Resources

1. "Recovery from Rabies, A Case Report," June 1972

by Michael A Hattwick M.D., Thomas T. Weis, M.D., C. John Stechschulte, M.D., George Baer, D.V.M., and Michael B. Gregg M.D. published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, 76, no. 6 (June 1972): 931-942.

The publisher American College of Physicians has provided a web page link to those interested in reading the full report. Thank you.

2. Rabies Today

Rabies is a fatal but preventable viral disease. It can be spread to people and pets through the bites and scratches of an infected animal. Rabies primarily affects the central nervous system, leading to severe brain disease and death if medical care is not received before symptoms start.

Immediate medical attention following suspected rabies exposure is critical. Medical care following a rabies exposure is called post-exposure prophylaxis or PEP. PEP includes wound care, a dose of human rabies immune globulin (HRIG), and a series of four or five rabies vaccines, which must be administered as soon as possible after exposure. This care is vital to prevent the disease from developing. It is nearly 100 percent effective if administered promptly. Each year, 60,000 Americans receive PEP after a potential rabies exposure.

The disease is rare in humans in the United States, with only one to three cases reported each year. Still, rabies poses a serious public health threat, because of its high death rate in people. It is also present in many wildlife species, nearly three in four Americans live in a community where raccoons, skunks, or foxes carry rabies.

In the United States, more than 90 percent of reported cases of rabies in animals occur in wildlife. Contact with infected bats is the leading cause of human rabies deaths in this country; at least seven out of ten Americans who die from rabies in the U.S. were infected by bats. The animals most often found with rabies in the U.S. include bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes.

Worldwide: Dogs cause 99 percent of human rabies deaths outside the United States and every year, rabies kills 70,000 people worldwide.

PREVENTION

Rabies prevention efforts by veterinary, wildlife management, and public health professionals mean that human cases of rabies in the U.S. are rare. Veterinarians vaccinate over forty million cats and dogs each year, and these vaccinations significantly reduce the risk of you or your pets getting rabies. Each year, wildlife management professionals distribute oral vaccines to wildlife, through baits, to control rabies at its source, especially in areas where rabies in wild animals is common.

The best way you can prevent rabies is by:

Making sure your pets are up-to-date on their rabies vaccines;
Keeping wildlife wild by staying away from wildlife for both human and animal safety;
Calling animal control to remove stray animals from your neighborhood;
Washing bites or scratches immediately with soap and water; and
Seeking medical care shortly after potential exposures.

IF BITTEN

Any mammal can get rabies. You should consult a healthcare provider after a bite from any animal. It could be safe to delay rabies-related care, called postexposure prophylaxis, while waiting for the results of a test or observation period. However, if the bite is severe, especially near the head, or if it’s from high-risk animals like bats, raccoons, skunks, or foxes, post-exposure prophylaxis should begin right away.

Source: reprinted from United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/about/index.html, May 2024.

3. The Healer’s Art resources, Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

Training: Remen Institute for Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio, Healer’s Art Overview: https://rishiprograms.org/healers-art/

Books: Rachel Noami Remen M.D., Kitchen Table Wisdom, Stories that Heal, New York, Riverhead Books, 1996 and 2006 and My Grandfather’s Blessings, Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging, New York: Riverhead Books, 2000.

Research: Jaiswal, C., Anderson, K. & Haesler, E. “A Self-Report of the Healer’s Art by Junior Doctors: Does the Course Have a Lasting Influence on Personal Experience of Humanism, Self-Nurturing Skills and Medical Counterculture?” BMC Medical Education, 19, 443, (published November 29, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1877-3

4. Empathy resources, Helen Riess, M.D.

Training: Empathetics, Inc., for a range of available courses, https://www.empathetics.com

Book: Helen Riess, M.D., The Empathy Effect, Seven Neuroscience-based Keys for Transforming the Way We Live, Love, Work and Connect Across Differences, Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc, 2018.

Research: Helen Riess, M.D., “The Science of Empathy,” Journal of Patient Experience, Vol 4(2) (2017): 74-77.

Helen Riess, M.D. and Gordon Kraft-Todd, “E.M.P.A.T.H.Y: a Tool to Enhance Nonverbal Communication Between Clinicians and their Patients,” Academic Medicine, Vol 89(8) (August 2014): 1108-1112.

