The second level was to enable other primary care clinics, which before the trial were referring all their HIV positive patients to intervention clinics, to provide pre-ART and ART care to their own patients (mainstreaming HIV care).
"Alternative therapies, particularly in cancer, are offered as alternatives to mainstream care, and complementary therapies are used along with mainstream care," said Dr. Barrie Cassileth, the chief of the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, which offers acupuncture and guided imagery, among other therapies.
In the end, immigrants often return to mainstream care in dire need, only to have their chaotic medical histories compounded by a beleaguered system whose costliest medical technology is no substitute for timely treatment.
Given that they could see no reason to believe the mainstream care system will ever deliver the personalised service that political and sector leaders have promised, this is entirely understandable and the only route to enable this group of people to continue to enjoy a reasonable quality of life.
In a society that focuses on disease rather than health and drug therapy rather than natural preventive measures, it will take some effort to get remedies such as probiotics into mainstream care.
Integration of telehealth into mainstream care can be difficult.
Palliative care needs to be cost effective and integrated into mainstream care.
Some patients receiving treatment in conventional health care systems access therapeutic yoga outside their mainstream care to improve cancer symptoms.
Some of them such as irregular migrants or those without appropriate insurance cover may not be entitled to use services and therefore cannot easily access mainstream care.
Respondents spoke of the importance of a flexible and individualised approach for migrants within mainstream care, with more walk-in sessions, open appointment slots, and advocacy services.
