Holistic Medicine Activist Crusades for Change

“It isn’t what we know that gets us into trouble, it’s what we know that isn’t so.”

That’s the message at the top of all of Douglas Hemstreet’s personalized stationery. And, for two decades, Hemstreet, a self-described scientist, inventor and practitioner of holistic medicine, has been trying to educate people about “what isn’t so.”

By his own admission, Hemstreet hasn’t had much success. He’s had a hard time selling both his ideas about holistic medicine and his plans for an electric car battery to the public.

But the 63-year-old Chicago native never stops trying.

“The universe is multidimensional,” Hemstreet said. “People tend to think in terms of simplistic explanations for everything. But science has a bad habit of proving wrong what we absolutely know is so.”

So Hemstreet lobbies. He writes to politicians and members of the media. He sends them informational handouts. And he calls them on the telephone.

In one month, Hemstreet said he ran up a long distance bill of $3,000 in his effort to spread the word about the benefits of holistic medicine.

He claims to have contacted every major newspaper and television station in America at one time or another. And he moved to Lemon Grove last fall, partly because he was frustrated with the lack of response he was getting from the Chicago media.

“Only 4% of the population can handle information that requires changes to their mind-set,” Hemstreet said.

But Hemstreet vows not to rest until people learn that the methods used in holistic medicine--which include hypnosis, organic diets, mental energy-channeling, and use of special herbs--are superior to those of conventional medicine.

Because people don’t have that information, they are suffering and dying needlessly, he said.

“The mind is not part of the body, the body is part of the mind,” Hemstreet said. “We have to re-train people about everything they know.”

Hemstreet is a member of Mensa, a social group for intellectuals. The leader of the group’s local chapter said she can vouch for the strength of Hemstreet’s resolve.

Roxanne Rohmann, the chapter president, said she has met Hemstreet only once, at one of the group’s activities.

“He seemed to be very firm in his beliefs about holistic health,” Rohmann said. “He would probably like to educate the world. He’s very dedicated.”

In order to become a member of Mensa, an individual must score in the top 2% of any accepted intelligence test, Rohmann said.

Hemstreet qualified for Mensa despite his admitted “impatience” with formal education. After studying electronics as an undergraduate student, he earned a doctorate of ministry from a mail-order company, he said. Hemstreet developed an interest in holistic health in the 1960s, and since then he has attended a variety of classes and seminars on the subject.

It was at one of those seminars last spring that he met Joyce Richardson, who has since become one of his satisfied customers.

Richardson, a professional massage therapist, said Hemstreet helped treat her for an injured elbow and also for insomnia.

“He’s been a great help to me,” Richardson said. “After just one treatment, my elbow felt much stronger and it wasn’t bothering me. What Doug is doing seems to get the most rapid response.”

Richardson described Hemstreet’s personality as “fascinating.”

“There’s almost no subject that he can’t talk on,” Richardson said. “It’s like talking to an encyclopedia. You ask him when he can meet you somewhere, and he says, ‘I can be there in 17 1/2 minutes.’ ”

Hemstreet’s information doesn’t come without documentation. More than 2,000 books are stored in his cluttered apartment, and the ones he uses to support his points are always within easy reach.

Titles such as “Hands of Light,” “Growing Up Absurd,” “A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field” and an interpretation of the Koran are all part of Hemstreet’s personal library.

Of course, Hemstreet’s views are anything but conventional. He refers to the American Medical Assn., a major organization for practitioners of conventional medicine, as a group of “quacks.”

For their part, some conventional doctors look at Hemstreet’s methods with something less than unconditional acceptance.

When asked to discuss holistic medicine, a representative of the San Diego Medical Society responded by issuing a six-paragraph statement taken from a California Medical Assn. journal.

“The CMA believes that treating ‘the whole person’ is good medical practice,” the summary of the statement began. “However, the CMA disapproves of those independent holistic-humanistic health practitioners who lack the necessary basic science, medical education and supervised training to engage in medical activities.”

To finance his fight against conventional wisdom, Hemstreet has been peddling his plans for an electric car battery that he believes could revolutionize the automotive industry.

Hemstreet claimed his Alcor battery has a 15-year life span and could power an electric car at freeway speeds for more than 12 hours without recharging.

But he ruefully admitted that he might have hurt his credibility with auto makers here and overseas when he offered to give them plans for the battery free if they could produce proof that holistic medicine wasn’t effective.

Hemstreet’s offer to the auto makers was one that he couldn’t help but make. Trying to change the world is a never-ending battle for him.