ATSU faculty releases new book to help with New Year’s resolutions
Posted: January 15, 2009KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (Jan. 15, 2009) – Laura Bank, Ph.D., PA-C, associate program director of physician assistant studies at A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Health Sciences (ATSU-ASHS) in Mesa, Ariz., wants to improve your health from a body-mind-spirit perspective and is sharing her message in the newly published book, “Pearls of Wellness.”
The idea for the book developed “from my deep desire to improve the health of my patients by addressing stress and emotions,” she says. “I noticed in my clinical practice that individuals who experienced frequent illness and disease were often stressed and unhappy. Upon this realization, I began getting to know my patients from a more holistic standpoint.
“Not only would I address their reasons for their visits, but I would ask about what else was happening in their lives. This gave my patients permission to open up and share their fears, stresses, and joys with me, which enabled me to help them on a much deeper level.”
Dr. Bank, who received her clinical education at the Medical University of South Carolina and earned a Ph.D. in health sciences, practiced as a physician assistant for five years before joining ATSU in 2005. She left clinical practice to teach at ATSU because she was ready for a new challenge and wanted to teach future healthcare providers how to fully connect with their patients. “Instead of reaching only a limited number of people on any given day, I could reach others exponentially through my students,” she says.
Her love of teaching naturally progressed into writing and speaking. “Pearls of Wellness,” she says, “stems from my sincere desire to touch lives by preventing and treating illness from a body-mind-spirit perspective.”
The book contains 52 “Pearls of Wellness” – one for each week of the year. “You could read it every Sunday night to get charged up for the week, or on Monday mornings to begin your week with inspiration,” she says. “The goal is to make you highly functional in body, sound of mind, and rich in spirit.”
Read a chapter of Dr. Bank’s new book at www.PearlsOfWellnessBook.com.