When I was a child, my pediatrician was Dr. O’Hora. He was a slight, white-haired man with a bow tie, a soft smile and a gentle laugh. I loved him. I can still picture his waiting room like I was there yesterday: low tables that were the perfect height for me, tiny chairs, wooden puzzles, Matchbox cars and, of course, Highlights magazine. I was always excited to see Dr. O’Hora. Imagine that: a child excited to see her doctor. Each time I would go for a check-up or a shot, the same episode would play out: I would run around the office and hide, always in the same place and always with the same outcome. I’d squeeze myself between a cabinet and a wall in a bathroom off of the office and Dr. O’Hora would search for me. He could never find me at first, of course, even though I was always in the very same spot. Each time, after what felt like an eternity to me, I’d hear him enter the bathroom and then, peering around the corner, he’d discover me. We would both howl with laughter and then he would give me a lollipop. I would lie on the table back in his office, licking my lollipop as he gave me a shot. I remember thinking how funny it was that Dr. O’Hora could never find me and wondering if it was because no one ever played hide-and-seek with him or if maybe I was just smarter than he was. Either way, I was always sad to leave him and always happy at the thought of returning to see him again soon. Dr. O’Hora was one of the most compassionate people I have ever known. He would happily accept artwork or baked goods as payment. And if a patient was too sick to visit his office, he’d go to the patient’s home. He took great pride in knowing his patients well, from their family affairs to their spiritual beliefs. Maybe most importantly, he knew what made each one of us feel safe and secure.
Dr. O’Hora died quite some time ago. Many people were there to send him off with love and gratitude.

A less sterile course
Healthcare has changed dramatically since the days of sweet Dr. O’Hora. With all of the advances has come a system more oriented toward results and cures than care. A movement, however, seems to be afoot where doctors are trying to find their way back to a more patient-centered practice, where the guiding forces are spiritual, compassionate and holistic. Here, it is believed that caring for the whole person — the spiritual, the emotional, the cultural and the physical aspects — aids in the healing process and the patient’s overall wellbeing. Compassionate healthcare requires physicians to walk through the experience with the patient instead of simply processing information and dictating courses of action. Driving the shift are the findings from recent studies that indicate that people with a regular spiritual practice live longer, healthier lives. And those with strong religious beliefs tend to handle stress better than those who do not because of their heightened coping skills, support systems, values and overall views of the world. In response, hospitals and healthcare facilities have begun incorporating religious, spiritual and cultural components into their patients’ protocol. Mercy Medical Center in Merced, CA, introduced recently a policy — the country’s first, according to The New York Times — that formally recognizes the cultural role of traditional healers, like shaman, and allows them to perform nine approved ceremonies in the hospital. There are also instances of Rabbis working with doctors and their orthodox patients to make non-kosher medications acceptable, and translators who have helped bridge language and belief barriers between doctors and patients.

Restoring the human element
As quickly as medicine moved forward over the last century, the human element was lost. What’s transpiring now, though, is an effort to unite what has become two very distinct halves. Physicians who are fully present and attentive to their patients’ experiences, emotions, hopes and dreams, considering the spirit with equal importance as the mind and the body, may be the future of healthcare. Speaking from my own experience, I can say that in all the years of seeing Dr. O’Hora, I have not one memory of pain or fear, only laughter, love and feeling very, very smart. It’s worth mentioning in an article about medicine, compassion and spirituality that Dr. O’Hora promised G_d while he was a prisoner of war that if he was to survive, he would spend his life in service of all mankind and never charge for it. I have been blessed to have known a man like him and to be able to say that he was my friend. And I’m sure it’s no coincidence that I try to live a life in service of health.
Melanie Smith is the founder and owner of Yogaphoria, the Inner Health Club, in New Hope (215-862-4041; www.yogaphoria.com). She is a national board certified holistic health and nutrition counselor, as well as a certified life coach, grief recovery specialist, ERYT.