purpose of the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. NCCAM and its predecessor, the Office of Alternative Medicine, have spent more than $200 million on such research since 1991.