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APRIL 17, 1997 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Physician finds whole life and bealth
outside boundariesof conventional medicine.
By Frederick Benjamin
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Dr. Sharon Oliver is among an
increasing number of physicians
who are seeking answersto health
problems in areas that are not
covered in medical schools or the
conventional medical journals. Dr.
Oliver operates the Whole Life and
Health Center, P.C. in Detroit
where she teaches her patients
how to help their bodies to heal
themselves.
Unlike many doctors who are
content to manage a patient’s ill
ness, Dr. Oliver would rather fo
cus on the client’s psychological
state.
While a conventional physician
may ask, “Where does it hurt?,”
Dr. Oliver seeks a more important
answer.
“The first thing I ask them is,
‘Do you really and truly want to
get better’?” she said.
Empowering the patient to take
responsibility for their own
wellness is a significant first step
in the healing process, Dr. Oliver
says.
“I as a doctor cannot heal
anyone’s cuts; the body does that.
The person with the cut, heals the
cut,” she explains.
Dr. Oliver believes that healing
comes from within and a patient
must understand that to begin
taking charge of their own health.
Once the patient accepts responsi
bility, her work begins.
“One of the first things we’re
going to change is the diet. Most
people are on terrible diets. The
diets are not conducive to health
at all,” she said.
Next, she helps her patient to
Glaucoma
The diagnosis often
comes too late
By Larry Lucas
For years, I've been a big fan of
Kirby Puckett, the Minnesota
Twins center fielder. But as much
as I admired his performance on
the baseball diamond, I believe he’s
doing a much more heroic job now:
helping people avoid the blindness
that forced Kirby to retire from
baseball.
Last year during spring training,
Kirby woke up seeing a black dot in
his right eye.
“Initially, I wasn’t concerned,”
he recalls. “But the doctors were
more concerned. My vision quickly
deteriorated from 20/20 to 20/200.
They told mel had early-stage glau
coma, which put pressure on the
blood vessels in my right eye and
interfered with the circulation to
my retina. After several surgeries
to try to improve blood flow to my
right retina, my doctors told me the
damage was permanent. My career
as a professional baseball player
was over.”
Kirby, who is now blind in his
right eye, is one of nearly 120,000
Americans who lose all or part of
their sight each year due to glau
coma. African Americans, people
with diabetes or high blood pres
sure, people over 40 and people
with a family history of glaucoma
are most at risk.
Glaucoma is a disease that hasno
symptomsbutis easily detected with
a quick, painless test by an eye
doctor., The good news is that if the
disease is diagnosed early enough,
treatment with prescription eye
drops can help patients avoid blind
ness. There are different kinds of
these medicines available. Some
reduce the production of fluid that
creates pressure on the optic nerve.
Others help drain the fluid. Kirby
Puckett now uses these eyedropsto
prevent blindness in his left eye.
Although he is off the field, Kirby
is still very much a team player.
Working with Pharmacia & Upjohn,
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Sharon Oliver, M.D.
Dr. Oliver will be in Aiken,
S.C. on Saturday, April 26,
1997 where she will present
a program entitled “Per
spectives on Natural Heal
ing.”
understand the value of exercise
— not necessarily anything really
strenuous, though. It’s got to be
something that’s doable.
In keeping with treating the
whole person, Dr. Oliver explains
that the spiritual realm is vital to
good health.
“In order to have a body that’s
100 percent balanced, one must
deal with all five aspects of a
person. All five aspects include
their physical selves, their mental
selves, their emotional selves and
their spiritual selves,” Dr. Oliver
said.
Learningto read the signs of the
body promotes good health, Dr.
Oliver says. At times, however,
the American Academy of
Opthalmology, the Glaucoma Foun
dation, and Prevent Blindness
America, Kirby is spearheading a
program to encourage aill Ameri
cans over 40 to be screened for
glaucoma.
“Glaucomaisadiseasethat people
don’t think about until they or a
family member are diagnosed,” he
says. “It is estimated that 50 per
cent of glaucoma cases go undiag
nosed each year. Many people, like
me, may not have any symptoms
until they have already lost some
sight. All of us, particularly those in
high risk groups, have to see a doc
tor tobetested for glaucoma. It only
takes about 10 minutes, and it’s
painless. Perhapsifl had been tested
on a routine basis, all of this could
have been prevented.”
Despite his loss of vision, Kirby
finds much to be thankful for: “my
wife, two children and the satisfac
tion of enjoying a successful base
ball career. Glaucoma cannot
change that. In fact, I'm going to
use this change in my life to help
others learn more about how to
fight glaucoma. If only one person
outof one hundred I speak tois able
to start treating this disease before
it costs them their vision, I will
consider it a victory—as sweet as
winning the World Series.”
So follow Kirby’s advice and step
up to the plate. Ask your doctor
about glaucoma screening.
If you believe you are at risk and
you have no health insurance, call
Glaucoma 2001 at 800-391-EYES.
This public service organization
may be able to provide a free glau
coma test.
For a free booklet about glau
coma, call Prevent Blindness
America at 800-331-2020.
Larry Lucas is Associate Vice
President of the Pharmaceutical
Rescarch and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA).
Livingßetter
patients need to unlearn certain
behavior.
