Editors Note: This is the first story in a three-part series examining religion and health practices in Athens. Tomorrow's article will focus on chaplain programs at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital and Doctors Hospital in Nelsonville.
After a six-hour surgery to remove 30 cancerous lymph nodes from his body, the physicians told William Duerfeldt, a medical student, he had only six months to live. The medical school told him to drop out of class, go home and be with his family.
Duerfeldt, who had just become a Christian, asked his friends and family to pray for his recovery. Now, thirty years later, he is in good health and serves as a professor for Ohio University Osteopathic Medical School.
Duerfeldt is not alone in his experience.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Web site (http://nccam.nih.gov), a segment of the National Institute of Health, of the 1.3 million adults diagnosed with cancer this year, 83 percent of them will use alternative medicine. These ancient treatments include acupuncture, meditation, herbal treatments - and prayer.
OU's doctor of osteopathy program teaches students to recognize and cater to patients' spiritual needs. The concept is integrated into discussions in first-year medical classes, said Dave Fitch, president of OU Christian Medical Association and a second- year medical student.
The school just wants you to be aware that there is more to a person than just bones and muscle. They just don't want us to neglect a person's social and spiritual life
Fitch said.
Dr. Edward Gotfried, a professor in the medical school, developed a computer program for third-year medical students completing their residency programs. The interactive Internet based program, modeled after a program used at Harvard medical school, teaches students how to deal with patients who approach a physician asking about alternative medical treatments.
In their residency work, the medical students found most patients are open to discussing their spiritual beliefs with their physician.
OU Medical Center at Parks includes a question about religious beliefs on the application form for new patients. This makes it easier for physicians to approach patients about their spirituality, said Megan Porter a second-year medical student.
Fitch said he is careful not to push a discussion of faith on a patient who is not comfortable, and he asks patients if they want him to pray for them.
You have to be open and responsive and feed off of their cues Porter said.
Duerfeldt serves as the faculty adviser for OU's chapter of the Christian Medical Association, a group that often discusses the challenges of integrating one's Christian spirituality into the practice of medicine. The group also relies on its faith to deal with the emotionally taxing job.
Porter, the treasurer of the group, spoke about her first experience a few weeks earlier of drawing on her faith to handle a patient crying in her care.
I don't think I would be able to do this if I didn't have a reason Porter said. You deal with so many different experiences there would be no way.
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