Cancer Treatments
Medical Oncology
The medical oncology team at Salish Cancer enter provides evidence-based modern oncology in a unique and supportive environment. Our oncologists personalize their treatment plans for each patient, utilizing the best of modern medicine in conjunction with an optimized integrative care plan from our multidisciplinary team.
The philosophy of our medical team is patient-centered care that considers all aspects of the patient, including the body, mind, and spirit. “By addressing the whole patient, we hope to positively impact our patient’s response to therapy, quality of life, and survivorship, while decreasing therapy-related toxicity,” says Dr. Klimant.
Our oncologists and advanced practitioners spend ample time with each patient to ensure that they fully understand their disease, the therapies that are being recommended, and the goals of treatment. Salish Cancer Center serves both native and non-native patients with cancers of all types, including hematologic disease.
Commonly recommended therapies include chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, surgery, and radiation. Utilizing the concepts of modern oncology, our oncologists genetically characterize cancers when indicated and personalize treatment plans based on the most cutting-edge genomic medicine available. In addition, our treatment plan incorporates patient preferences, cultural beliefs, and impacts of prior therapy to develop a truly personalized and unique plan.
The experience of cancer is often a frightening one. Our dedicated team will work to ensure your cancer journey is as comfortable as possible. We are accustomed to arranging out-of-town laboratories, cancer imaging modalities, and assistance with travel when needed. Salish Cancer Center is a place to receive modern oncology care in a supportive and nurturing environment that focuses on a positive and welcoming patient experience within a multi-disciplinary communicative team.
We look forward to meeting you and understanding your or your loved one’s journey. We hope to work together as a team to offer you the best of modern oncology and evidence-based complementary whole-person care.
Naturopathic Medicine
Salish Cancer Center is recognized as a leader in the 23-year tradition of fully integrating naturopathic medicine and conventional oncology. We have observed that patients who receive integrative treatments have fewer side effects, and, many times, a better quality of life. Our naturopathic physicians pass rigorous exams to become board-certified naturopathic oncologists. Working together with our medical oncologists, they are experts in providing individualized, science-based treatment plans for each patient.
Our goal is to improve patients’ whole health and well-being. Our naturopathic oncologists identify risk factors that facilitate cancer growth and correct them to reduce the likelihood of recurrence or progression. The naturopathic oncologist will also provide individualized support for each patient to achieve the following goals:
- Reduce the side effects of treatment
- Increase tumor death from conventional treatment
- Support immune function
- Improve overall health
- Use natural tumor-inhibiting herbs
- Modulate tumor-promoting hormones
- Reduce the risk of recurrence after completing treatment
The overall effect of our team approach is to make treatment more tolerable and more effective. In addition, our naturopathic oncologists advocate using other support services provided by Salish Cancer Center, including acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Mind-Body Medicine, and Social Services as appropriate.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine, also known as East Asian Medicine or Oriental Medicine, is an entire medical system that has continually developed over thousands of years with its medical theory, diagnosis, and treatment plan.
Diagnosis:
The acupuncture therapists at Salish Cancer Center have developed keen diagnostic skills to effectively evaluate the quality, quantity, and balance of Qi flowing within the body. Diagnosis may involve five primary techniques:
- Pulse diagnosis – Over 26 subtle variations in the pulse quality are felt at 6 different positions on each wrist.
- Looking – A person’s appearance, demeanor, and tone of voice, as well as the color, shape, and size of the tongue can provide an acupuncturist with vital clues about internal health.
- Asking – By asking questions, information is gathered about past medical history, current health, lifestyle, and emotional state.
- Physical examination – Palpation of specific areas and acupuncture points can reveal imbalances.
- Diagnostic tools – An acupuncturist can further tailor treatment plans by reviewing medical charts, imaging, and pertinent lab information.
Services Offered:
- Acupuncture – Tiny, disposable, sterile needles are placed gently into specific acupuncture points.
- Herbs – Chinese herbal medicine draws from thousands of herbs for specific conditions.
- Moxibustion – Dried mugwort leaves are rolled into a stick or placed on the end of needles, then burned as a warming therapy during treatment.
- Oriental nutrition – Specific foods used to strengthen, rebuild, and balance the body.
- Qi Gong – Specific movements and breathing exercises improve health and vitality.
- Electro-acupuncture – Acupuncture points are stimulated using a safe, gentle electrical current.
- Acupressure/Tuina – A massage technique that stimulates the meridians, facilitating the flow of Qi.
- Gua Sha – A gentle scraping of the skin surface using a Gua Sha tool to increase circulation.
- Cupping – Using glass or bamboo cups to create a vacuum to increase warmth and circulation.
Traditional Native Healing
Traditional Healing practices are founded on the understanding that health is our natural state. As we live in balance with Mother Earth and our Creator, we, too, are in balance and live in good health. Traditional Healers come from many different tribes throughout the United States, offering help in their unique way through their own culture and beliefs.
Native American Traditional Healing practices are founded on our connection as human beings to the natural environment, natural cycles, and our more profound connection to the spirit of all things. Health is our natural state, and as we live in balance with Mother Earth and our Creator, we too are in balance and are healthy.
The Native Healer’s deep connection to the natural environment and their understanding of the true spiritual nature of creation, including the human experience, takes many years to obtain. Yet, many are born with this innate wisdom. From this place of understanding, Healers help others obtain a connection to their own natural and spiritual selves, where healing can take place.
It is understood that health is our natural state, and as we live in balance with Mother Earth and our Creator, we, too, are in balance. However, a disconnect from the innate spiritual nature of all things, toxic environmental exposure, and emotional trauma can cause an individual’s disconnect, thus manifesting as illness. Therefore, the modalities of treatment in the realm of traditional medicine vary as they are dependent on the person’s unique presentation and strive to create an opportunity for the individual to understand the nature and root of the illness to regain health and re-establish this connection.
Within each of us lies the ability to heal ourselves. Access to healing can be generated from the physical level in herbs, foods, and music or in ways that reconnect the individual to the natural environment. A combination of treatments from the emotional and spiritual levels through prayer, meditation, song, and ceremony are also commonly used. We all have equal access to this power and are capable of reaching our natural state of health. However, assistance from a Healer, whether it be a Traditional Healer or other practitioners who practice Chinese, Naturopathic, Ayurvedic or Western Medicine, are often needed to assist the individual through the path to recovery.
Here at Salish Cancer Center, Traditional Healing Practices, Chinese Medicine, Naturopathic Medicine, and Medical Oncology are essential to the healing process and are offered either separately or together, synergistically supporting and accelerating the healing process.
Integrative Medicine
Research has found that different types of healthcare can work together to create a healthier, stronger individual. Integrative medicine is just that; it brings together conventional and complementary care to help heal your body. Coordinating care in this way allows doctors and practitioners to treat the patient as a whole, rather than just focusing on one system or part of the body.
Using integrative medicine to treat cancer patients is one of the ways in which Salish Cancer Center embraces whole patient care. We provide well-coordinated care by introducing and offering “multimodal interventions” (using two or more types of healthcare interventions simultaneously). We provide services that bring together the physical and mental health of the whole patient. In this way, Salish Cancer Center offers conventional care such as medication, physical rehabilitation, and mental health services alongside complementary approaches like yoga, acupuncture, and supplements.
Research and the use of integrative medicine expands our understanding of the connections between the body systems and the various aspects of health. Being a part of a healthcare community that embraces the integration of addressing the patient’s biological, social, and environmental needs allows us to treat the person rather than just the disease. As integrative care becomes more widely understood and utilized, we can help individuals, families, communities, and populations improve and restore their health in interconnected ways.