The fashion and healthcare worlds collide

Aren't you tired of wearing those hospital gowns that leaves your backside all exposed? One would have thought that by now, those gowns would have changed... maybe gotten a redesign so that they are less intimidating?

How about changing the way hospitals treat patients? Wouldn't patients heal faster when alternative medicine is combined with traditional medicine? Perhaps prescribing some "nutritious meals, yoga lesson[s], and alternative therapies" in addition to the prescription pills and bed rest?

Well, these are some of the dreams of one of today's most influential top designers...

Donna Karan.

Ms. Karan, an unexpected caregiver to her husband, Mr. Stephan Weiss, has started the Urban Zen Initiative out of her frustration by the treatment even the best medical facilities gave her late husband. (Mr. Weiss fought a brave battle with lung cancer -- a surprise diagnosis considering he was a nonsmoker.) As a result of her experience, she wants to revolutionize alternative medicine by having it play a more prominent role in helping treat patients in hospitals. Her mission:

...to create a working environment where the worlds of conventional and alternative medical practices unite to invent new ways of healing, health and well-being for all of us. We must treat the patient with the same passion with which we fight the disease.

To that end, next week Ms. Karan will be hosting "Urban Zen Initiative's Well-Being Forum, a gathering of some of the nation's leading physicians and practitioners of alternative medicine." Also on her "to do" list, redesigning the hospital gowns.

You go, girl! We wish Ms. Karan the best of luck!