 Imagine Imagery La Quinta Healing Arts immerses clients in an undersea environment as they experience the Virtual Dolphin Therapy. |
Dolphins in the Desert
Despite the objections of animal-rights organizations, swimming with dolphins in captivity or in the wild has become popular with people hoping to get close to marine mammals. The dolphins seem to have a healing quality: The swimming experience reportedly moderates disabilities, such as autism in children, and eases depression in adults.
People who fear deep-sea waters or consider a tourist swim with dolphins unnatural can seek Virtual Dolphin Therapy, offered at La Quinta Healing Arts in Old Town La Quinta.
Owner Brenda Burger collaborated with Don Estes, inventor of the VibraSound multi-sensory platform, to create the therapy after meeting him in December. It combines his innovative sound-wave table — and its vibrations of music felt via a crystal liquid mattress — with a slow-motion scene of swimming dolphins.
“The purpose of this therapy is to experience exhilarating recreation and profound relaxation,” Burger says. “The dolphins have fun energy and are beautiful to watch.”
The 45-minute journey takes place in a dark room decorated with flowing drapery and a multicolored lighting system, reminiscent of an underwater coral reef. You lay down on what feels like a waterbed padded with fleece blankets. A large flat-screen monitor is suspended about a foot above your face.
Part one of the therapy features real-life footage of playful dolphins. Headphones emit a collection of calming instrumental music intertwined with the language of communicating dolphins and crashing waves, the ebb and flow of a shoreline tide, water running over a human body, and muffled bubbles released underwater. The liquid crystal mattress transmits the music and dolphin echolocations as vibrations through the body. A Vibrotactile Music Dolphin — which looks like a stuffed toy — is placed on the stomach for added sensory vibration through the torso. The screen eventually fades to black, whereupon you enter part two.
Now you put on sunglasses equipped with a miniature lighting system. With closed eyes, the pattern of lights encourages you to settle into a relaxed-yet-focused alpha mind state.
The multisensory therapy enters the third and final phase when the sunglasses come off for a farewell visit with the dolphins. You leave the virtual sea feeling more relaxed, a bit more connected to nature, and appreciative of a time when you could silence the brain chatter and practice being in the moment.
Virtual Dolphin Therapy, which regularly costs $75, is offered at a reduced price through November: $29 or $120 for six treatments.
La Quinta Healing Arts, 78015 Main St., Suite 105, La Quinta, 777-1447, www.virtualdolphintherapy.com
Down to Earth
Laura Laffranchini’s last visit to a grocery store was about five months ago for the purchase of a flower bouquet — and that’s not because she dines out for every meal. Rather, she owns Harvest Health Foods in Palm Desert — a store born of her desire to live a wholesome and beneficial existence. It’s a way of life — a source of livelihood and passion.
The market carries raw foods such as chocolate, goji berries, olive oil, milk, butter, nuts and cheese, organic produce from local farmers, vitamins and nutritional supplements, and everything in between — from natural hair dye and makeup to baby wipes, laundry soap, and pet food. It specializes in gluten-free products, including frozen dinners, cookies, chips, pastas, salad dressing, crackers, breads, ice creams, pasta sauces, and baking mixes.
“People come in all the time and tell me they have never eaten all organic before or who have never shopped in a health-food store, and they ask me, ‘Where do I start?’ The only thing I can suggest is something so basic: fruits, vegetables, grains — the things that you can recognize on a plate. Those are the things you want to eat,” Laffranchini says.
The store’s raw milk comes from free-grazing cows that dine on grass in the spring and root vegetables in the winter and does not undergo the pasteurization process that destroys enzymes; reduces vitamin content; kills bacteria that aids in healthy digestion; and fosters pathogens linked to allergies, tooth decay, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer.
Laffranchini is a well of nutritional knowledge, and her staff is deeply familiar with every product. Employees demonstrate a personalized care for patrons and exude a down-home, grounded expertise. Between 95 and 99 percent of the products sold at Harvest Health Foods are organic and of heirloom quality. The store’s produce and other products are used by Luscious Lorraine’s, the deli/juice bar inside the store.
Harvest Health Foods, 73910 Highway 111, Suite D, Palm Desert, 346-3215, www.harvesthealthfood.com
With Seniors in Mind
The desert’s large senior population is embracing the Memory Assessment Center at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. Located in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Medical Building, the center offers a diagnosis to sufferers of memory loss.
A collaboration between the California Southland Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and USC Keck School of Medicine, the center provides a variety of diagnostics: blood work, brain imaging, and lab testing. USC neurologists determine the diagnoses; and the association offers assistance through its education programs, support groups, and referrals to many resources.
“This is certainly above and beyond our core services at the Alzheimer’s Association,” says Anjelica Fajardo, a care consultant with the agency. “[Before], we had to refer people out of the area. For families already stressed out, having to travel to a big city is not very convenient or practical.”
