AIMA Conference 2016 - Home - Oncology Massage...
Transcript of AIMA Conference 2016 - Home - Oncology Massage...
Conference Review
Australasian Integrative Medicine
Association (AIMA) Conference 2016
Review by Amy Tyler, NSW Facilitator, OML
On the weekend of 3rd and 4th September 2016, I was
very lucky to be the delegate for OML at the
Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (AIMA)
Conference – Nature, Science, Practice: How science-‐
based natural approaches are changing medicine.
Having not been to an AIMA Conference before, I was
expecting quite a large delegation, however speaking to others in attendance, it seems it
was one of the smallest they have hosted in a long time (almost the size of our OM
conference!). So in the rather large Carriageworks at Everleigh, now Australian Technology
Park, we had plenty of space to mingle.
Saturday started with Adam Hill, AKA Black Douglas, welcoming us via a didgeridoo
performance. Our MC Luka Lesson was a local poet who also entertained us between
speakers.
Talks were held on historical trends, future opportunities, social transformation and global
equality before we went into our breakout sessions. I was pleasantly surprised when our
first speaker, Dr Robert Saper (who spoke about the historical trends), discussed Herbert
Benson as we do in Oncology Massage Module Two. During the breakout sessions I chose to
head into the Innovative Models of Care talks that concentrated on combining consultations
and integrating treatments in multidisciplinary teams and integrative oncology clinics (The
Lifehouse Experience). Dr Suzanne Grant, the acupuncturist at The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse
in Sydney talked exceptionally well on the set up used at Lifehouse and the therapies on
offer to patients (acupuncture, oncology massage, reflexology, exercise physiology,
meditation, yoga, qi gong and group classes). Lifehouse is a 50% public and 50% private
hospital. Interestingly she mentioned there are no volunteer services at Lifehouse and the
reason behind this is that it reduces the risk of improper care (i.e. poorly qualified people
offering a service to patients).
In the afternoon break out session I attended a talk by Janet Schloss, which focused on
supportive therapies during chemo and radiotherapies. If any of you attended the previous
OM conference in 2014 you will remember an integrative GP talking to us about
supplements, naturopathic medicines and Chinese herbs which can interact with the chemo
or radiation treatments in a negative way rather than a supportive way. This talk was along
the same line, giving indications for specific natural medicines that can be used and others
that are best stopped during treatment but re-‐introduced after. Similar to our teachings in
OM, she brought up the concept of a “new normal” for people who have undergone cancer
treatments.
Day One ended with a talk by someone I am rather fond of; Prof Charlie Teo gave a talk
simply titled Hope. He mentioned that hope is different for everyone and who are we to
push what our thoughts of hope are onto
someone else. Sometimes only the smallest
of things are important to one person whilst
to someone else something totally different
will apply. (He has a TED talk on YouTube if
you’re interested).
Day Two had no breakout sessions and was
mainly outside my scope of practice as a massage therapist however interesting all the
same. Discussions on medical cannabis for pain management occurred (who knew there
were so many different types of cannabis out there!), along with building biology, research
and genetics and epigenetics. (A few things here we already know about!). Interestingly I
found out that medicinal cannabis does not have the same mind numbing effects as illicit
cannabis. Secondly, as the use of Integrative Medicine has increased, the investment into
the research of Integrative Medicine has decreased.
Overall the conference was enjoyable and a great networking experience for me. I think as
OM therapists we are actually on top of a lot of the ideas being discussed among the
medical community, which is quite lovely to know.
To finish, just a quick quote I wrote down during Dr Nicole Avard’s talk: “When anybody is
pioneering anything, struggle is common”.