Delivery of TCM services to Patients in the Acute Care Setting
ICIM designed and implemented the first Traditional Chinese Medicine Residency at Highland Hospital in 2012. In 2023, these inpatient services are now offered at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland and Berkeley. Through the TCM Residency program, Integrative Medicine clinical services are offered to populations that otherwise might not be able to secure them.
In Highland Hospital our all-volunteer team of licensed acupuncturists treated 720 inpatient (bedside) and clinical patients, the vast majority of whom were low-income and receiving government-assisted healthcare. Our pioneering efforts earned us the accolade of being the first Integrative Medicine Program in a public hospital in the United States and established a new set of hospital protocols designed explicitly for acupuncture treatments in a western hospital setting.
In January 2023, ICIM in partnership with Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, California, began offering a two year TCM Integrative Medicine Residency Program. Alta Bates serves a population of 587,090 in the Northern Alameda County region, where close to 17% of residents live in poverty, a higher proportion than in Alameda County overall. Our patients experience shorter hospital stays, fewer re-admissions, and decreased patient pharmaceutical consumption. Our patient-care services increase patient satisfaction and improve quality of life while stretching scarce hospital resources exemplifying how integrative Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine form a powerful partnership that significantly benefits patient and community health. These Integrative Medicine services are offered at the Herrick, Ashby and Summit Campuses in oncology, ED, Rehab, Labor and Delivery, OR and radiation.
Medical Qi Gong for People Living with Cancer and Medical Tai Ji
ICIM has been offering Qi Gong for People Living with Cancer at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Comprehensive Cancer Center since 2009. These classes are taught by Grandmaster Dr. Alex Feng PhD, OMD, LAc every Tuesday at 6:30 pm in person at the Comprehensive Cancer Center on the Herrick Campus in Berkeley and by Zoom.
Medical Tai Ji began in 2026 and is offered in person at 3100 Summit Ave., Oakland in the Redwood Room on the first floor every Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM
To register and receive the link for either class, please send an email to info@thetaoistcenter.com.
Classes are free and suponsored by Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.
Qi Gong is a gentle, mind/body exercise integral within Chinese medicine. Theoretical foundations include Chinese medicine energy theory, psychoneuroimmunology, the relaxation response, the meditation effect, and epigenetics. Research supports that Qi gong has positive effects on quality of life (QOL), fatigue, immune function and cortisol levels, and cognition for individuals with cancer. There is indirect, scientific evidence suggesting that qigong practice may positively influence cancer prevention and survival. The elements of Qi Gong include slow mindful exercise, easy to learn, breath regulation, meditation, emphasis on relaxation, and energy cultivation including mental intent and self-massage.
Tai Ji is a more structured form that is based on Qi Gong. Dr. Feng teaches Tai Ji Yang Style 24.
Dr. Feng builds on a lifetime of studying and practicing Qi Gong, Tai Ji and TCM. These approaches to health have existed over 4000 years; recent scientific studies have demonstrated broad benefit of regular Qi Gong and Tai Ji practice to physical, spiritual and mental health.
