Susan Skinner, RN, knows sometimes the most important aid to healing can be found within.

Skinner, who works as an emergency department nurse at Porter, helps her patients employ. It is a technique that has gained acceptance among doctors and nurses on both the East and West coasts. It is a therapy that is slowly working its way through the Heartland.

Porter has employed guided imagery for years as part of its Cardiac Rehabilitation program and partnered with Valparaiso University School of Nursing beginning in 2000 in a research project designed to study the impact of guided imagery on Phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation patients.

It's a stress-reduction therapy Cardiac Rehab Supervisor Patty Neely, RN, says patients either love or they hate. Those who embrace it are the most likely to realize benefits from its use.

Skinner said she never tries to force anyone to try guided imagery but is more than willing to help patients who want to try it.

Although guided imagery has been in use for healing for centuries, it has only recently found favor in western cultures. Its acceptance by medical professionals has been on the rise, since medical technology has evolved to be able to "see" inside the human body and its results can be quantified, Skinner said.

Skinner will be offering techniques using guided imagery at an upcoming educational program at Porter. This program will be held at 6:30 pm July 15 at Porter's Education and Rehabilitation Campus, 1401 Calumet Avenue, Valparaiso. To register for this free program, call (219) 263-4437.

--For The Times