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Transcript: William M. Akutagawa

Importance of healing an individual holistically

[Akutagawa:]
To treat a person, you have to treat a person holistically. If it’s Western medicine, it’s fine. If it’s traditional medicine combined with Western medicine, that’s fine. There’s always that spiritual element, and I think as Native people we always believed in that. You cannot cure someone simply with herbal medicine. You need to cure them with herbal medicine and the idea that there is a greater power that infuses the healer to help them.