Jackson Free Press

Dr. Margaret Drake lives in two worlds. An occupational therapist, art therapist and associate professor in the Graduate Program in Clinical Health Sciences at University Medical Center, Drake is also a 25-year student and practitioner of alternative therapies. She is a member of the Wellness Circle, a loose association of local practitioners and people who just want to learn about alternative therapies.

Complementary and alternative medicine, also called CAM, is defined as any therapy not practiced by medical doctors and osteopaths or their allied professionals.

Drake treads the narrow path between the two worlds and hopes that someday they will meet. She sees progress. When she arrived at UMC seven years ago, she was the only therapist using guided imagery. Now at least two of her colleagues are using it and teaching it to their students.

Americans spend billions of dollars annually on alternative therapies. It is estimated that over half of us use some form. Each year more listings appear for chiropractors, massage therapists and healers–Reiki, acupuncture, homeopathy, reflexology and herbal therapy. In 1998 Congress established the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and charged it with researching which therapies work and why. This legitimized the work necessary to heal some of the culture clash between traditional and alternative medicine.

Since 2000, UMC has offered graduate courses on alternative therapies and has conducted a study on reflexology. Recently, Drake and Dr. Fazlay Faruque, director of geographic information systems at UMC, developed a plan to create a database of CAM practitioners in the tri-county area.

Faruque says over 60 percent of patients using alternative therapies do not tell their medical doctors. He believes distributing the information will give local doctors what they need to initiate conversations with patients and make referrals to alternative practitioners when appropriate. Drake and Faruque hope the study will serve as a model for other states working to integrate health care at all levels.

If you practice alternative therapies in Hinds, Rankin or Madison counties and want more information, contact Dr. Margaret Drake at [e-mail missing] or 984- 6361. Participation will entail interviews and survey forms to gather data on practitioners and develop a detailed description of various treatments.