Lebovitz speaks of both traditions with ease. He spent a month last year traveling to Europe and the Far East to look into alternative medical practices. Lebovitz returned with a new respect for some of the healing traditions of other countries that are looked upon with skepticism in the United States. Most alternatives don't. But it's very important to know that patients are doing this already.
Doctors have to be aware of that.
In the past year, Lebovitz has led the hospital's integrated medicine program, bringing in Dr. Arvind Kulkarni, a radiation oncologist with 30 years practice in both mainstream and alternative medicine in Bombay, India. At Medical Wellness Associates in Jeannette, Dr. Martin Gallagher, a chiropractor who runs the alternative care practice, finds himself battling extremists who refuse to accept alternative therapies as a complement to traditional care. One of his patients was Erika Zelem. People disenchanted with the medical system go out there and do these other things. They need to enter our world.