A few months back I was asked by Lisa to give a "guest lecture" for the CA class at OCOM.  Recently, in forums Tatyana brought up the fact that she was going to start teaching a class, asking for experiences/advice from people who had done it.  I was going to just post there, but I feel like there could be a lot of input from the Bloggosphere, so I'm making this my post. 

Also, a lot of this stuff has relavence not just for students, but fresh out acupunks and people who still might be curious as to "what's this CA stuff all about anyway?".  In lots of ways these are some fundamental issues that we all have to deal with in the "deprogramming" from school's standard "Private Practice" model to the Commmunity Acupuncture model.  

I recently discovered wrist ankle acupuncture (WAA) and I started using it with some of my patients who have severe pain in the GB 29 area. I got some 1 ½ inch needles and started learning how to thread them just under the skin, this is usually a painless process especially if I pinch the skin and then start threading slowly. These points seem to be very powerful and there are only twelve of them so there is not too much to memorize.

I recently had the opportunity to do a presentation/demonstration at a doctor’s office here in Portland. I really enjoying doing these types of presentations. This is a private practice of about 12 doctors. Doctors have such hectic schedules that the easiest way to get a few minutes of their time is to take them to lunch….or in this case, bring them pizza. Doctors are very familiar with the pharmaceutical representatives coming to see them with the latest and greatest. Pharmaceutical reps bring them stuff; this is the western model. Happily we have all utilized the community model that WCA created, why not use other existing models out there?

The power of the sliding scale is its ability to provide an inlet for working and middle class people to experience acupuncture. A $15-35 or $40 sliding scale is a strong motivator for people to try something they have no experience with. Couple this with a recommendation from a trusted friend or family member and you have a new patient. Often times, however, I am asked how I know that people aren’t taking advantage of the sliding scale and paying at the low end when they could afford to pay higher up. Wouldn’t it make sense to perform some form of income verification or means testing to assure that I am being properly compensated?

To me perhaps the best thing that the science of physics has ever done is come up with are the laws of Thermodynamics, especially the 2nd law. That 2nd law is the one which states that entropy increases over time. Basically that means that a) systems move from a high energy state to a lower one; chaos increases. There are a lot of implications of the 2nd law but time and again it is found to be operative in all systems. Evolution follows the 2nd law; so does quantum mechanics.

Last week was a very  hard week for me. As you know, we're in the middle of 800 wildfires in surrounding areas.  I don't know how the others in this area are doing, but I'm just thankful that my clinic is air-conditioned, as the air quality here has been astoundingly bad.  Having had childhood issues with my lungs, and having just returned from 2 weeks of heavy hay fever reaction to the green and flowering beauty of Austria, I unsuspectingly got swept up in the general reaction to this air.

Chalk this up as yet another lesson from the never-ending “Let Your Community Help Build Your Community Acupuncture Clinic” lecture we've heard so often on CAN.

Having been impressed by acupuncture in general and happy with her experience at her local community acupuncture clinic up here in Manchester, Coleen – a community access TV manager – asked if I would be willing to be interviewed on camera to talk acupuncture/community acupuncture.

The answer was 'yes, of course'.

Thanks to her and her colleague's enthusiasm and talents, the following ½ hour program was filmed, produced and edited for the purpose of spreading the word of acupuncture and CA around The Queen City and surrounding towns.

Check this out! A balanced, affirming, friendly article about community acupuncture in Portland from a mainstream source:

http://www.livepdx.com/Articles/Portland-Health-Beauty/?launch_pg=Aritcl...

I think we're making progress.

I stumbled across an article in Ode magazine, about a former acupuncturist (Denise Cerreta) who got "fed-up" with her acu-business and in 2003 created a restaurant with a mission to feed the hungry in her community.  Denise serves healthy, organic foods in a beautiful setting, and she tells her customers  to "pay what they can afford"...if they don't have money, they can work in the kitchen to pay-off their bill.

Isn't it interesting that this cafe and WCA were developing at the same time?

Here in Fredrerick county, there is a chiropractor and yoga instructor who offer their services on a "pay what you can afford" basis with wooden boxes in their entry-ways.

During the last few months I have been absent from the CAN, my attention focused on home renovations.  We recently purchased a lovely old soul of a home, built in 1911.  We spent several weeks peeling away the layers of carpets, linoleum and wallpaper to reveal the history of care and craft lying beneath.  In the process I began to think about the nature of time and how we have distorted its value – always equating progress with things that take less time.   

This obsession with speed seems to permeate all aspects of our lives, and it seems to me that we have lost a lot in the bargain.  There is an innate sense of joy and pleasure whenever I take the time to create a beautiful meal, restore a wooden floor, play music, or even write a blog!  And that brings me to the subject of community acupuncture.

It took me about 5 months to get around to finishing it, and you are the ones  I present this to as my humble offering.

BANANA STORY

Dan Clements of the Alternative Health Practice Blog sent me an email saying that he had put up a post titled "7 Ways to Make Peace with Your Fees" in response to the dialogue that Burton Kent and I had. I like Dan and his writing, so I went and checked it out, and then it got me thinking. And I'm wondering what you all would think. Note: this is an acrimony-free conversation so far, and I'm pretty sure it will stay that way -- so all of you who are tired of fee- related acrimony need not fear.

http://alternativehealthpractice.com/2008/06/7-ways-to-make-peace-with-y...

This afternoon, my business partner Keith and I went to Gersons looking for a door handle for our clinics bathroom. Gersons is located in South Tucson in the industrial district and salvages used furniture, building materials and other various items that can be purchased for a fair price. The materials there are old, but functional, rescued from a premature burial in some landfill graveyard. As one worker quipped to us, as we strolled across the vast, dusty outdoor warehouse, “You never know what you’ll find here.”

After congratulating a Boston CANer and her city's Celtics, I got to thinking about the team spirit shown by the Celtics all season and the similarities with the community spirit of CA practices and CAN.

Many CA practices are partnerships, which involve working as a team and being able to compromise. CAs with volunteers are indispensable in helping run the office.                    

The Celtics Big 3 sacrificed individual stats for a higher goal -- the championship. Passing the ball and assists, the mindset to play tough defense (which takes a lot of concentration and is hard work) and help each other out in providing coverage, were essential factors in their wins. Their bench players provided needed points and consistency in defense.