When naturopathic doctor Joe Pizzorno and two of his colleagues founded Bastyr University in 1978, skepticism about natural medicine was high.
Advances in modern medicine and pharmaceuticals during and after World War II had come at the exclusion of traditional healing practices prized since the turn of the century.
States that licensed naturopathic doctors had shrunk from more than 20 to six.
“We were just struggling to stay alive,” Pizzorno said. “Conventional medicine had won the political battle.”
Today it’s a whole new health care world.
Consumers are increasingly supplementing their visits to medical doctors with alternative treatments and therapies, often with support from insurance policies.
Bastyr University, an accredited, multidisciplinary university of natural medicine on 51 acres in Kenmore, now has an enrollment of more than 1,000 students, including about 500 studying to become naturopathic doctors.
In February, the university’s teaching clinic, the Bastyr Center for Natural Health, moved into a newly remodeled 32,000-square-foot space in Seattle, a $2 million upgrade and a boost of 9,000 square feet.
Bastyr can now easily accommodate a growing number of naturopathic doctors and student clinicians and the 35,000 patient visits the clinic gets each year.
Improvements include 40 exam and treatment rooms, administrative offices, a study library, a retail store and two new dispensaries, similar to pharmacies, one for Western natural medicines and one for Chinese herbal medicines.
Earth-friendly architectural elements and energy efficiency were also a key part of the project, including cork and bamboo flooring and paints and adhesives low in harsh chemicals.
While the old clinic space at 45th Street and Stone Way above the restaurant Beso del Sol in Seattle suited 69-year-old Rita Salvador of Edmonds just fine, she is enjoying the new space’s open floor plan, calming colors and other aesthetic features, all seven blocks south of the old clinic.
“It’s very soothing. You go in and there’s the waterfall,” Salvador said of the art-glass water feature near the main-entrance elevator. “Just going into the facility is worth something for relaxation.”
Salvador, whose Medicare plan does not cover her twice-monthly visits to the clinic, said the clinic’s sliding scale for low-income patients has made Bastyr’s services affordable.
“We’re just blessed to have a facility like this,” said Salvador. “You don’t get a healing university in many areas.”
Patients at Bastyr’s clinic typically meet with a naturopathic doctor or a licensed health professional in concert with a team of third- or fourth-year doctoral candidates or advanced student clinicians.
“They take such care. You to get know your students,” Salvador. “You develop a really personal relationship, which you don’t get in the medical world.”
Salvador visits Bastyr’s clinic in addition to medical doctors, but she hopes the power of natural medicine will continue to grow through Bastyr.
“Many people have an unclear attitude about this type of healing,” she said. “These students are fanning out over the country and world and will spread the word.”
Bastyr’s approach is one of holistic mental and physical healing, not quick, standardized cures, said clinic director and naturopathic doctor Jayme Wallace.
“We’re not looking at a disease and a drug,” he said. “We could have two or three people with the same diagnosis and they might all get a different treatment.”
Not only are more consumers taking advantage of natural medicine’s strengths, but medical doctors are also more likely to incorporate complementary and alternative therapies into patient care, Wallace said, citing Bastyr’s collaboration with area health care providers such as Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.
“Seattle is really on the cutting edge,” Wallace said.
Part of being on that leading edge is a long tradition of research into natural medicine, Pizzorno said.
Bastyr became first NIH-funded center for alternative medicine research in 1994. In 2002, Bastyr received a five-year research-training grant for pre- and post-doctoral students.
“It’s an exiting time not only because we’re more accepted, but also for the first time in history we have research funding available to advance our medicine,” Pizzorno said. “We don’t do research to prove ourselves; we do research to get better. How do you know if it works or not? You do good, quality research.”
Bastyr’s recent rebirth is another chapter of advancement for Bastyr and natural medicine, Pizzorno said.
“It’s an indication that we’re fulfilling that dream of becoming an effective health care profession that is a good resource for the community,” he said.
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 4 25-339-3037 or sjackson@ heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
