City of Portland Proclaims Natural Health Week

NCNM and City Hall Partner to Raise Awareness about Natural Health

CONTACT:
Marilynn Considine
503.552.1504
mconsidine@ncnm.edu

PORTLAND, Ore. (May 15, 2009)—Mayor Sam Adams, an advocate of natural health, has proclaimed May 18-22 Natural Health Week in Portland in collaboration with National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM).

The mayor said, “We in Portland are proud of our reputation for healthy living. In a region known for its sustainability practices, Natural Health Week commemorates the sustainability of our great community—through their access to preventive health care and natural health. I’m pleased to partner with NCNM to celebrate Portland’s third annual Natural Health Week.”

The mayor noted that in addition to its growing community of Complementary and Alternative medicine physicians and practitioners, Portland is home to some of the oldest natural medicine colleges in the country, and also to the Oregon Collaborative for Integrative Medicine (OCIM), a collaborative formed among NCNM, Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University and Western States Chiropractic College. OCIM promotes integrative health through education, research and patient care.

Mayor Adams said, “When it comes to natural health, Portland has set the pace throughout the nation with a full array of medical schools and practitioners who foster preventive health care through natural medicine. Our city is on the leading-edge with its full range of health care options.”

David J. Schleich, PhD, NCNM’s president and a member of OCIM, said, “As North America’s premiere college of natural medicine, NCNM teaches preventive health care through healthy living. NCNM is honored to partner with the City of Portland again this year during Natural Health Week.”

Schleich observed, “With the White House working to enact comprehensive health care reform, the focus now more than ever is on how to provide access to low-cost, high-quality health care through all available options.” He added, “NCNM is committed to raise awareness about the wide range of effective and alternative health care options available through NCNM’s clinics and elsewhere throughout the city.”

NCNM’s naturopathic physicians and classical Chinese medicine practitioners will share information and health tips in a series of Brown Bag lunch presentations in City Hall from noon until 1 p.m. on Monday, May 18 through Thursday, May 21 to help raise awareness about aspects of natural medicine during Natural Health Week.

ABOUT NCNM: Founded in 1956, NCNM is the oldest accredited naturopathic medical school in North America. A nonprofit college of natural medicine, NCNM offers four-year graduate medical degree programs in Naturopathic Medicine and Classical Chinese Medicine. Its teaching clinics offer free and low-cost medical care throughout the Portland metropolitan area and treat more than 40,000 patients per year. NCNM’s Helfgott Research Institute is a nonprofit research institute that conducts rigorous independent research to advance the science of natural medicine in order to improve clinical practice. Until July 2006, NCNM was known as the National College of Naturopathic Medicine.

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