Wellbeing Demands a Different Approach to Practice

An interview with Dr. Albert Salmona
By Peter Keil

There are a small number of doctors who are trying to find different ways to practise due to their frustration with the constraints of the present system. Byron Bay’s Albert Salmona is one of these and is of particular interest to us as one of his primary areas of practice is men’s health.

In a wide-ranging discussion over coffee I found his story fascinating because of the way his personal journey has translated to change in his work. It strikes me that this integrity in life may be one of the keys to finding new and constructive approaches to manhood.

Albert is a General Practitioner with a diploma in Acupuncture and a long-term interest in nutrition and preventative medicine, who at one stage spent a year working as a counsellor. An early experience as a medical student taught him many lessons. He was advised to have his tonsils out and was shocked to realise that the only person doing any healing in his recovery ward was the ever attentive and cheerful cleaning lady. This realisation of the difference between treatment and healing led to his long-term commitment to the principle of holism, which has now translated to a highly personal approach to his practice. Walking into his clinic it is immediately obvious that a great deal of care has been taken to create a very special, perhaps even sacred, space in which people will feel comfortable. He is unusual in his commitment to spending time with his clients. Normally consultations are an hour in length. "Anything less than that is a bandaid and is totally unsatisfactory for doctor and patient as you can’t deal with problems in their context," he explains. He spent twenty years working in an holistic practice in Byron Bay and was notorious for running late because of his desire to listen properly to his patients’ stories. Albert is sympathetic to the dilemma of his colleagues pointing out that the present system sets them up for frustration. "To be fair GPs are overworked, someone has got to do it, and they have to keep up to date with so much."

Albert finally made the decision to completely revise his own approach to medicine partly because of a 'Ross River' like illness that stopped him dead in his tracks for a year. "I realised I had to prioritise health in my own life, and the results felt so good that I started doing more research, particularly regarding middle-aged men (after all, that’s what I am!) and anti-ageing strategies. It’s personally exciting to be getting stronger and fitter as I get older." He is passionate and upset about seeing so many people getting run down as they grow older,, when it is avoidable. He also found it necessary to specialise because "it’s impossible to keep up with everything and have the time to do in-depth research".

Although it's not all he does, Albert has a particular interest in men’s health “Men obviously neglect their health, they are hopeless at self nurturing.” Unnecessary illness and early death, almost a self-destruction on a massive scale, are part of the distressing picture of men’s health that has motivated Albert’s interest in this area. His main focus is on healthy ageing, which he feels women are generally better at than men. “What’s exciting is that we are the first generation to be able to chose how we will age. The evidence is that life-style factors are major determinants of health in middle age and we have the knowledge to prevent or delay the degenerative diseases of ageing.” Albert is not an ideologue but his own involvement in a variety of exploratory groups has had a profoundly positive effect on his life and he advocates that each man must find his way to his own “spirituality”, whatever that is. Along with nutrition and exercise to combat our sedentary lifestyle, he particularly promotes meditation, as sitting quietly seems to him to be one of the best ways to start to explore that aspect of oneself.

Albert’s own choice to work the way he does is a recognition of the importance of having a sense of ownership of our own time. The preciousness of time and the power of information are a key to the way Albert sees the issue of wellbeing. "Time is all we’ve got in the end, and if I can get across the right information then people have a choice to spend a greater part of their lives in good health."

Physical, emotional, mental, environmental and spiritual wellbeing are all of concern to Albert. While he generally focuses on the physical as a starting point, he feels that all of these must be addressed if we are to have the power to act on the information he is able to provide. The clear resonance between his attitude to health and those espoused by complementary and alternative practitioners is fascinating, and perhaps here we see a combination of scientific rigour and fascination with the mystery of the human condition which indicates where enlightened health care may be heading.

What is certain, given the shocking state of men’s health at present is that change is required and I hope to continue to explore different people’s approaches to men’s health in future issues of byronchild [Kindred].

Published in byronchild/Kindred, issue 2, June 02