What’s the Duke Three-Day?

Duke Integrative Medicine offers a health immersion program: a three-day retreat in which participants have access to a team of experts from a range of medical and complementary disciplines, who consult and plan a strategy for optimizing health, whether it’s to prepare for or recover from surgery or cancer therapy, to navigate a life change such as menopause, or to recharge and kick-start a more healthful lifestyle.

How does a health immersion work?

Participants in the health immersion program spend three days at the Integrative Medicine facility. During that time they receive:

• An in-depth appointment with a physician to identify and prioritize health issues and establish wellness goals
• Sessions with a health coach to brainstorm and strategize ways to make these goals a realistic part of everyday life
• Five sessions with an assortment of health professionals to explore treatment and wellness options such as yoga, acupuncture, mindfulness meditation, self-hypnosis, nutrition, exercise physiology, psychology, reiki, or massage therapy. The sessions are selected by the patient, in conjunction with a nurse, based on the patient’s unique goals and needs.
• A comprehensive, personalized, long-term wellness plan, created by the patient’s team of caregivers
• Three months of follow-up with the health coach to track progress and problem-solve

The immersion practice gives both the patient and the physician ample time to make sure they’re meeting the standard health needs as well as their whole wellness picture. “We very much believe that the patient-provider relationship should be a partnership,” says medical director Shelley Wroth, MD. “The goal of the health immersion is to help our patients plan for health as opposed to just treating disease.”

Duke Integrative Medicine also offers an annual membership. For more information, call 1-866-313-0959 or visit dukeintegrativemedicine.org.