Services and Programs

People who benefit from Integrative Medicine services are often those who suffer from chronic conditions such as allergies, anxiety, asthma, arthritis, behavioral concerns, cancer, chronic pain, concentration issues, depression, diabetes, digestive issues, fatigue, fibromyalgia, headache, heart disease, hormonal issues, inflammation, insomnia, lupus, Lyme disease, memory issues, menopause, men’s health issues, migraines, weight issues, and several other conditions.

In some cases, we can help to reverse chronic disease. In all cases, we will do our best to help you feel your best.

We strive to keep treatment as natural as possible while having the expertise and qualifications to recognize when traditional medical intervention is necessary. You may choose your own customized program, or receive a comprehensive integrative evaluation and personalized treatment plan developed by our integrative medicine physician. We will gladly coordinate care with any of your other healthcare providers.

Most services are offered at Dr. Roca’s office at 35 River Road in Cos Cob. Some selected services are offered to inpatients during their stay at Greenwich Hospital through the hospital’s Integrative Medicine Program.

For more information about inpatient services call 203-863-3615.
For outpatient service call 203-863-3615 unless otherwise noted.

Services at 35 River Road:

Integrative Medicine Consultations

Holistic and integrative medicine consultations are available for men, women, children and elders facing challenges of chronic disease or seeking optimal health. Advanced skills include intravenous vitamin therapy, acupuncture, integrative pediatrics, hormone balancing and replacement therapy, integrative pain therapy and age-deceleration therapies. Interventions are as natural as possible and focus on nutrition, botanicals, supplements, minerals, and vitamins. Medications are utilized where appropriate and necessary.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a safe, established medical procedure that has been used in Asia for more than 2,000 years. It is recognized as an accepted treatment by the World Health Organization.

Acupuncture is known to be successful in treating both acute and chronic conditions including arthritis, migraines and other forms of pain, insomnia, anxiety, depression, stress, gastrointestinal issues, infertility, perimenopause, menopause, neurological irregularities, allergy and sinus issues, sports injuries, weight control and addictions.

This therapy works by stimulating the body’s own innate healing ability to restore balance to help prevent disease and improve or maintain health. It involves the insertion of fine, sterile, disposable needles to control the flow of chi (energy) along the intricate network of the body’s meridians.

Meridians can be influenced by acupuncture needling, which unblocks the obstruction within the meridian circulation and releases the regular flow of chi, blood, fluid and moisture. Acupuncture is normally applied to body, scalp and ear.

Greenwich Hospital’s Integrative Medicine Program offers:

• Auricular (ear) acupuncture
• Chinese scalp acupuncture
• Medical acupuncture

Biofeedback

Biofeedback helps individuals learn to reduce stress and use changes in their heart rate to recognize and release unhealthy thought patterns that cause personal distress. This technique has been successfully used with adolescents, adults and elders who find themselves living with anxiety, stress, and worry that disrupt their sleep, interfere with their relationships, and create disease. Learn to “control” certain unhealthy automatic responses as you influence your body’s involuntary functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature and muscle tension. It can also provide a benchmark for optimal heart health.

Community Learning Series

Greenwich Hospital’s Integrative Medicine Program can provide a holistic physician or other practitioner to speak and/or conduct workshops at community centers, schools and corporate locations. Topics include nutrition, stress management, holistic approaches to health and environmental issues.
Call 203-863-3615 for inquiries and scheduling.

Constitutional Health Evaluation

Do you have recurring pain in a specific area that continues despite treatment? Or your doctor can’t pinpoint the cause, yet you know something just isn’t right? Our constitutional health evaluation is a unique service that looks beyond the lab work and symptoms, and is designed to help you optimize your health and function. It can identify basic imbalances within the body’s flow of life force and weaknesses in functionality of basic biochemical systems before they become symptoms.

Corporate Stress Management

Help your executives and staff to become hardier, more resilient and flexible in managing job stress. Those with stress-related physical symptoms will be better able to manage their conditions. One-hour “lunch and learn” presentations and half-day workshops can be tailored to your needs. Improve employee health, productivity, reliability and satisfaction, and cut costs for health insurance. Call 203-863-3615.

