Surprisingly, the healing arts have been one of the first aspects of the orthodox establishment to show the effects of the New Renaissance. Not a small amount of the credit for this change must go to Emerson M. Clymer, creator of the Clymer Health Clinic. This center, the first in the country to successfully integrate, on an equal basis, the various medical disciplines, was the forerunner of what is now called the holistic clinic.

The basic philosophy of the Clymer Health Clinic is so logical and compelling that it had to prevail. This premise was and is that every patient should be treated as an individual and should receive the best possible combination of care that can be drawn from all the known disciplines of the health and medical worlds.

The patient who comes to the Clymer Health Clinic with a back condition, for example, if first examined by a skilled chiropractor, as most simple back problems are readily corrected by this discipline. If the patient is not readily helped, practitioners of other disciplines are called to assist. Conferences between members of each discipline are held and final choices of treatment are made. To assure proper order, one physician serves as the patient's personal physician through whom all treatment and progress is correlated, as all in attendance are kept informed of developments.

This procedure is not too different from that followed by the average orthodox hospital. There is one vital exception, however, and this difference makes it the desired procedure for the New Renaissance. In the medical hospital all consultants are of the same discipline, but at the Clymer Health Clinic they may be of any discipline the physician in charge believes would be to the patient's best interest. And there, in that one phrase, THE PATIENT'S BEST INTEREST, lies the key to the healing services of the New Renaissance. Most of the worst diseases of mankind DO NOT as yet have cures or even adequate treatments. Therefore, no single medical discipline has the right to attempt to restrict methods that may be used in the treatment of these diseases.

Large cracks are opening in the heretofore impregnable structure of the orthodox medical edifice. Holistic centers are mushrooming as patients are realizing they do have an alternative to the previously conceived monolith of orthodox medicine. Many younger medical school graduates are not satisfied with what they find in the field and are looking for answers somewhat along the lines pioneered by the Clymer Health Clinic.

DIVISION OF HEALING IN THE NEW RENAISSANCE

There is and always will be much that is good in orthodox medicine. This will not change in the New Renaissance. There will always be a place for this style of healing. The more natural physiological methods will continue to gain in popularity, however, and in the years to come will be the choice of the elite, as is now beginning.

Organ replacements will continue to proliferate but with artificial parts rather than with human donors. In the future the entire process of human donor organ replacement will be looked upon as a stop-gap and somewhat ghoulish measure. some degree of derision as someone who did not have the will power or self-pride to live in such a way as to keep his God given organs in proper condition.

The main efforts of health officials at this time will be to bring to all the rules of good diet, proper thinking, cleanliness, and all else that goes with keeping the body in an undiseased state. The stress will be on health, not disease. The present medical facilities will still exist to help those who do not live according to the rules of God and Nature, but their number will be considerably reduced, as those who so abuse themselves will be in the minority. Evidence of this may be seen in the emphasis today throughout orthodox medicine on disease prevention.

Lessening of the population's needs for medicine and hospitals will come about because it will be unfashionable to be ill or diseased in the New Renaissance. The Law, "As ye sow, so shall ye surely reap," will be readily accepted by the majority, and illness will be seen as a consequence of poor life habits on the part of the individual and not, as now, some unrelated "trick of fate" that might afflict us all.

Thus, we say, the elite will attempt to stay away from the medical type of therapy as much as possible. This therapy will be reserved for those who do not or will not take care of their own bodies and, therefore, require the heroic help of others to do for them that which they did not do for themselves. The rest of the population, being an understanding society, will have compassion for these individuals but will think of them somewhat in the same light that we now do welfare recipients. Those who require such services will, after all, be taking from the productivity of society, as it will cost much more in time and in money to attempt to restore them to productivity than if they had properly taken care of themselves in the first place.

THE MENTALLY ILL IN THE NEW RENAISSANCE

As the direction of medical research shifts from disease orientation to examining the metabolic and nutritional cause of man's aliments, incidence of both physical and mental illness will decrease. As with the poor, however, a certain number will require attention, Therefore, we cannot fail to address this issue if our work is to be complete.

We look with favor upon two separate and distinctive forms of establishments for the care of these patients. One is for the treatment of patients known to be curable. In these centers, a homelike atmosphere would be encouraged, along with a natural environment designed to bring the best of Nature's bounty to these desperate souls. As they begin recovery, they should be given a chance to work outdoors with the soil to once again bring them down to Earth. This phrase is far more cryptic than most can understand.

For mental patients for whom there is no known cure and custodial care is all that is necessary, a separate institution is required, because the goal is different. The main objective is protection and kindness. These individuals must be protected from harming themselves and others while every kindness we would want for ourselves is shown them. The Golden Rule does not stop at the door of the mental hospital.

Here again would be a good training ground for youth, both male and female. Once youth have been able to serve as helpers in either of these capacities, they will be much better prepared to face the vicissitudes of life in general. Those who do not feel up to dealing with the patients themselves could work on the farm which would produce the food for the inmates and staff.

As the New Renaissance advances, there will be less and less need for these and similar institutions. If such buildings are carefully designed, they can be converted to more constructive use.
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