SUPPORTING YOUR HEALING SINCE 1994
Reiki and the Heart -
By Philip Buttenfield, LCSW, JD
Winter, 2005, Volume 2, Number 1
An increasing number of health providers are recognizing Reiki—along with other alternative healing modalities—as a valid adjunct to traditional allopathic medical treatment. As most of our readers know, Key Stone Reiki has been coordinating the provision of Reiki treatments to hospice patients in the Heartland Hospice system. But a number of hospitals have also recognized the value of Reiki treatment in recovery from surgery, and patients are benefitting as a result.
In Touch With Healing recently spoke with Kathleen Krebs, RN, a Reiki-
From 2001 until its loss of funding a year and a half later, a pilot program known as R & R (Relaxation and Recovery) offered Reiki and other alternative services to cardiac surgery patients. Kathleen said that this program was initially developed at the request of a surgeon who recognized the benefits of alternative healing to his surgical patients.
Under the program, cardiac surgery patients met with program staff up to two weeks prior to surgery. They were instructed in diaphragmatic breathing techniques and received a guided imagery tape by Belleruth Naparsteck, long recognized for her expertise in this field. Staff also worked with the patient to develop a list of affirmations, which the anesthesiologist would read to the patient at the time of induction into anesthesia on operating day, and again as the patient came out of anesthesia following the operation. In addition, Reiki-trained staff would provide Reiki treatments to the patient both before and after the operation.
The program was very popular both with the patients and with AGH's cardiac surgeons. Although no formal study was conducted during the life of the program (AGH has not conducted any formal studies of the effects of Reiki intervention), informal statistics compiled by Kathleen indicate that those patients who received treatment under the program experienced shorter ICU stays and shorter hospitalizations in general. They also had shorter intubation periods and less blood loss. The reduction in these areas was as much as 50%, depending on the cardiac surgical procedure involved.
Understandably, the figures compiled by Kathleen and her program also indicate that the hospital saved substantially on its costs per patient due to the reduced in-hospital time. This factor alone would tend strongly to support the increased use of Reiki treatment in the hospital.
Kathleen told In Touch With Healing that currently, Reiki services can still be obtained at AGH, but because of the lack of a formal program, this must be initiated by the individual physician. Services are currently provided by a group of eight volunteers. Kathleen said that she sees Reiki and other alternative healing modalities receiving gradually increasing acceptance at AGH and other hospitals by both patients and physicians. She said she is heartened by these little individual "victories" as indicative of a general progress in the struggle to bring Reiki into mainstream medical care provision, however gradual that progress may be. She said one of the major impediments to acceptance of Reiki by the healthcare system is the lack of certification. She pointed to the development of state licensure for acupuncturists as the deciding factor in the recent addition of an acupuncturist to the staff at AGH, and noted that for massage therapists, licensure in such states as Florida has made a major difference in the ability of hospitals to offer such modalities as part of their general services. She sees the same situation to exist for Reiki practitioners in America.
AGH will also begin sponsoring group Reiki training sessions in January 2005. There is a fee for this training, which will include 12 persons per session. Interested persons should contact Kathleen Krebs at 412.359.8951.
