Inspired by the Board Meeting

Last week I spent 3 of the best days of my life. I was in the company of like-minded, like-hearted acupuncturists who put the patients first and strive to do good in the world. After 2 years of only they know how much work, time and money put into CAN, WCA turned CAN over to the new CAN board, which has no WCA personnel aboard.

I suspect it felt like empty nest syndrome – relief, trepidation, worry, fear, and hope.

I have been aboard this wild ride since Lisa’s first article appeared in AC Today. I came on the CAN Board in late Feb. of 07. I was the screener for Locate a Clinic when we went through the agony as a group to define what practice model best serves the most patients.

On Oct 23, 2008, WCA, with the opening and ceremonial drinking of champagne, bowed out of the day-to-day operations of CAN. CAN is now the responsibility of the board, with Lupine providing transitional work with another treasurer for the board. WCA will be present in the form of the Executive Committee of the CAN board along with Michael McCoy, but they are taking a well needed & deserved break.

The champagne event went almost unnoticed. The new board, composed of half of the old board and half new members, hunkered down around a table and began the process of getting to know one another, getting to know how each thinks, their concerns and interests and began to tackle the business of CAN. As I look back on that meeting, the bus tour to 4 CA clinics in Portland after the meeting, and the party we had in the evening, I realize that THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN A LIFETIME OF GIVING HEALTH CARE THAT I’VE BEEN IN THE SAFE COMPANY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DEDICATED FIRST OF ALL TO THE GOOD OF THE PEOPLE THEY SERVE AND WHO ARE ALL GOOD HEARTED, ALTRUISTIC PEOPLE. I have been around a lot of people who mouth the words. This group lives it.

We sincerely want to lead this organization on the path of social justice, community building and patients first without sacrificing ourselves in the process. This is a win-win deal. Lots of people get the health care that makes a difference in their lives at an affordable price, the acupuncturist gets to make a living and isolation among people is broken down. None of this happens most of the time in the way acupuncture is practiced and financed in North America and a lot of the rest of the world. We have a vision of acupuncture being a big part of the solution to the health care, isolation and stress of the lives we all lead in contemporary North America and elsewhere. Call us on our *&%$$@ if we go astray.

Realized, this vision, put forth by WCA and carried on by those who were drawn to their work, could really change the world.The chronic illnesses of our lives truly are caused and worsened by stress. Western medicine finally sees this, too. Acupuncture deals very well with stress. We could find the developed world no longer concerned with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, immune and other chronic diseases if people got regular acupuncture.

Lowering prices, simplifying practice and building community are the key to this. CAN offers a solution to those people without health insurance, those with chronic diseases only medicated but not healed by Western Medicine, those with conditions that WM gave up on, and those acupuncturists who want to participate in a win-win business model – one that sustains the health of the community in which it is based, and affords a living to the people giving the service.

We don’t want or need Wall Street, government bail-outs, or health insurance to pay for acupuncture. All we need are affordable prices, quiet, frequent acupuncture and results. Not a problem. We CAN.

Are you a patient/client and want to share your story with others who might suffer from the same problems you have? Do you want to tell them how acupuncture at a community clinic helped you? Send your story to amongeau@mm.com and I’ll post it on this blog page.

Are you an acupuncturist who found out it isn’t like the schools promised? There is another way. Check us out. Membership is on a sliding fee scale. And unheard of in the acupuncture world, we SHARE information about exactly how to really make a difference for yourself and your patients. CAN’s mission: Community Acupuncture Network (CAN) is a nonprofit organization of practitioners, patients, and supporters whose goal is to make acupuncture more affordable and accessible by promoting the practice of offering acupuncture in community settings for a sliding scale ranging within $15-40 a treatment.

It’s time to get more of you involved. Step up and tell us your story.