Healthcare Interview – Lena Shuaila, Naturopathic Doctor

My third interview was with Dr. Lena Suhaila, a board certified naturopathic doctor at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Phoenix, AZ. You may have guessed, but she specializes in treating patients with cancer. At this hospital cancer patients all get an oncologist, a naturopathic doctor, and a dietician to consult. Lena didn’t want to tell me specific stories, as this breached confidentiality. So she spoke generally about the patients she sees, as well as her work with them.

Most of the patients’ lives are completely derailed when they arrive to see her the first time. Many of them are terminal, but even the ones who are not, feel like their lives are out of control. Lena gives them the analytical consultations they need, but more than that she feels her role is to assuage them with a compassionate bedside manner, with kindness. The amount of suffering that she sees regularly is staggering, and hard to handle.

Her specific role as a naturopathic doctor is to give the patient a more holistic look at their condition. She will give them ways to help counter the side effects of chemotherapy, perhaps recommend acupuncture, or other forms of therapy. She tells the patients that there are no magic shortcuts. They won’t be able to eat one healthy meal, but still keep eating fastfood and softdrinks, and expect to become healthy.

One great thing about where she works is that patients somehow amazingly start forming a community amongst themselves. The bonds become so strong that when some patients get better, they are sad to leave the community they’ve formed there. This strikes me as as something really special.

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