Alternative Health Care Making Its Mark

By Irene Lagan
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 12/12/02)

Increasingly, Americans are reconsidering their health care choices and turning to a host of non-conventional treatments to cope with pestering health problems such as chronic fatigue, pain, insomnia and other difficulties. Until recently, alternative medicine has lacked the support of mainstream scientific. However, as non-conventional therapies become more supported by research and accepted, alternative health care centers have become more popular.

At the MARQ(Medical Alternatives for Responsive, Quality Healthcare) Health Center in Annandale, which opened just over one year ago, alternative treatments are making a difference in the lives of many individuals who have failed to find relief from non-conventional medicine. MARQ offers a broad range of services geared to seeking solutions to chronic and long-term illnesses as well as preventive care. The center provides natural, drug-free, surgery-free medical care with impressive results.

The Catholic professional staff specializes in team-oriented, holistic and personal approaches to treatment. Proper order and right relationships are part of the MARQ vision of health. The MARQ staff believes that God has provided healing power and remedies within nature, and that "miracles" occur when we utilize what is given in the order of nature. As Christians, they feel called to serve God by appreciating his creation, and view health as a gift to be preserved.

Dr. Jeniece Schaller, director, founded MARQ to bring together a team of practitioners who would offer natural health care alternatives motivated by Christian faith. Schaller is trained as a naturopathic doctor, and uses remedies that cooperate with nature to treat people who, in many instances, have found little relief in conventional medical treatment. Schaller works closely with several others in the practice, including another naturopathic doctor and nutritionist, a reflexologist and massage therapist, to provide a range of services.

Common ailments among clients include digestive complaints, fatigue, depression, allergies and attention and behavioral problems in children. Lifestyles that include poor diet and environment, stress and toxic chemicals can diminish a person’s healthy functioning and well-being. The staff focuses on finding the root causes of symptoms to bring about relief from pain and suffering. In some instances, chronically ill patients have turned to the MARQ staff for guidance and pain relief, and a local psychiatrist has begun referring some of her patients to MARQ. Often, the effects of stress and emotional problems can be relieved by simple treatments and lifestyle changes.

Dr. Kathy O’Brien is a certified nutrition consultant and doctor of naturopathy who works at the MARQ Center. "Our emphasis and our successes have been in finding and resolving the root causes of particular symptoms," she said. "For instance, if a person has chronic back pain, we want to eliminate the cause of the pain rather than rely only on pain killers to alleviate the symptom. To accomplish this we use all natural remedies." "People often come to us after having tried other options. Our bottom line is that the body will heal itself if it is given what it needs. That is what we look for: What does the body need to heal itself?" she explaind.

O’Brien believes that proper nutrition is a foundation for good health. Her approach to nutrition is based largely on the work of several researchers who studied the degenerative diseases that have become more prevalent since the advent of processed foods. Deficiencies in diet lead to a host of health problems, she said. Processed foods lack their original nutrients that are essential to a well-balanced and healthy, functioning body. Diseases such as chronic fatigue, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, digestive disorders, depression and many others are often a result of long-standing nutritional imbalances that affect the body’s neuro-immunological system.

O’Brien maintains that what a person eats will either regenerate the body or cause degeneration, and can make all the difference between good and poor health. "This is health choice that is under every individual’s control. We believe that we can effect real changes in a person’s health situation by changes in diet, lifestyle and implementing remedies that cooperate with nature."

Trained as a Montessori school teacher before embarking on her career in health care, O’Brien considers teaching a significant part of her work. In addition to conducting regular nutrition classes at the MARQ Center, O’Brien speaks in parishes, schools and private homes on regular basis. "The work I do is about teaching people how to eat well and simply," O’Brien said. "I believe in getting back to basics. I love to see people making changes for themselves that can improve their lives."
In the months ahead, O’Brien will be contributing articles on nutrition to the HERALD. For more information about the MARQ Center, call 703/916-8116. 

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