December, 2009

Thanks Jessica for asking me about the viewpoint of Chinese acupuncturists.

(warning) I am not professing to express the views of ALL the Chinese acupuncturists just a little slice of what I see.

Published as a feature story in today's Frederick News Post:

Jessica Feltz-Wolfson has built her Frederick acupuncture practice on one principle: make acupuncture available and affordable for all.

Sometime last winter we came up with the bright idea of being open 365 days a year.  It was after a few people asked us if we were going to be open on Thanksgiving, and then a few more asked about New Year's Day. Some of them sounded sort of desperate, and we hate saying no to patients, so at some point Skip and Lupine and I looked at each other and said, what the hell. Let's do it.

Thank you to Nora, who pointed-out that this letter would make a wonderful blog. And thank you to Alexa, for permitting us to repost it here:

December 2009

Dear Community Acupuncture Comrades,

First Professional Doctorate Support Disorder (FPDSD) has two manifestations, manic disorder and depressive disorder.  Depressive disorder is manifested by mental dejection and incoherent speech, while manic disorder is characterized by shouting, restlessness and violent behaviors.

Not to be outdone by our fun-loving, cyber-savvy, network of nicknamed punks, the Supporters of a First Professional Doctorate in Acupuncture have created their very own Facebook page.  In only five short sentences, the group quickly begins disseminating misinformation:

The First Professional AOM Doctorate Fact Book  (thanks to Jessica for making a link! Note: the authors of the Fact Book have requested that we remove this link)is clearly meant to defuse opposition to the FPD. The tone is even, reasonable, authoritative – tastefully bureaucratic, you might say.

Kudos to all my colleagues who have addressed the primary issues of fairness, access and cost, all of which, I believe, will be greatly harmed if the FPD becomes law.  I have found your writing to be inspiring, amusing and articulate.  Today, I got thinking, though, (and pardon me if six of you have already addressed this point, my memory could use a little acupuncture)

(AOMNCC's membership is currently around 1200, most of whom are licensed acupuncturists, with some educators and patients also.)

The FPD also comes in blue.

Ultimately we need to decide on the FPD based on whether it will help our profession by creating more jobs. Might it make life easier for graduates, who by various estimates get out of our profession within five years of graduating at a 50-80% rate? In other words most graduates fail in their practices-at least half and possibly three-quarters or more:can the FPD change this awful statistic?

Here in Rhode Island if you have a license plate for your car that has a number below 5000 you are special.  I’m serious.  Low number plates are  coveted, family heirlooms , and when you see a car with say number 3476, something inside you yearns to know just who that special someone in that

Here is a recycled rant (trimmed down with new comments in italics) from about a year ago that is fairly appropriate for the carnival that is the current FPD 'debate'.  The more things change, the more things stay insane.  I had heard much talk of increased opportunities for AOM in intergrated settings and hospitals...a year ago.  Well the same crap

I have been involved with acupuncture for 14 years now. I am convinced that acupuncture is a noble healing profession. There are over 20,000 in the United States today and many of them were struggling financially before the troubled economy we have now. Why is this so? Is it because

 GUEST BLOG

Thanks to Avi Magidoff who sent me a copy of this article he wrote about the state of our education.

• annmongeau's blog
• 28 comments
• Read more

Here are the results of the survey done on the June 09 list of clinics on the CAN Locate a Clinic page. 

People want natural, safe, and effective care.  We provide that.  Sounds like a win-win situation, right?

I have to say that I was very surprised to discover that you had risen from the dead in order to wade into the FPD debate. Obviously I have great respect for your work. So please forgive me for saying that the following letter, which you posted on the Internet, does not quite measure up to your previous achievements as a writer.

I received the latest issue of Acupuncture Today in the mail yesterday.  On the front page was THIS ARTICLE.  Read and weep.  Then do something about it!