Emotional Freedom Technique

Utilizing a combination of eye movements and stimulation of acupuncture points (via tapping) this technique is particularly useful for phobias, stress, and anxiety.

Environmental Health Assessments

Parents are beginning to recognize the risks of toxic exposures to the health of their children, starting in utero and continuing throughout life. In response, Greenwich Hospital Integrative Medicine offers a wide range of environmental assessments to test for acute and chronic heavy metal exposures, hydrocarbon exposures, exposure to molds, hidden and direct food-based sensitivities and pathogens. Detoxification treatments and services are available.

Functional Medicine

Functional Medicine is based on understanding an individual’s entire medical history in order to balance the basic functions of the body and reduce or eliminate symptoms of chronic disease. We begin with the gestational history of the patient. Changes in utero can trigger genetic tendencies that may persist throughout a lifetime. Exposure to trace amounts of toxins during gestation can likewise change a person’s health trajectory for life.

Functional Medicine honors the innate healing processes within each of us.It is grounded in scientific principles. A key example of the Functional Medicine approach would be an individual who had a history of ear infections as a young child, later allergies, asthma and sinus problems as an older child, and then gastrointestinal issues as an adult. These issues may be worsened by stress, nutrient deficiencies that affect the immune system and the presence of toxic elements.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy uses guided relaxation, intense concentration and focused attention to achieve a heightened state of awareness. A trained therapist helps a person to focus his or her attention on specific thoughts or tasks. Hypnotherapy enables people to perceive some things differently, such as blocking an awareness of pain.

IV Nutrition

Intravenous (IV) vitamin and mineral therapy, often referred to as a Myers cocktail, has been used for countless individuals over the past four decades. Each cocktail recipe is tailored to address specific symptoms, such as chronic fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, muscle aches, pains, muscle spasms and twitches. Intravenous vitamin and mineral therapy can also be useful to treat diarrhea and constipation, asthma, allergies, skin hives, migraines, autoimmune diseases, neurological disorders, adrenal fatigue and problems with toxins and detoxification. Individuals who are recovering from international travel, colds and flu, or strenuous athletic performance may also find this therapy useful. The cocktails are typically filled with B vitamins (especially for those who have autoimmune gastritis), magnesium or calcium, and can be used to balance nutrition for someone who is unable to eat.

Medication and Supplement Consultations

Many elders take more than two medications to control medical disease or symptoms. In addition, it’s common for people to take multiple herbs, vitamins, minerals, and supplements to enhance their health. When a person combines more than five medications, supplements, herbals or botanicals of any type, the risk for interactions and side effects greatly increases. These interactions and side effects can lead to more symptoms that need to be treated.

This service is designed to check your medications, herbs, supplements, vitamins, and minerals in order to identify potential interactions among them. Our integrative clinical pharmacist will review the information you submit and identify issues of concern.

You will be asked to submit a written list of ailments or diagnoses, your list of medications (including over-the-counter) and dosages, and your list of herbs, vitamins, minerals, and supplements. Our pharmacist will identify any potential issues. You may then choose to establish an appointment with our physician, or you may take the information to your primary care provider in order to refine your daily pharmaceutical and nutraceutical medication schedule.

Please keep in mind that no new supplements will be ordered and symptoms will not be treated as part of this service. This service is designed to facilitate medication reduction while maintaining or enhancing health For more information or to schedule an appointment call 203-863-3615. FREE to people age 65 and older. Fee for people under 65.

Mind/Body Skills Group

Our health is influenced not only by what we eat, how we exercise and the environment in which we live, but also by our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Research shows that mind/body approaches to stress management and chronic illness have positive effects on our physical and psychological health and our overall quality of life. Explore, learn and experience tools for self-care and stress management. This 5-week course meets in 2-hour sessions. Sessions are facilitated by Henri Roca, MD. Course fee: $300.

Nutrition Counseling

Integrative nutrition goes beyond traditional counts of calories, carbohydrates, protein and fats. We address a person’s individual chemistry and constitution by identifying the underlying cause of the imbalance, the inherited metabolic strengths and weakness, and the effects of lifestyle and the environment. Our service can also help you identify unhealthy additives and preservatives in your family’s food. When necessary to achieve optimal health, supplements may be recommended as part of an overall eating plan.