“One of my big concerns about
this society is that it teaches us to
ignore these real strong signals
that we get. Pain is a good ex
ample. There is a saying, ‘lf you
are having some kind of pain, then
you are getting some kind of gain.’
It’s really a kind of sadistic phi
losophy many of us live under. We
ought not ignore these really
strong signals that something is
terribly wrong. Painisone of those
signals.”
Dr. Oliver’s practice — she calls
it Wholistic Medicine — takes a
sharp turn from conventional
medicine on some very fundamen
tal matters. The approach to sick
ness is unconventional.
“One of the things that conven
tional medical practice would teach
you is that once the patient is sick,
they’re always going to be sick,”
she said.
She feels just the opposite. In
fact, she would rather not use the
term ‘sickness.’. Instead, she re
fers to sickness as a ‘healing chal
lenge.’
“A sickness means something
that you can’t get over. A chal
lenge is something that you can
eventually overcome,” she ex
plains.
Dr. Oliver considers Wholistic
Medicine the next level of medi
cine. She was formally trained in
conventional medicine at Wayne
State University and studied in
ternal medicine at Providence
Hospital. She explains how she
came to rethink her approach to
medicine.
“I practiced internal medicine
for quite some time. I was pretty
successful financially at that. 1
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Diabetes is one of the fastest growing
serious medical disorders in the United
States. While about 11 million Ameri
cans were known to have diabetes in the
early 19605, that number has increased
to some 16 million today. One of the
reasons for the exploding numbers is
obesity, a major risk factor in develop
ing diabetes. Despite all the talk about
health and fitness, more Americans are
becoming fatter than ever. Thisisalarm
ing for many reasons, but particularly
asit relatestodiabetes. While the symp
toms of diabetes can usually be con
trolled with insulin, diet, and exercise,
people with the disorder are more than
twice as likely to have strokes as people
without it. Diabetics are also as much as
four times more likely to suffer from
decided that I needed to have more
time for my family, so I worked in
the emergency room which gave
me quite a bit more time.
“Doingthat, I really wasn't com
fortable with what I was seeing
happening to people. I didn’t like
the results that I got.
“What happened was that people
were telling me that the people
who really got better weren’t do
ing what I was telling them to do.
It happened too often. My conven
tional training had taught me that
kind of response, or recovery is
spontaneous. It happened too of
Diahetes on the rise
h Synergic Health Centre
q Gerald D; Oliver, M.D.
Internal Medicine and Pediatric Medicine
‘.h Synergic Health Centre
Presents
Perspectives
On Natural ‘Healing
April 26, 1997
Featunri ng 18:.“ -2 pm
. Odell Weeks Center
Sharon Oliver, MD Whiskey road
Aiken, S.C.
15.00 Admission
cardiovascular disease than non-diabetics.
Among the elderly, diabetes is a leading
cause of blindness and end-stage kidney
disease. It is estimated that almost half of
the people who have diabetes don’t even
know it. '
Lack of exercise and a poor diet or erratic
eating habits can create potentially life
threatening complications. Most diabetics
are undiagnosed, so if your eating habits are
poor and you don’t get enough exercise, call
SYNERGIC HEALTH CENTRE at 648-
3500. As specialists in family medical care,
we treat illnesses like diabetes, hyperten
sion, pneumonia and congestive heart fail
ure. Located at 1055 A Silver Bluff Rd., our
office hours are by appointment. When you’re
going the distance...you shouldn’t have togo
italone.
ten for me to pass it off as a fluke.
“For example, I've seen some
people who had high blood pres
sure for years. They came in and
thenlwouldn’t seethem anymore.
Iwould see them later on the street
and they would say, ‘Well I feel
better.” Now, high blood pressure
doesn’t have any symptoms, so I
would convince them to come back
and when they did, I discovered
sure enough, their high blood pres
sure was normal.”
These peopledecided, theydidn’t
want to be sick, so they adopted a
DR. DENNIS WILLIAMS
is the Medical Director of Outpatient Services at Walton and is
Board Certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Whether
it be a work-related accident, sports injury or someone recovering
Jfrom stroke, Dr. Williams has the expertise to help his patients
regain their abilities and get back to their lives. When his work and
young family aren’t keeping his feet on the ground, Dr. Williams
enjoys taking to the floor and shooting some hoops.
Sl 9§19 i
At Walton Rehabilitation Hospital, our doctors are more than highly
qualified physicians. They're real people. And when you're recovering from
, injury, or learning to overcome pain, real people make a real difference.
t WALTON REHABILITATION HOSPITAL
Sponsored by St. Joseph Center for Life Inc. & University Health Services Inc
: 1355 Independence Drive, Augusta, GA 30901-1037 « 706-724-7746 « 800-332-4544
healthier lifestyle, Dr. Oliver ex:’
plained. .
Self healing is intuitive, accord:’
ing to Dr. Oliver. It is something &7
person really doesn’t haveto think’
about. There is a Universal lifé’
force within everyone of us, D
Oliver says. This force is operative’
regardless of religious denomina’-:
tion.
“In the King James version of"
the Bible, it says that we were
made in the image of God. That’
means we are little images of God.!
It is up to us how we plan to use’
that life force,” Dr. Oliver said." '’
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V HEALTH
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