September, 2007

Now that I'm no longer in school, I've begun to find inspiration in non-technical books recommended by some of our members here. There's one that I've almost finished, and it's bringing up some surprising realizations in this person, the most important being the core of CAN: community. I've gone back to look for the person who recommended "When Corporations Rule the World", and I've not been able to find that post. Before I bought this book, I went online to find this thread and cut and pasted the various posts with recommended reading, printed it out, and took it to Powells City of Books in Portland. This is why I think I got this title from this forum. Not a big deal; I just wanted to thank that person personally.

This is a blog post I've been meaning to write ever since our trip to San Francisco; it's a subject that came up in lots of conversations there with different practitioners. I've been feeling bad that writing this post kept getting displaced by other things I've been doing, because I know that attracting patients is the number one issue for new clinics. It's what everybody worries about. And new clinics succeeding is more important to me than anything else; I would never want to give anybody the impression that talking to the "leaders" (whoever they are) is more important or more interesting to me than the basics of this revolution, which is acupuncturists making a living by treating ordinary people. Because that would mean my priorities have gotten screwed up. And if my priorites ever get screwed up, I'm counting on my comrades to call me on it. What are friends for, right?

For the past week or so Lisa has been participating in a listserv run by the publisher of paradigm books, Robert Felt. Its an interesting listserv with various acupunks who have been around for quite a long time. Lisa has been talking about her beliefs and CAN (which most people have at least heard of) and the discussion has been at turns interesting and frustrating.

But what I am posting here is a post by Robert Felt that he has given us permission to reprint. As you will see I find it wonderful: he [u]gets it[/u]. Please I encourage you to post comments below. So without further adieu, Robert Felt:

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All,

I'm sorry I have not had a chance to join this discussion but I've been too far
behind with too much.

There is one thing I would like to add to the discussion from the view point of CM's
acculturation in Western societies. I think this observation applies to most

The Community Acupuncture Network is officially an entity.

Here is an article published today in our main newspaper, The Oregonian. It just really struck me, as this month marks the one year anniversary of CAN...wow, the whole article references "the network". It has become the entity by which we all grow and communicate...

The time has obviously come for community acupuncture and I urge all of you to use this article as a way to get your local media to grab on to the idea of the national movement, while talking about your clinics!! (And don't forget to click on the 'fact box' part...it shows all of the Portland area clinics!)

Jump on the CAN PR train.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_ne...

Lately I’ve had a few difficulties in my life and I am choosing to focus on the positive. We talk a lot about how isolated we are in this profession and that many acupuncturists don’t play nicely together. While this can be very true, I want to focus on the genuine, generous, and well meaning people that we encounter. There are many and they make all the difference.

I recently moved and did not know anyone to see for acupuncture in my new sprawling city. I got a referral from a teacher at school and went to see the acupuncturist that he had recommended. The practioner knew that I am a student and made a huge effort to explain what her thoughts were and how she wanted to treat me. She was concerned that I am a student and wanted to make sure that the appointment was affordable for me as well. As we talked I let her know that I want to write my thesis on women’s health and she lent me 4 tomes to get me started on the subject.

[attachment 122 oneyearanniversarypartywithlineofstars.doc]

Brooklyn Community Acupuncture
one year anniversary party
Come celebrate our first year
with free acupuncture,
mini-massages, live music
and refreshments
Saturday, October 20th
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
1212 SE Powell 503.233.4341
www.brooklyncommunityacupuncture.com

Yup, We are having a party. And there's going to be lots of FREE acupuncture happening!!! Parties are fun for us as well as great for energizing our clinic. (Although slightly sore lower backs at the end of the day…) We have found that lots of people who might normally never try acupuncture---come.

And so recently when I heard another more experienced acupuncturist tell someone that giving a free treatment has no value to that person and they don't really benefit from the experience without paying for it, I had to disagree. That's the standard party line taught in practice management classes…

An article somewhat buried on today's NY Times "blog" page: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/back-pain-moving-the-needles/

echoed a similar article carried as an AP story in the Seattle paper on the effectiveness of acupuncture.

Interestingly (erroneously and not surprisingly), the AP story
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Back_Pain_Acupuncture.html?s...
quote acupuncture's cost as $45 to $100.

There are probably several other oddities related to the study which I don't have time to comment on at the moment, but thought this worthy of discussion.

I’ve been thinking about that movie….field of dreams I think its called…its been years since I have seen it, but yesterday that image of the ball field in the corn field and the catch phrase, “build it and they will come.” That’s how I have been feeling lately…wondering if they will come when the doors to finally open. Wondering how they (my community) will respond. And I’m thinking…it’s time to head down to Skip and Lisa’s place again and get a shot of inspiration!

Okay, so this is my first post on the blog since its inception. I have been a bit absent from the board the past few months. If it any conciliation I have written many times in my head.

So where have I been? In my field of dreams…

It's my week to blog. If it's your first visit to this site, I recommend reading "An Open Letter to the National Leadership..." below - far more newsworthy and relevant to the purposes of the Community Acupuncture Network than my random musings.

For those who aren't holding their breath for a response from AT and/or other established stakeholders in the acupuncture world (are they on permanent vacation?), I offer a few reflections from my week:

Officially, I am "on vacation". One of the beauties of having a CA clinic set up as a partnership with one or several other practitioners, is the ability to leave the clinic behind and take needed rest while the other partner(s) takes control of the daily operations. It's a beautiful feeling of sharing and trust that grows, mirroring those same feelings we are creating in this larger CAN community.

