Integrative health is a novel, progressive approach to healthcare delivery that redefines the relationship between the practitioner and patient by focusing care efforts on the whole person and entire community. Optimal health and healing originate from the coordination of conventional healing practices with complementary therapies into healthcare that is patient centered, evidence-based, and team delivered. At its core, integrative health is the pursuit of personal health and wellbeing foremost, while addressing disease as necessary, with the support of a health team dedicated to all proven approaches – conventional medicine, complementary medicine, and lifestyle/self-care approaches.
In our pursuit to deliver enhanced primary care, the MediSys Health Network will be opening the MediSys Center for Wellness and Health in 2024. Based on a whole person, patient-centered, advanced primary care model, our goal is to adequately deliver our integrative care efforts to our community through a central hub that houses all our integrative advanced primary care resources, making them easily accessible and readily available to our underserved patient population.
Located at 143-02 Jamaica Avenue, our 20,865-square-foot MediSys Center for Wellness and Health will have five floors, each dedicated to a specific area of integrative medicine.
The concourse of the building will be a space dedicated to teaching about overall wellness and health. Here, we will utilize a large classroom space to educate patients about how to be healthy, motivating them to live their best and healthiest lives.
The ground floor will be a reception and welcome area; an integrative pharmacy will share this space. Pharmacists will provide both traditional medicine and vitamin therapies, as well as proven herbal therapies. It is here that patients will have access to herbs and supplements (as prescribed by their integrative health care provider) at a low, discounted price. The ground floor will also house a greengrocer, where patients and visitors can shop for fresh fruits and vegetables at an affordable price.
The second floor of our building will be a dedicated wellness floor. It is here that patients will have access to a large menu of integrative health services. Such services include:
- Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine
- Pain Management
- Mindfulness and Meditation Programs for Stress Management and Relaxation
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (including an exercise gym)
- Acupuncture
- Tai Chi
- Yoga
- Massage Therapy
- Guided Imagery
- Acupressure
- Music Therapy
- Art Therapy
- Aromatherapy
- Reiki Healing
There will also be a large classroom space for group Integrative classes both in-person and virtually.
The third floor of the center will be a dedicated medical floor with five full-time integrative medicine healthcare providers. Our integrated physicians are not only trained in traditional primary care medicine, but have also completed extensive training in the use of complementary therapies and how they work in combination with conventional medicine. Our integrative health physicians are devoted to making integrative health a routine element of primary care for our diverse, underserved population, who do not currently have access to this level of treatment.
The center’s fourth floor will be a dedicated nutrition center. In this area, large classrooms will allow patients to meet with and learn from licensed nutritionists about disease-specific nutrition and meal planning. There will also be smaller examination rooms for patients to meet privately with a nutritionist to discuss their individual needs while setting goals for optimal health. To add an elevated approach to nutrition education, space will be dedicated to a large demonstration kitchen, complete with smaller cooking stations for patients to learn how to make healthier food choices and prepare healthy meals based on their current nutritional needs, all while preserving their culture.
To add a completely unique dimension to our Integrative Health Center, we are working on making the building’s rooftop useable for an outdoor garden and greenhouse. Here, patients can learn how to grow and pick quality fruits and vegetables so that they are better prepared to shop at home. Additionally, we hope to add a beehive for fresh honey, as well as a chicken coop for fresh eggs.
Other services offered in our Integrative Health Center include:
- Weight management
- Diabetes education programs
- Personal health coaching
- Preparation of personalized health plans
- Telehealth
- Case management
- Care management
- Social services to address social determinants of health
- Legal health through extensive community partnerships
- Caregiver education
Our primary goal for the Urban Integrative Health Center of Excellence is to empower our patients to become active participants in their own health and wellness by assisting them in a team-based approach. We hope to provide our patients with the essential tools necessary to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy. We plan on addressing not only what is “wrong” with patients, but also what matters to them and brings joy to their lives. We firmly believe that with the help of our Integrative Health Center, we can treat the whole patient, not just their disease.