health and science
East and West, old and new: Local doctor mixes medical traditions
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Posted: Friday, April 5, 2013 5:35 pm
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Updated: 12:10 am, Sat Apr 13, 2013.
By Margaret Wilson
For The New Mexican | 0 comments
For The New Mexican | 0 comments
When Santa Feans mention enrolling in a tapping class, they may not be talking about dance lessons. Instead, the class probably involves EFT — or emotional freedom technique, informally called tapping. EFT is among several alternative medical treatments offered by Dr. Joalie Davie.
Davie, a former emergency physician, is a Santa Fe practitioner who supplements her Western medical training with alternative therapies. “If you had told me 20 years ago that I’d be practicing alternative medicine — from ancient Eastern techniques to innovative, new ones, I would have said, ‘Absolutely not. This is quackery.’ But I have been convinced differently — reading many scientific studies and witnessing the success of alternative medicine — for myself and my patients,” she said.
After more than three decades practicing conventional Western medicine and caring for more than 30,000 patients, Davie continued her quest to find the best possible ways to help her patients. This led her to explore other options and to refocus her study and training to include alternative medical therapies.
She moved her practice to Santa Fe and founded Health from Within LLC. “In my current practice, I combine several alternative treatment modalities — such as EFT, TAT [Tapas acupressure technique], focusing and hypnosis — to give my patients the potential benefits of each technique and to select what works best for each individual,” she said.
“In medical school, I was taught that more than 80 percent of illnesses were caused by stress, yet the treatments I learned were directed at easing the symptoms of the illness rather than the underlying cause. The same is true about nutrition. Little was taught about using food as medicine,” she said.
“As an emergency physician, I resuscitated patients, treating people with acute and life-threatening conditions,” she said. “Even though the treatment was successful, many patients returned with a progression of the disease and many had underlying chronic problems — such as migraines, asthma and depression.”
Davie explained that medications may alleviate the symptoms of chronic illnesses, but they fail to resolve the cause of the problem. “These chronic conditions threaten the life and well-being of millions of Americans, despite the best conventional care,” she said.
She said that her conventional medical training and experience help her apply the alternative methods with more confidence and better outcomes. “Alternative therapies address health problems from the subconscious mind and help patients to resolve the root cause of their illnesses. I offer restorative and preventive care and treat the cause of emotional and physical problems,” Davie explained.
She added that she has successfully treated health problems resistant to conventional medicine, including hypertension, asthma, migraines, allergies, surgery and cancer complications, drug reactions, obesity, persistent pain and other inflammatory disorders.
“My treatments complement traditional medicine, often making patients more responsive to conventional therapy. For example, I work with pre-surgery patients to prepare their bodies and minds for the stress, anxiety and aftereffects of anesthesia and pain medications. Many, including their surgeons and nurses, are surprised at these patients’ quick recovery,” she said.
Davie earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Harvard University and then worked in biochemistry research before completing her doctor of medicine degree at The University of Massachusetts in 1981 and residency at the Medical Center of Central Massachusetts. She is board certified in internal medicine. Previously, she also was board certified in emergency medicine.
Today she also is a certified professional in TAT and is a certified focusing trainer. In addition, she has training in EFT and EFT weight loss, Qi Gong and hypnosis.
Davie’s personal history rivals the dramatic changes in her medical practice.
Born into a Jewish family in Egypt, she attended French schools. Her first language was French. Because of the 1967 war between Egypt and Israel, she became a refugee. With her family, she fled to Italy, then France and finally the United States, when she was a teen. She found inspiration in her grandfather, a physician educated in London.
After spending most of her life and professional career in the Boston area, she relocated to Santa Fe about four years ago. “I attended a medical conference in Albuquerque and fell in love with New Mexico — the light, the skies, the land,” she said.
In Santa Fe, her practice includes seeing private patients as well as giving workshops and retreats for groups interested in finding and relieving the root causes of physical and emotional illnesses.
Clients and patients give Davie rave reviews. For example, Claire Lichtenstein, a retired teacher and librarian, said, “I had carried a burden of guilt because of an action for which I was unable to forgive myself. After attending one of Dr. Davie’s forgiveness workshops, I felt as if a weight had been lifted from within me.”
Antonio Lopez, vice president and senior financial adviser for Merrill Lynch in Santa Fe, said, “I was training for my eighth marathon and having some Achilles problems, so I was concerned about being able to finish the race. Dr. Davie helped me visualize running the marathon, and she helped me with breathing exercises. Using Dr. Davie’s techniques, I was able to cross the finish line in 2 hours and 49 minutes. This was the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2010. My wife and I continue to train for and run at least one marathon a year.”
Davie has worked with local organizations and Jewish communities, and she sponsors workshops and retreats dealing with stress reduction and forgiveness.
Davie will present a workshop at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6, on simple stress reduction at the Santa Fe Vitality Faire at Santa Fe Community College’s Jemez Rooms, 6401 Richards Ave. She also will give a presentation from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at The University of New Mexico Center for Life, 4700 Jefferson Blvd. NE in Albuquerque.
For more information, see Davie’s website:
www.healthfromwithin.org. She can be reached via email at
jdavie999@yahoo.com
or via phone at 505-819-9717.
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Friday, April 5, 2013 5:35 pm. Updated: 12:10 am.
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