... it helps to understand the philosophy of it's founder, David H. Haase, MD.    Below are excerpts from one of his first  interviews when he was asked "How did you come to invent the concept and establish the first practice centered in Proactive Medicine?" combined with excerpts from his writings which have further developed the concept of Proactive Medicine.

Dr. Haase...  "I simply want to be a good doctor for my patients.   That is why I went to medical school.   I studied hard, made good grades, and sought out the best teachers I could find.   When it was time for me to leave academics and enter private practice, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what patients needed.   Little did I know my education had just begun....

...Unlike my experience at Vanderbilt or Mayo when it was common for me to see a patient once for a consultation or a hospitalization,  in private practice my patients would come back and see ME again and again.   This is one of the most gratifying pieces of medicine… the development of trusting, long-term relationships with one’s patients.   However, the reason they kept coming back to see me was not to catch up on old times!   The reason they came back is that they often were not helped by the “Textbook Medicine,” I offered them or they were tired of taking “all these medications.”

Much of acute disease (infections, surgical problems, trauma) are marvelously treated by our current system of healthcare, however, the growing burden of chronic disease has been quite resistant to our “magic pill” strategy.   Diabetes, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Obesity, Arthritis, Osteoporosis, etc. develop slowly and stealthily.  Common sense and medical science agree that their optimal treatment is PREVENTION and risk factor reduction.   When I understood this I knew I needed to focus my energies upon treating the underlying causes of disease rather than being content to suppress the symptoms with drug after drug.

Well that sounds all well and good, but how can we do such a thing?  We must change our approach from a linear name-the-disease, blame-the-disease, and tame-the-disease approach to a more elegant proactive approach which is  systems-biology based and principle-centered.  A central guiding principle is this: each one of us is a unique individual, different from anyone else, AND each of us have a unique genetic structure, have eaten unique combinations of foods, have had a unique combination of infections, exposures, stressors, thoughts, and beliefs.   This interplay of Genetics and Environment produces our current state of  “health” or “dis-ease.”    This “fit” between your genes and your environment - your current FUNCTION is what we strive to optimize at the MaxWell Clinic.

The search for the most important keys to create this gene/environment "fit" led me to study Holistic Medicine, Nutritional Medicine, Toxicology, Allergy, and many other healing traditions.   The number of options that are promoted to treat any disease state is staggering.  I found some options are good, some are bad, many are ineffective, some are deceitful, and some are just plain dangerous.  The conclusion of my (ongoing) investigation is this.... Each of our Unique Bodies are designed to adapt, to survive, and to HEAL.   In other words, no matter how skilled of a Surgeon cuts on you it is the Body that heals the surgical wound and adapts itself to function.   THEREFORE, the best 'medicine' strives to proactively diminish the amount and effect of stressors (emotional, biochemical, structural, etc.) that erode our state of health while at the same time proactively fulfilling our body's multitude of needs (such as nutrients, sleep, movement, hormones, etc.) which are required to heal.

We should use the tools that are the safest and most effective for my INDIVIDUAL PATIENT (you).  There should be no distinctions among a diet plan, an exercise plan, a stress reduction method, a pharmaceutical drug, a nutritional supplement, a group educational activity, energy medicine technique, manual medicine technique, surgery, or an herb.  As long as the treatment plan is WISE and WORKS, it should not matter from which “camp” healing comes.

Proactive Medicine is Principle-Centered Medicine.    Principles are those time-honored truisms which are accurate reflections of how the world works, and what constitutes wise actions within such a world.  These are a partial list of the combined convictions that serve as the foundations for Proactive Medicine and the MaxWell Clinic for Proactive Medicine:

• Each person is of infinite worth and really matters.
• Every one of us is fundamentally able to HEAL and experience higher states of wellness.
• Wellness is a real thing - a positive vitality that enables EVERYTHING else in life.  Wellness is synonymous with wholeness, therefore, the best health care will be open to addressing all aspects of a person's well-being - body, mind, spirit, relationships, environment, etc.
• Maximum Wellness is that optimal state of body, mind, and spirit that BEST enables the fulfillment of your life's purpose.
• Maximizing the Wellness of the person should be the focus of healthcare ...not hyper-focusing on the treatment of a list of illnesses with which the person is currently labeled.
• Maximizing Wellness is a journey - not a destination.  Earlier health improvements enable further improvements which were not possible from the start.
• Being Proactive requires consistent navigation between the reactive extremes of pessimistic paralyzing despair and optimistic denial.
• The idea of the 'passive patient' must be replaced by  the "proactive participating patient".
• None of us is as smart or powerful as ALL of us - therefore collaborative teams of integrated healthcare practitioners working together with the proactive participating patient is preferable to care from the best single doctor in the world.
• Practitioners and institutions of Proactive Medicine have the opportunity and response-ability to BE the change they want to see in the world by increasingly committing themselves to self-exploration and self-development.
• Good Medicine is based in good science.  Studies that take complex individual variation into account and seek wisdom over market share should be at the forefront of driving medical science.
• RESULTS matter more than Protocols or  treatments, be they either "conventional" or "alternative" ; what works for the patient must always be at the center of care and the primary guiding principle of what will be utilized for Maximizing the Wellness of that individual.
• Symptoms of pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, etc.,  and abnormal lab test results represent our bodies attempt at communication with our awareness that SOMETHING IS WRONG and a plea to address the cause of the problem.
• "Downstream' symptoms are most completely and safely treated by finding and addressing 'upstream' causes.
• "If you do what you have always done you will continue to get more of what you have always got" - or alternatively - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and continuing to expect different results!"  New results require new actions.   Lifestyle change is central to effective healthcare.
• Health Promotion and Disease Prevention are highly preferable (economically and experientially) to the detection and treatment of disease.  Comprehensive biomarker, symptom, and lifestyle assessments and the changes in lifestyle which they trigger are the core of Proactive Medicine and represent the best investment of resources in the realm of healthcare.
• Positively Influencing the complex mechanisms of healing simultaneously on multiple fronts is a more productive strategy than the futile quest to control our health outcomes with symptom suppressing therapies in the absence of addressing the underlying causes of those symptoms
• Ultimately the patient has both the right and the response-ability to decide which treatment path they will take or refuse to take.  This choice is based upon their values, beliefs, education, support, and available evidence.

The MaxWell Clinic has been created to give form to these principles."

David H. Haase, MD

Founder and Medical Director, MaxWell Clinic for Proactive Medicine