A team of USC neurologists comes to a consensus on the diagnosis of each case. Then a family conference takes place with a neurologist, a care consultant, and an on-site nurse practitioner in attendance. “This is when we take questions and get them started on treatment options available through various resources,” Fajardo says. “We have separate organizations working together with the center.”
Because the center can detect Alzheimer’s in its early stages, the association can tailor programs and recommend resources. Additionally, Fajardo says, “Because USC is a partner and a research university, some of the people who come to the center are also participating in the research.”
Memory Assessment Center, 39700 Bob Hope Drive, Suite 208, Rancho Mirage, 341-5315 (open 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday)
Expanding Collection
The Blood Bank of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties opens an 8,000-square-foot location next month in La Quinta with a staff of 25 that includes nurses, blood collectors, lab technicians, and a mobile operations team.
We want to focus on the desert, where there are some sophisticated surgeries and medical treatments occurring,” says Dr. Frederick Axelrod, president and medical director. “We provide half of all blood products used in transfusions that happen in the Coachella Valley.
“The center will serve a multitude of purposes,” he explains. “First, we will be able to collect blood, and that allows our employees to distribute blood in the local area. Second, we want to increase the donor base, since the real challenge for us is making sure the number of donations exceeds the amount needed at hospitals. We want to meet 100 percent of their needs.”
The private, nonprofit organization, established in 1951, serves 30 medical facilities throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties, as well as medical facilities in Orange and Los Angeles counties. It operates five donor centers — in San Bernardino, Riverside, Ontario, Upland, and Hesperia — and hosts daily mobile blood drives. One of its main recipients of blood supplies in the Coachella Valley is Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. It also provides blood to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio and Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.
“We will offer a 100 percent collection through an automated system,” Axelrod says. “The goal is to collect blood products we want as a way to fully utilize blood donors based on their blood type.” For example, from a person with blood type O, the center collects red blood cells; from someone with blood type AB, the collection consists of platelets and plasma.
“We also want to focus on the wellness of the donor, so we attempt to reduce the reactions of donors by replenishing their fluid loss with a saline solution,” Axelrod notes. The blood bank also offers donors who give a certain amount of blood free cholesterol and diabetes screenings and prostate cancer testing for men over 50.
BBRSBC is the only FDA-licensed blood center in the region with an American Blood Bank-accredited testing lab. Its staff of on-call specialty physicians consults with doctors and surgeons on blood transfusions for patients with complex medical conditions.
Blood Bank of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, 79215 Corporate Center Drive, La Quinta, 777-8844
What Your Mouth Says
Just as many say the eyes are the gateway to the soul, some say the mouth is the gateway to the body.
Not only can an unhealthy mouth serve as a sign to more pressing medical conditions in the body, such as oral and throat cancer and diabetes, but it also can cause medical problems, according to the Journal of Periodontology and the Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Data Resource Center.
In a report by the Office of the Surgeon General published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Oral Health, oral infections (mainly gum infections) have been connected to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and premature childbirth.
“Research is underway to determine if the associations are causal or coincidental,” the report states. It goes on to suggest that gum infections are the “sixth complication of diabetes” and that there is a rise in the risk of heart disease and strokes in people with gum infections. Additionally, the report says that studies have shown that “mothers of preterm, low birth weight infants tend to have more severe gum disease than mothers of normal birth weight babies.”
A Florida dentist has established a Web site (www.docharrison.com) offering information and products to combat periodontal conditions: toothpastes, mouthwashes, topical creams, and cleansing concentrates for oral irrigators that contain herbs and oils such as green tea leaf, olive leaf, echinacea, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and lavender, among others. Dr. James Harrison, who offers phone consultations ($100 for 30 minutes), specializes in areas of study related to mercury-free dentistry, the use of fluoride, controversies surrounding root canals, and the elimination of gum disease.
Easily Digested Advice
We live in a technologically advanced society in which we’ve come to expect instant gratification, so it’s no surprise that the premise of Weight A Minute! Transform Your Health in 60 Seconds a Day by Deborah Enos is how to overhaul choices that affect one’s health in just a minute a day. A certified nutritionist who has been working in the field since the late 1980s, Enos distills technical and complex health issues into easy-to-read, bite-size chunks of data by explaining it in a what-why-and-how approach. She writes about virtually every topic affecting one’s health — from reducing sugar intake (averaging more than 150 pounds a year) by drinking green tea to the consumption of cherries to combat insomnia to tips on staying healthy during air travel.
Enos’ work is less like a book one might read in extended sittings and more like a portable reference guide one might keep by their side. She builds upon the most effective and simple ways to lose weight (regular exercise and healthy eating) by explaining that doing so constitutes a permanent lifestyle change, which, achieved in small increments, makes life less overwhelming.
What could be more simple than eating a piece of fruit before dinner? Enos says that a person can lose a pound a week doing so.
