A first-of-its-kind medical residency program that just opened in
Old Town's new medical complex housed in the old Cedar Street School, was born from a unique medical collaboration.
It started in 2007, when a student from a West Coast school of
naturopathic medicine spent a month in Lansing job-shadowing a rheumatologist, Dr. Carla Guggenheim, who is a DO at Arthritis Care in Lansing. During that month, both student and physician learned about the unique and complementary approaches each brought to the treatment of patients with chronic diseases.
The medical student was Alena Guggenheim, now a practicing naturopathic physician. Carla, the rheumatologist, is her mother.
That month-long experience as a mother-daughter medical team set the wheels in motion for the development of country’s first Integrative Medicine Rheumatology residency. This one-of-a-kind residency allows patients to receive consultation and treatment from both a rheumatologist and a naturopathic physician.
The team approach brings the best of both worlds under one roof with Arthritis Care, which recently opened in the new medical complex in Old Town (see related article). There, the unique residency program blends
allopathic (sometimes referred to as Western or traditional medicine) and alternative therapies.
Alternative ApproachNaturopathic medicine practitioners prefer treatment approaches that they consider to be the most natural and least invasive, instead of using drugs and more invasive procedures. Their focus is on treating the whole person (physical, mental, emotional, environmental, social and genetic). The discipline also stresses prevention, and patients are taught skills that promote healthy living.
“Our training emphasizes our role as teachers as well as healers,” says Alena Guggenheim, describing her medical education.
Carla Guggenheim gives two primary reasons for pursuing the partnership with naturopathy. The first is a recent study that found that more than 80 percent of patients with rheumatoid arthritis were using over-the-counter products.
“When I realized that I had very limited knowledge of those products, I knew I had some research to do," Guggenheim says. "Alena has been so helpful in expanding my knowledge of supplementation. I’ve learned that the way a medication is compounded really does matter.”
The second reason is the information gleaned during Alena’s time in Guggenheim's office during the month-long job shadowing in 2007. Part of Alena's training included taking in-depth interviews with patients. Based on the information they provided, Alena was able to identify some of the treatment gaps and how those gaps might be served by naturopathic therapies.
"Together, we make a powerful team to improve disease symptoms, quality of life and overall sense of well being,” says Alena.
Guggenheim has already started incorporating several naturopathic therapies that are proving very helpful for both her arthritic and general medicine patients. “But it’s my fibromyalgia patients who are seeing the most improvement,” she says.
“When I was a resident, if a patient was on more than ten medications it was considered too many. Today many patients that come to me are on over 20 medications," Guggenheim says. "I’m finding that the combination of both forms of medicine can often put a big dent in the number of prescription medications that a patient is taking.”
Recruiting for ResidencyThe Guggenheims are interviewing candidates for the residency’s single slot. The chosen candidate will be a recent graduate from an accredited naturopathic medical school.
Naturopathic physicians are educated and trained in a 4-year, graduate-level program at one of the four U.S. naturopathic medical schools accredited by the
Council on Naturopathic Medical Education. Admission requirements include a bachelor’s degree and standard premedical courses. In addition to the basic sciences, students also learn about herbs, nutrition, homeopathy, physical medicine and pharmaceuticals.
According to Guggenheim, the Old Town residency program is looking at an incredible pool of applicants from which to choose. “Because there are so few residency positions available in the country, we are able to get the cream of the crop,” she says.
While working with Guggenheim, the chosen resident will also train under a practicing, residency-trained naturopathic physician in the area. Patients who are interested in the more complementary approach offered by the combined program will be able to meet with the resident. They will work in tandem with Dr. Guggenheim to develop a comprehensive treatment plan that blends traditional treatment with the complementary therapies of naturopathy.
New Home in Old TownThe new residency is also a perfect match for Arthritis Care’s new home. Arthritis Care is part of a new medical complex housed in the renovated Cedar Street School.
Empty since 1978, the school building is being reincarnated as a facility to house a variety of business focusing on health, wellness and healing. When its transformation is complete, the 13,000 square foot Old Town Medical Arts Building will be one of Lansing’s only gold-certified
LEED buildings, notable for its environmentally sustainable construction.
Arthritis Care is on the second floor of the new facility. Joining them will be
Assessment Rehabilitation Management (ARM), which will provide occupational and physical therapy as well as a state of the art fitness center on the third floor. Old Town’s The Portable Feast will staff a kiosk on the second floor, serving healthy options throughout the day.
Although the programs residents will only work with Guggenheim for a year, she’s hoping that some of them will decide to stay in the area and develop their own independent practices, building the kind of complementary healing that will keep Lansing at the cutting edge of 21st century medicine.
To receive Capital Gains free every week, click here.
Viki Lorraine is a Public Health Consultant by day and a writer by night.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Dr Carla Guggenheim and her new offices in the renovated Cedar Street School
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie