Integrated Medicine:
the epic turn begins at the centre in Pitigliano

Simonetta Bernardini

 

Chronic diseases are the challenge faced by the medicine of our times. In more affluent countries, we fight not to live but to live better and for longer. The abundance of food and water and modern living conditions have enabled us to extend the average lifespan as well as greatly reduce neonatal and perinatal mortality. At the same time, conventional therapies, which aim mainly to suppress the symptoms of illnesses rather than to cure them, put citizens of all ages, and not just of old age, at a serious disadvantage: the collateral effects and adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals, together with medical errors, limit the quality of the residual life of citizens suffering chronic illnesses and represent a threat to their survival as demonstrated by the growing number of iatrogenic illnesses.

What we need is to completely rethink medicine and consider a new alliance between orthodox medicine and “other” therapeutic systems of the various traditions and cultures of the populations of the world. We need to convert this wealth of therapies, a human heritage, into resources for the prevention and cure of existing and emerging illnesses. It is also time that the so-called Chronic Care Model project opens its doors to Integrated Medicine and time for complementary medicines and bio-natural disciplines to be rigorously assessed as part of the overhaul of Medicine according to the principles for the maximum guarantee of the health of citizens, within the context of the services of the Italian health service. The Integrated Medicine centre at the hospital in Pitigliano represents an extraordinary innovation in the public health service, a model now at an advanced stage of experimentation (it began in February 2011). Homeopathy and acupuncture are combined with orthodox medicine at an internal medicine ward (hospital of Pitigliano), at the Neurological and Orthopaedic rehabilitation clinic of Manciano, and at the Integrated Medicine departments of the Centre. In the two years since the trial began, more than 9000 appointments have been arranged for patients suffering chronic illnesses, mainly of a cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastroenterological, neurological and dermatological nature, and relating to allergology, oncology and therapy for chronic pain. The Convention held on May 18th in Pitigliano was an occasion to present the results of the two years of experimentation of Integrated Medicine in terms of the effective reduction in the consumption of pharmaceuticals and the improvement of the health and quality of life of the citizens who visited the facility.
On the same occasion, a personal exhibition was held at the Salvini theatre of works by the artist Elena Cirella, dedicated to the Integrated Medicine Centre of Pitigliano.

Simonetta Bernardini, president of the Italian Homeopathy and Integrated Medicine Company.