Over the past couple days we’ve been introduced to a new unit on Palliative care, or care for people living with a disease which they will die from. One of the key learning points that I have appreciated is the distinction between “healing” and “curing”. We recognize that “health” is not simply the absence of disease but a state of spiritual, emotional, social, and physical well-being. With that in mind, “curing” is treatment for a disease while “healing” is the promotion of health in a whole person. This is particularly relevant to Palliative care, because as a person declines from disease, their health may still be growing as a person. Indeed, it is possible to die healed.
Another learning point that I has hit home, a quote: “Caring for the whole person requires a whole person. Until one comes along, we work in teams.”
Wow, nice quote!
Great to see you’re learning so many interesting things in IIA!
Comment by Diana — January 9, 2009 @ 9:36 am
I am encouraged by the ‘whole person’ approach which acknowledges the spiritual element of humanity. To what degree do they look into the role and influence of spiritual healing use that form of intervention in the ‘team’ approach? I see this in my work allot – as a Christian, I believe that development must include the spiritual element on individuals and communities in order for true transformation to take place.
Comment by Dad — January 11, 2009 @ 11:20 am
@Dad, I agree
. To address your question, unfortunately it seems that the spiritual element is rarely incorporated in medicine. Palliative care seems to be an exception in that regard. It’s one of the fields, like Naturopathy, that arose as a reaction or response to the seemingly unholistic setup of traditional medicine.
Comment by Jason Booy — January 11, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
Wow Jason this makes me happy to see that they are acknowledging the wholistic approach in your studies
even if they aren’t truly practicing it, it is encouraging. Although I feel I should point out that historically speaking Naturopathy has been around a lot longer than traditional medicine ;P
Comment by Sarah — January 13, 2009 @ 5:45 pm