Massachusetts General Hospital, Empathy and Relational Science Program, https://www.massgeneral.org/psychiatry/research/empathy-and-relational-science-program

“Empathetics Evidence-Based Solutions for Healthcare’s Multiple Crisis; Empathy Improves Member and Employee Experience, Reduces Burnout and Resignation.” White paper. 2024. Boston: Empathetics Inc.

5. Whole Person Care resources, Wayne Jonas, M.D.

Training: Continuing Medical Education Course (CME)

Clinician as a Healer in Primary Care, Introducing Whole Person Care into Your Practice, a continuing medical education course, 2024, no charge. Tufts University School of Medicine Office of Continuing Education (TUMC OCE), phone 617-636-6579, https://healingworksfoundation.org/clinician-as-healer-in-primary-care/

Podcast about CME Course: Dr. Lauri Medina, Whole Person Health and New CME Course, How Healing Works Podcast with Wayne Jonas M.D., June 27, 2024.

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Books: Wayne Jonas, M.D. How Healing Works, Get Well and Stay Well, Using Your Hidden Power to Heal, California: Lorena Jones Books, 2018. Jonas has co-authored Healing and Cancer, A Guide to Whole Person Care with Alyssa McManamon, M.D, Rodin Books, 2024.

Website: Healing Works Foundation

Research: Elena Rosenbaum, Andrea E. Gordon, Jake Cresta, Allen F. Shaughnessy and Wayne B. Jonas, “Innovations in Primary Care, Implementing Whole Person Primary Care,” The Annals of Family Medicine, Vol 21(2), (March 2023):188. DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2023.230007R1

INTEGRATIVE HEALTH LEARNING COLLABORATIVE

The Integrative Health Learning Collaborative sought to better manage chronic disease by addressing social and behavioral determinants of health to improve the delivery of whole-person care and make integrative health routine and regular in primary care. (1) Seventeen clinics participated in the learning collaborative. They received training in integrative health, the support of expert faculty, and access to integrative health tools and resources as they worked to make integrative health routine and regular in primary care.

The clinics were mostly family medicine residencies, federally qualified health centers, and other clinics and health systems. Participating clinics targeted different patient populations for their integrative health work, including patients with specific diagnoses (e.g., chronic pain, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, anxiety/depression, or multiple chronic conditions), patients new to or interested in integrative health, and all patients.

The Family Medicine Education Consortium and the Samueli Integrative Health Programs sponsored the learning collaborative from October 2020 to September 2021, with a grant from The Samueli Foundation.

Participants:

BronxCare Health System Department of Family Medicine, Bronx, New York
Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Cleveland Clinic Family Medicine Residency, Cleveland, Ohio
Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester, Massachusetts
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and Residency, Lawrence, Massachusetts
Hunterdon Family Medicine, Flemington, New Jersey
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Queens, New York
MetroHealth Medical Center Department of Family Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
Middlesex Family Medicine Residency, Middletown, Connecticut
Oak Street Health, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phelps Family Medicine Residency Program, Sleepy Hollow, New York
People’s Community Clinic, Austin, Texas
St. Louis VA Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri
Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute at UC Irvine, Irvine, California
University of Cincinnati Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Cincinnati, Ohio
University of New Mexico Family Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico
William Jenkins Medical Center and Family Medicine Residency, Berkeley, California

INTEGRATIVE ONCOLOGY LEADERSHIP COLLABORATIVE

Jonas and McManamon organized a network of oncology leaders from around the world to adapt HOPE tools and resources originally applied in primary care for use in oncology practices and systems, April 2021 to December 2022. (2)

Participants:(3)

Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, Lancaster General Health, Penn Med-Pennsylvania
Davidoff Center, Rabin Medical Center, Clalit Health, Israel
DeCesaris Center, Anne Arundle Medical Center, Luminis Health, Maryland
James M. Stockman Cancer Institute, Fredrick Health, Maryland
John Hopkins Medicine, Maryland
Karuna Precision Wellness Center, Indiana
Life with Cancer, Inova Schar Cancer Institute, Virginia
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Florida
Memorial Sloan Kettering Center, New York
Sentara Integrative Therapy Clinic-Sentara Health, Virginia
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center-Jefferson Health, Pennsylvania
University of California at Irvine, California
University of Calgary, Canada

NOTES

1. Healing Works Foundation website. https://healingworksfoundation.org/resource/IHLC-Overview/

2. Wayne Jonas and Alyssa McManamon, Healing and Cancer, Rodin Books, 2024, 26.

3. Jonas and McManamon, Healing, 287-288.