Specialized Laboratory Testing

Additional lab/blood work is available for nutritional testing, neurotransmitter testing, adrenal testing, as well as testing for gut ecology, food sensitivities, heavy metals, solvents, pesticides, mold, and persistent organic toxins.

Services at 55 Holly Hill Lane:

Cooking Classes: In the Kitchen with Chef Gavin Pritchard, RD

Participants receive individual tastings of prepared dishes and a recipe guide for home use. Classes are held on Tuesdays at 55 Holly Hill Lane (1st floor) in Greenwich. Advance registration is required to allow for ample food portions. Call 203-863-2939. Fee: $20 per class.

Cooking Classes: One-On-One Sessions with the Chef

If you prefer a more personalized culinary experience, consider an individualized one-on-one healthy cooking session with chef/dietitian Gavin Pritchard, RD. Session times are flexible to meet your scheduling needs. For details, call 203-863-2939.

Services at Greenwich Hospital:

These selected services are offered to inpatients during their stay at Greenwich Hospital through the hospital’s Integrative Medicine Program.

Cancer Wellness: A Mind/Body Approach to Living with Cancer

The five-week session consists of learning simple meditation techniques for relaxation, creative visualization, positive attitudes, goal setting, managing pain, exercise, nutrition, regaining hope and building an emotional support system. It is offered throughout the year and patients can continue beyond their initial five-week experience. This program is free to cancer patients and their families. For information, call 203-863-3145.

Healing Touch During Your Hospitalization

This holistic, energy-based program complements your care at Greenwich Hospital. Soothing techniques, performed by trained Healing Touch volunteers, help patients relax and facilitate healing. Offered at the bedside in most hospital locations. Healing Touch has been adopted around the world and is endorsed by the American Holistic Nurses Association. FREE. For information, call 203-863-3615.

Massage Therapy During Your Hospitalization

Therapeutic massage reduces stress, muscle tension and pain, promoting a state of balance and relaxation.

Therapeutic massage can help to:

• Decrease muscle tension and, therefore, reduce pain
• Encourage elimination of toxins through improved circulation and lymph flow
• Enhance sleep
• Increase a sense of well-being
• Provide deep relaxation of body and mind
• Support the immune system

Reflexology is a massage technique that involves pressure and massage of the reflex points of the ears, feet and hands. It is designed to restore energy flow through stimulation of the circulatory and lymphatic systems. Reflexology promotes self-healing, energy balance and a sense of well being.

Music Therapy

Music Therapy through Greenwich Hospital’s Integrative Medicine Program is as personal as each person who enters through our doors. The focus is on communication and wellness. Music serves as a vehicle to empower each patient. For example, when someone hears their favorite song strummed on guitar during chemotherapy treatment, the patient is able to forget about the intravenous tubing, and Instead is able to feel strength return, recalling an innate sense of power. For others, music can be a stepping stone to help families communicate about a difficult medical diagnosis and the fears of the unknown. Music helps families find a comfort spot to begin communication to share concerns and emotional bonds that are supportive during medical treatment.

Music therapist Dr. Amy Zabin uses many aspects of music to help patients relax, reduce pain, alleviate fear, and lessen anxieties and side effects of cancer treatments. Available at the Bendheim Cancer Center for hospital inpatients and outpatients. FREE.

Music and Meditation

Music therapist Dr. Amy Zabin leads a journey into deep relaxation using crystal singing bowls, flutes, guitars and guided imagery. Held Tuesdays, 12:30-1pm in the hospital chapel. FREE.

Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster®

An analysis of 191 research studies with 8,600 patients documents that people who prepared for surgery had less pain, fewer complications and recovered sooner. Learn mind-body techniques to feel calmer before surgery, minimize pain after surgery and reduce side effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. This one-hour, individual session, conducted by a fully trained registered nurse, includes the book Prepare For Surgery, Heal Faster and its companion CD. To schedule an appointment, please call 203-863-3615. Fee.