Naturopathic Medicine:

Columbia Integrated Health Centre is excited to provide Naturopathic Medicine services to patients in the downtown New Westminster area along Columbia Street and surrounding communities such as Queensborough, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey, & Vancouver.

In British Columbia, Naturopathic Doctors are considered primary care providers and have an average of 8 years of post-secondary education from accredited universities.  This means that an ND is trained to identify and treat disease.  NDs are also trained to order and analyze blood tests, Xrays, etc... and to perform complete physical exams, including PAP, breast and prostate exams.  Due to the extensive scope of practice of an ND, patients will often seek an ND as their primary “family doctor”.  Note that in the fall of 2010, ND’s will be able to prescribe hundreds of different pharmaceutical drugs in cases where they are necessary.  Coming soon, NDs will also be able to order lab testing for their patients.  With this new legislation in place, I am hoping that NDs will also soon be able to refer directly to specialists when the need arises.

Naturopathic doctors identify and treat the root cause of disease.  When a disease or imbalance is present in the body, NDs seek to identify the cause of the imbalance through thorough investigation.  This investigation includes a complete physical exam, a thorough interview (usually lasting 45 minutes to 1.5 hours) and analysis of recent blood tests and other tests.  If further investigation is warranted, an ND will suggest additional tests to complete the case work-up. An ND focuses on identification of the root of disease in order to achieve a state of cure, rather than palliation of symptoms.

Naturopathic doctors use evidence-based medicine to treat the underlying causes of disease.  The treatment plan you will receive from your ND is not experimental medicine rather it is science-based.  Several professional journals exist containing naturopathic studies supporting the use of various forms of “natural medicine” in the treatment and cure of disease.

Naturopathic doctors use various forms of treatment in their daily practice.  The treatment plan varies for each patient as each person is unique.  For instance, the treatment for one person with headaches will be completely different from that of another patient with headaches.  Treatment plans typically consist of a variety of the following: nutritional medicine, lifestyle counseling, acupuncture, Western herbal medicine, physical medicine (massage, chiropractic, physiotherapy), intravenous or chelation therapy, vitamin and mineral supplementation, neutraceutical supplementation, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, and prescription medications, if necessary.

Columbia Integrated Health Centre

756 Columbia St, New Westminster

Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine: Dr. Allana Polo, ND

778-397-3979