Beth Israel Goes Zen

As if a cancer diagnosis isn't enough, and as if enduring the physical fallout of chemotherapy doesn't quite cut it, we have to go and add the hospitals.

Clinical by necessity, as funding clearly goes toward equipment and services rather than aesthetics. Fair enough for the sake of health care. But what's to be said about patients' spirits?

Urban Zen is paying attention. The foundation, spearheaded by Donna Karan and supported by doctor, therapists and artists like, is making sure that people with cancer don't have to suffer unnecessarily on top of the emotional and physical stress they will undoubtedly experience simply as the result of their base treatments. By incorporating integrative healing methods — aromatherapy, yoga, massage, design — professionals can offer supplemental options that nourish the spirit and body.

Sound hokey? New agey? Check your cynicism at the door. Urban Zen is conducting extensive research on its initiatives, collecting hard facts and figures on how its efforts affect recovery. How could it not be healing to breathe scented air and experience the power of touch and the peace of guided meditations rather than tolerating painfully soapy soap operas and peel-back cups of O.J.? Spending time on a thin mattress hooked up to machines leaves a lot of room for fearful thinking and exhausting side effects. Accepting a massage and a little lavender essence may just make up for it.

So Urban Zen is taking it to the next level, in a big way. Donna Karan has given a $850,000 grant to Beth Israel's oncology wing to refurbish the environment and incorporate integrative therapy into traditional treatment options. Researchers will no doubt be able to document tangible evidence that will help to persuade other hospitals (set in their ways) that new methods of patient care do exist ... and do work.

From the Huffington Post's story on the Beth Israel project:

"During an interview for NBC Nightly News, Dr. Martin Karpeh, a surgeon at Beth Israel, admitted that he was skeptical at first of the program. But when he saw how aromatherapy and acupuncture could reduce nausea after an extensive bowel surgery, for instance, Karpeh recognized that these approaches could be complementary to the hospital's treatments."

Huffington Post writer Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald says it best: "Thanks, Donna! You've been making us look good on the outside for many years, now you are taking care of our deepest, innermost needs — to be seen, heard, felt, and cared for. Your dedication to service and inspiring others to be of service in this capacity is extraordinary."

We thank you too, DK.