A Healer’s Vision – The Maui Cancer Wellness Retreat
Dr. Bridget Bongaard, “Dr. B” to her patients, retired after 30 years, most recently as Chief of Integrative Medicine from the Carolinas Healthcare System in Charlotte, North Carolina before moving to Maui with her husband Jim in 2014. A passion for helping people with her extensive experiences in integrative medicine brought her out of retirement and led her to serve as Medical Director of Islands Hospice, as well as at Kula Hospital and Hale Makua.
Even with a demanding professional schedule, Dr. B felt a desire to help the broader Maui community, utilizing her knowledge and skills in integrative medicine. With a medical degree from University of Florida and a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, Dr. B developed programs for North East Internal and Integrative Medicine Clinic. She also created and directed programs for Integrative Consulting Services, Integrative Oncology, Holistic Nursing, Integrative Chaplains, Integrative Hospital Volunteers, and implemented the first Integrative Research Project.
Dr. B’s vision to provide an integrative program on Maui became a reality through the generosity of the Joseph Padua Trust who granted the funds for 26 cancer survivors from Maui, Moloka’i, and Lana’i to a tuition-free weekend retreat. Sponsored by the Pacific Cancer Foundation, Dr. B will direct the first Maui Cancer Wellness Retreat to help cancer survivors with any given cancer diagnosis transform their lives into a new and better level of health and wellness.
The two and one-half day retreat on August 4 -6, 2017 will be held at Lumeria, a wellness retreat center in Makawao, Maui. The weekend will incorporate a holistic and integrative approach for participants to learn and heal through guided self-exploration and experiential activities such as guided visualization and relaxation therapy, art therapy, proprioceptive writing, movement therapy through yoga. gi gong and hula led by staff experts and Dr. B. Nutrition and wellness education with tools to strengthen the healing process will also be a part of the program.
The Maui Cancer Wellness Retreat will be the first of its kind and a great gift to the Maui cancer community! Applications are available by calling the Pacific Cancer Foundation at 242-7661. Space is limited and deadline for application is June 16, 2017.