Extensive Care
Andrew Lustig delivers care both at home and abroad
Natasha Nargis
Somewhere into his third lucrative decade in New York’s television industry, Andrew Lustig realized he needed a change: a lifestyle change, a career change, a change of venue—changes that might even include rewards beyond the almighty bottom line. Toward that newfound end, Lustig, now 47, immediately set to work on transforming his life. He left his job, he became an emergency medical technician, he ate better, he exercised more, he took time to relax (riding horses, riding motorcycles), then he sought out a better place to live.
That better place turned out to be Santa Fe, which he has called home since 2003. In 2006, he received his degree in naturopathic medicine (from Alabama’s Clayton College), a path that emerged directly out of his EMT experience. “When I was working on the ambulance, I realized that my relationship with the patient lasted about 20 minutes—or until we got to the hospital,” Lustig says. “There wasn’t time to watch a patient’s progress.”
In turn, his work as a naturopath led him even further afield than his ambulance runs in and around Santa Fe. As a medical volunteer with Amazon Promise, an organization that promotes sustainable medical relief in the Amazon basin (amazonpromise.com), and the Asante Africa Foundation (asanteafrica.org), a nonprofit aimed at providing education for East African children, Lustig has dispensed medical care, aid, and relief in Peru, Kenya, and Uganda. “In most Third World countries, the diseases are similar, so it’s not like you’re starting at ground zero,” notes Lustig. “You know they’re dealing with parasites, unsanitary conditions, inadequate nutrition, infant mortality, and various insect and snake bites.”
In between his now-annual treks to the Burning Man festival, Lustig ventures to the Amazon jungle and Africa about three times a year—each trip about a two-week stint, all funded out of his own pocket and through donations, and in which Lustig hauls thousands of dollars’ worth of donated homeopathic medicine in his suitcase.
“If I can treat somebody to improve their health to any degree and just witness that, it’s really satisfying,” enthuses Lustig. “When I used to run a large business, the product was money. Now the product is health and well-being. That is just the ultimate.”
For more information, visit dr.andrew-naturopath.com.
