Fashion icon Donna Karan held a press conference for the inroduction of her Urban Zen Foundation’s new partnership with the Ronald Reagan Medical Center UCLA Thursday.
When world-renowned fashion designer Donna Karan's husband, Stephan Weiss, was dying of lung cancer in 2001, she was distressed that there was no place in the New York hospital that offered yoga and other meditative therapies to ease his suffering.
The experience galvanized her into action.
"Much was missing from Stephan's care," Karan said. "He needed the knowledge of traditional Western medicine. But he also needed healing that can only be accessed from the heart and through the spirit. Out of my frustrations with the treatment at even the best medical facilities, a commitment was born."
Karan took a combination of Eastern healing techniques that she found effective and developed them into an actual program that has expanded to hospitals across the country. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, part of the UCLA Health System, is the first hospital on the West Coast to adopt the program.
In partnership with Karan's Urban Zen Foundation, the UCLA Health System will be offering a unique Eastern healing program designed to enhance the care of hospitalized cancer patients.
"During this curriculum, medical professionals from the UCLA Health System will be trained in five modalities of treatment: yoga therapy, Reiki, essential oil therapy, nutrition and contemplative care," said Gillian Cilibrasi, Urban Zen's program director. "Each modality is introduced separately, and then students are taught how to integrate the modalities to address whatever symptoms the patient or client is experiencing, such as pain, anxiety, nausea, insomnia, constipation and exhaustion. Once integration has been learned, students begin their practical experience during their clinical rotation hours, working with patients, loved ones and caregivers."
Training for the first group of 30 professionals at UCLA, including doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers and other care providers, began in September, Wilson said, and the program will be ready to provide these services to patients this December.
"Cancer patients are likely to be the first group to receive these holistic healing offerings at UCLA," Feinberg said. "With more than 1.5 million Americans diagnosed with cancer annually, there are many people and families who could benefit from an approach that involves treating the whole patient and his or her loved ones — and not just the disease."
