The Continuum Center for Health and Healing

The Continuum Center for Health and Healing

The Continuum Center for Health and Healing
Beth Israel Medical Center
245 Fifth Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10016

Woodson Merrell, MD, Executive Director

Telephone: 646-935-2259, 2265, 2257, 2255
Website: www.healthandhealingny.org

 

Today many men and women are looking beyond conventional medicine to keep themselves well.  Increasingly, their choices include integrative approaches that address the mind, body and spirit in restoring health.  The Continuum Center for Health and Healing stands at the forefront of this evolution in health care—helping to develop a new type of medicine that combines the best of conventional medicine, traditional indigenous medicine and expanded healing approaches.

Founded in 2000 as part of the Beth Israel Medical Center, the Continuum Center for Health and Healing (CCHH) is one of the largest and most comprehensive integrative health care centers in the country.  Conceived by Woodson Merrell, MD, Executive Director, the Center was envisioned as a facility that would offer conventional medical care and a wide array of additional healing approaches using an integrative approach.

Because of its continued success, in 2007, the Center was designated the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center (BIMC) with the specific aim to introduce and incorporate the integrative medicine approach throughout the inpatient and outpatient facilities at BIMC.

Since its inception, CCHH staff has been committed to relationship-centered care and a collaborative working environment.  This approach considers the individual’s physical, psychosocial, spiritual, cultural and environmental needs in order to support healing on all levels.  Providers at the Center see over 3,000 patients per month.  In addition, CCHH oversees a robust program for inpatients at the hospital. 

The following is a list of the Center’s services and accomplishments:

  • In 2001 The Continuum Center for Health and Healing received an architectural design award from the Boston Society of Architects. The design of the Center enhances the patients’ physical, emotional and spiritual resources through responsive planning, selection of environmentally friendly materials, and the creation of a distinctive, non-traditional healing environment.
  • Primary Care, one of the mainstays of the CCHH, focuses on optimizing health, preventing illness and treating acute and chronic conditions. An integrative perspective emphasizes all aspects of an individual’s life, including family (both adults and children) and community and includes diet, exercise, stress reduction, self-care and spiritual renewal.
  • In addition to primary care, a wide range of other healing arts are now offered at CCHH, including acupuncture, cranial therapy, East Asian medicine, herbal medicine, homeopathy, massage, meditation, mind-body medicine, nutrition, physical therapy and personal training, Reiki, yoga, and psychotherapy.  The medical specialties offered now include internal medicine, orthopedic and sports rehabilitation with a physical therapy unit, gynecology, women’s health services, and otolaryngology.  In addition, CCHH has a natural apothecary that offers high quality herbs and dietary supplements.
  • The in-patient program expansion under the direction of Roberta Lee, MD, Vice Chair of the Department, has led to two active self-care programs: one for nurses via The Charles Evans Integrative Stress Management Program and one for physicians in training via The Rubin Resident Wellness Initiative at Beth Israel Medical Center.  The Urban Zen Initiative at BIMC provides integrative yoga services to patients in the hospital and is coordinated with the Urban Zen-sponsored Integrative Yoga Training Program.  In total, the Department now has over 50 healing arts providers providing medical yoga, acupuncture, holistic pastoral care and employee and medical self-care and stress reduction training in the inpatient setting.
  • The Research Division, under the direction of Benjamin Kligler, MD, Director of Research and Vice-Chair of the Department, has a robust research team that actively conducts and collaborates on research studies to determine the safety and effectiveness of expanded healing approaches for a broad range of health conditions.  They have recently published the results of their integrative approach to asthma management study and the outcomes of the Urban Zen program.  The department currently has two active NIH grants and several privately funded research initiatives.
  • An integral part of the Department’s mission is to train health care providers in integrative approaches to health promotion and disease prevention.  Under the leadership of Dr. Lee and Dr. Kligler, programs are designed for medical students, residents, fellows, attending physicians, faculty and other health care providers.  The on-going Continuing Education Program in Integrative Medicine for Physicians offers weekly trainings featuring experts in the field.
  • The Web-based education programs for patients and health care professionals, under the direction of Marsha J. Handel, MLS, Director of Informatics and Online Education, focus on expanding knowledge of evidence-based treatment options and supporting active patient participation in their health care.  To date, six online consumer education programs have been produced, the latest being an NIH-funded multimedia, English/Spanish website on integrative approaches to chronic disease.