Another book tackles nutrition differently. As a world-renowned heart surgeon and founder of the Palm Springs-based Center for Restorative Medicine, Dr. Steven Gundry is no stranger to the adverse effects that a poor diet has on the body. His book, Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution, takes a closer look how our killer genes cause conditions from adult acne, thinning hair, and colon polyps to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Gundry writes that those with the former conditions have a lot in common with those suffering from the latter diseases — to a great degree because of the Western diet and lifestyle.
In his book, with academic notations to support his research, Gundry proposes that it is our responsibility to train killer genes to be on their best behavior no matter how stellar our genetic history might be. Although a pioneer in the field of heart surgery and fellow of the American Surgical Association, Gundry was overweight and resistant to insulin and suffered from migraine headaches and arthritis, despite running 20 miles a day and eating properly. (His weakness was the constant consumption of Diet Coke.)
The first section of Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution explains in a basic way how genes work and how one can reprogram them by what he calls “slowly re-evolving your diet” so as to transmit “the right messages to your genes” and lengthen your life. The book’s second section is dedicated entirely to a three-month plan that gives readers a foundation to life-altering results given that 90 percent of the body’s cells regenerate every 90 days.
What to do After a Stroke
People of any age can experience a stroke, according to the Stroke Recovery Center in Palm Springs. An ischemia stroke results from a lack of blood to the brain due to a clot. Symptoms include numbness on one side of the body, dizziness, loss of balance, blurred vision, and struggles with speech. Those who have suffered a stroke should take the following steps:
• Go to an emergency room immediately. Ischemic stroke sufferers receive blood clot-dissolving medicine if the stroke is treated within four to six hours of its occurrence.
• Take prescribed medication.
• Seek rehabilitation. Recovery encompasses various disciplines from speech and language therapy to occupational and physical therapy. Rehabilitation helps stroke patients adapt to new limitations and become independent again.
• Consult with a physician trained in rehabilitation. A physician specializing in the field understands the functional restoration that comes with a person suffering a physical disability.
• Seek help for depression. Many stroke victims don’t seek services for this common residual effect.
• Use resources to assist with personal finances. The American Stroke Association and National Endowment for Financial Education have addressed the matter, while AARP offers tax aid and money- management programs.
• Take advantage of support groups. It is comforting to talk to others who have been through the same ordeal.
• Make appropriate lifestyle changes. Just like a heart attack, a stroke demands that those who have survived alter their eating habits, get more exercise, quit smoking, and monitor their blood pressure.
• Plan for the end of insurance benefits. Research the resources available once insurance benefits for rehabilitation expire. The Stroke Recovery Center helps people continue their recovery free of charge when benefits expire.
Stroke Recovery Center, 2800 E. Alejo Road, Palm Springs, 323-7676, www.strokerecoverycenter.org (open 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday)
Meet the Gadgets
Watching television while working can distract from our fitness mission. Thankfully, The EnterTrainer ($139.95) turns off the tube if it detects its user is slacking off. By attaching the device to a piece of exercise equipment — a treadmill, stationary bike, or rowing machine — and the heart monitor to the user, The EnterTrainer monitors the “cardio target” based on information (age, gender, length of workout, intensity) keyed into it. (www.theentertrainer.com)
If you have trouble relaxing, the MindSpa Personal Development System ($349.95) might help. It is essentially a pair of sunglasses with built-in lighting and a portable device that plays specific sound frequencies. The visual/audio combination helps the brain enter into one of two major states of mind: the deeply relaxed alpha state or a beta state of cognitive stimulation and focus. The device reportedly gives its users improved sleeping patterns, a better sense of mental clarity, enhanced creativity, and increased energy levels. (www.avstim.com)
The InnerScan scale ($139.99) offers much more than body weight. It monitors various aspects of the body by using the Bioelectric Impedance Analysis. In conjunction with age, gender, height, and weight, the scale measures body-fat percentage, body-water percentage, daily caloric intake, metabolic age, bone mass, and muscle mass, and provides physique and visceral-fat ratings. (www.thecompetetiveedge.com)
Travelers, campers, and hikers who want access to clean drinking water without lugging gallons of bottled water with them can instead carry the SteriPEN ($129.95). The tool uses ultraviolet light to kill water-borne microbes in the form of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa (including giardia and cryptosporidium) in seconds. (www.hydro-photon.com)
A buzzing alarm when you’re in deep sleep disrupts an important part of your body’s regeneration and gets your day off to an unsettled start. The Sleeptracker Pro Watch ($179) tracks sleep activity between deep to light to nearly awake states and signals the sleeper with an alarm at their most-awake moment within a window of time when they need to get out of bed. The wristwatch allows its users to upload the sleep data into a computer to analyze what lifestyle choices might affect their sleep. (www.brookstone.com) |
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