In the Beginning

The Institute for Health & Healing was created in 1994 as part of California Pacific Medical Center Foundation by combining three existing hospital programs: the Program in Medicine and Philosophy, Pastoral Care and the Planetree Health Resource Center. This occurred at a time of both great creativity and fiscal peril. Community members were inspired to come forward and support the Institute because of the innovative approaches to healthcare that were being discussed and tried at the time.

The Program in Medicine and Philosophy
From the beginning we brought cutting-edge thinkers, who were largely undiscovered at the time, to our medical center to discuss the deeper issues of healing. Andrew Weil, MD, had not yet become a famous author and speaker, but he had a lot to say to us about natural approaches to self healing. Hunter “Patch” Adams, MD (played by Robin William’s in the movie Patch Adams) spoke about “keeping the care in managed care”, addressed Pediatric Ground Rounds, and walked through the medical center in a clown outfit. Spiritual theologian, Rev. Matthew Fox, PhD, discussed “the body as sacred”, and the Dali Lama’s physician, Yoshi Donden, gave a 12-week lecture series on Tibetan medicine.

Planetree Health Resource Center
Planetree was founded by a dedicated group of community members and healthcare workers who also sought innovative approaches to health and healing. The Health Resource Center was created to help patients make informed health decisions at a time when access to health information was much more limited. Planetree pioneered other new approaches like massage therapy at the bedside, and they even created a nicely furnished hospital unit and worked closely with nurses to provide compassionate and empowering healthcare. Some of this group went on to create a national organization, while we continued the spirit of personalized care and providing accessible consumer health information.

The Pastoral Care Program
Pastoral Care has an inspiring history as well, having provided care to more people than any other Institute service. For over 40 years, theology and spirituality students have come from around the world to this hospital for a year-long, intensive training program to learn how to meet the spiritual needs of those who are ill or dying. The foresight of including spirituality as a core program of the Institute has also proven to be important as we’ve grown.

Today
As a result of the insight and hard work of so many people, the Institute for Health & Healing has become a national leader in integrative medicine, while providing care to more than 500,000 people in our first ten years. Today, we provide Health Professional Education, Clinical Services, and Affiliate programs at other medical centers. Only with the support and leadership of so many in our community could we have accomplished so much.