Have you ever imagined: A medical system that understands the individual needs of its patients to improve health outcomes? A medical system that treats disease in the individual with interventions that are designed to that patient’s specific unique biochemical and nutritional needs? A medical system that recognizes and treats chronic illness as well as acute disease with the perspective that physical and emotional imbalances need to be addressed as part of the treatment program? If your answer to these questions is "yes," then you have an interest in the medical services provided at the Healthy Living-Healthy Aging Clinic.
Family practice is the medical specialty which provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family. The scope of family practice encompasses all ages, both sexes, each organ system, and every disease entity.
Family physicians possess unique attitudes, skills, and knowledge which qualify them to provide continuing and comprehensive medical care, health maintenance and preventive services to each member of the family regardless of sex, age or type of problem, be it biological, behavioral, or social. These specialists, because of their background and interactions with the family, are best qualified to serve as each patient's advocate in all health-related matters, including the appropriate use of consultants, health services, and community resources. (www.AAFP.org)
However, family medicine has lacked the conceptual models to bring to patients the benefits of the impressive molecular and nutritional scientific breakthroughs in the underlying processes of both disease and aging. Functional medicine and the training through the Institute of Functional Medicine in Gig Harbor, Washington, has provided the intellectual bridge that allows reproducible clinical results using alternatives to the exclusive use of prescription drugs and surgery for medical problems.
Functional medicine is an integrative, science-based discipline that treats illness and promotes wellness by focusing assessment on the biochemically unique aspects of each patient, and then employing individually tailored interventions to restore physiological, psychological and structural balance. It is rooted in the concept of personalized medicine by a deeper understanding of the relationship of dysfunction and illness to the interaction between the individual and his or her diet, lifestyle and environment. Founded in 1993, by its Chairman, Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., and President, David Jones, M.D., IFM is the only organization providing a clinically proven, systemized approach to learning the practice of functional medicine. The nonprofit Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) received accreditation for its doctor training programs in 1999 by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) This approach is described in detail on the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) web site (www.functionalmedicine.org).
Doctors David Jones and Michael and Leslie Stone are committed to achieving the integration of the principles and practices of family medicine with the broad scientific-based principles and processes incorporated into functional medicine for the benefit of their patients. It is the daily application of this uniquely integrated medical system that has produced innovative treatments for acute and chronic diseases and lifestyle management programs for optimal health and aging.