Health

Complementary Medicine

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:41 AM EST / CBS

Alternative therapies were once considered part of the medical fringe in the United States but not anymore. The US government now spends tens of millions of dollars to study alternative treatments.

What's emerging is complementary medicine: combining traditional medicine with alternative therapy.

In Manhattan's SoHo area, there is a tranquil environment committed to healing called Haelth [the unusual spelling is correct], a unique facility combining yoga, weight training, acupuncture, nutrition and massage with traditional treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy, which their clients receive independently of the center. It is one of dozens of so-called complementary medical facilities cropping up all over the country.

For 61-year-old Ellen Diamond, who was diagnosed with a terminal form of leukemia, regular massages have allowed a therapeutic release.

"I have to say that I have burst into tears during most of my massages," she admits. "There's something about the way these people treat your body and care that helps me release a lot of sadness about my disease."

The center's founder, Dr. William Fair, says Haelth is committed to offering therapies that are supported by scientific research.

"We're not talking about people running around with crystal on their heads," says Fair, a former chief of urology at Memorial Sloan Kettering who started the center after his own battle with colon cancer.

He admits that he was initially highly skeptical of most alternative therapies, including Chinese herbs, until he started doing his homework.

"I was really impressed that there was much more data there than I thought there was," he says. "We physicians don't read that kind of information. We tend to ignore it."

The trend is exploding. A recent survey estimates more than four in ten Americans are currently using some form of alternative therapy.

The National Institutes of Health has even established a national center on the topic, funded by government money, and the budget reflects the demand. In 1993, $2 million was set aside for the center. For 2000, it jumped to nearly $68 million.

One downside to complementary medicine is that treatments may not be covered by insurance. A one-time consultation at the SoHo facility runs $300. Treatments cost about as much as they do at a health club.

The center does not promise miracles. Ellen could still face more chemotherapy. But since her treatment at the center is coordinated with her doctors, she feels she is getting the best healing possible for mind and body.

"It's given me a sense of hope, not so much about the leukemia itself but about my ability it go through what I have to go through," she says.