Okay. If the past week has taught me anything it has taught me that the far majority of acupuncturists don't know what we mean when we use the words "Community Acupuncture". On the forums here (you need to become a member to read them) on various blog responses, in Felice Dunas' response to her first article in AT, and just now on Ken Rose's radio show, I have heard people equating various acupuncturist initiatives with Community Acupuncture (CA) that decidedly are not CA. I understand that the words Community Acupuncture are vague. What does that word Community mean cause it could mean all sorts of things. In that sense all possible definitions of the word and of the phrase CA are valid. But what we are talking about here is something very specific, something that hasn't been done on more than very sporadically and on a very small scale in this country- maybe. But many acupunks think they know what we are talking about.

Ok, so we all know that the cost of education in this field has sky rocketed--I know this from personal experience. You could say that this is a view from the trenches. Following on the heels of Lisa's open letter, I want to reveal some information that I had the good?

The purpose of this letter is to open a dialogue.

Acupuncture Today recently published an article in its September 2007 edition, titled Money is Qi is Money, by Felice Dunas.

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=31577

That article has stimulated a great deal of discussion among both acupuncturists and patients, and has intensified a desire to hear from you, our leadership, what your true intentions are for our profession.

Many people were outraged by what they perceived as the crass materialism that “Money is Qi is Money” seemed to them to be promoting. Other readers were certain that the article was intended as a satire. Felice Dunas has subsequently clarified that she was trying to treat a serious subject -- how practitioners receive financial compensation -- with some levity.
http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=31598

I went to a performance/art installation this last weekend as part of the Philly Fringe Festival. I thought it was sublime, fun, full of wonder and mystery. It changed how my body felt and the thoughts in my mind. It connected me to the hundred and fifty or so other people in the room.

There's a great article in the newsletter of Dharma Field, a Zen center near my house. Roshi Hagen illustrates the importance of doing something either at zero or one hundred percent. He argues that it is best to do something at one hundred percent or not at all, for only at that point are we doing it with full intent. I see that with the CAN movement (although it seems to be revving at about 110%!!) and it illustrates this point so well. There's a different kind of mindfulness about practicing in this way. It's not just single-mindedness of worrying about onself but the compassion for the whole community that is unique and inspiring.

Another Zen master (Suzuki Roshi) wrote that, "When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire..." This echoes the point above about one hundred percent commitment.

Alert readers will remember our comrade in blog-land, John Weeks:
http://theintegratorblog.com/site/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=...

Recently John posted 2 stories which included discussions of CAN, and which make fascinating reading for anyone interested in community acupuncture. He asked Lisa for her comments, which I thought should be posted here too. Happy reading!

Dear John,

Thank you for posting the two recent pieces that addressed low-cost, high volume business models for massage http://theintegratorblog.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view... and the resonance of group visits with holistic healthcare http://theintegratorblog.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view.... I’m most interested, as you know, in combining those two concepts to create greater access to acupuncture for as many people as possible. It’s very exciting to receive news that these approaches are gaining traction in other areas of medicine.

Prick, Prod, & Provoke is primarily a place of prolific positivism - sometimes I think we CAN bloggers are a bunch of pollyanna peas in a pod, though not necessarily naively optimistic as that term usually conveys. We are a trusting bunch - a necessary attitude when taking a leap of faith with a new business model in a somewhat "on the fringe" profession.

Nonetheless, as my teachers have often advised, it is sometimes important to speak out openly about injustice and not pretend that it does not exist, hence the sometimes incisive nature of the commentary here.

In that spirit of not covering up ugly behavior and the perpetuation of highly questionable information from the acupuncture schools, I thought it might be useful to share a story about the final months of my traditional, insurance based practice in favor of launching a Community Acupuncture clinic.

If you’ve been reading the posts and blogs on this site, you know by now that no acupuncturist is an island, that trying to do it all alone is a sure path to burnout and that we need each other. Furthermore, with Community Acupuncture fees as low as they are, most offices need more than one working acupuncturist to offset operating expenses and make the business viable.

If you have a Community Acupuncture clinic (like I do) and you don’t have a business partner, you’re going to be looking to hire one or more acupuncturists to work in your clinic. There are at least three Community Acupuncture clinics in New England in this position right now. We don’t have big budgets. We can’t offer anybody $40,000 a year to start and a 401K. (Then again, nobody offered us that, either). We can’t offer a full time position. (Need I mention the years it took to make my current job full time?). So what can we offer?

A problem that many acupunks encounter when visiting Working Class Acupuncture is imagining how they could duplicate its success when they are a solo practitioner with limited funds just getting started. After all WCA is a Big Damn Clinic- just under 4000 square feet in total, just under 3000 square feet in just the treatment area. Acupunks look around for a space in their town and al too often can't imagine how they could afford such a place.

Okay. That's fair. but let me tell you about an incredibly cool, incredibly tight clinic. It's the clinic of Lumiel Kim-Hammerich and- get this- the whole thing is 280 square feet. Let me take you on a tour...
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Our movement is not only a change in the business model; it is a change in how to relate to other practitioners and patients. And it is part of the paradigm shift that is going on in this country.

We share – enthusiastically – from business plans and financial spreadsheets to forms, how to set up an Invisible Receptionist and treatment options. We share how to set up a community clinic. We share what we make and how many people we see in a week/month. We share brochures and patient handouts. We share marketing ideas.

So here I am in Portland for a long weekend, looking forward to having a treatment at WCA in a couple of days, and attempting to fulfill my CAN blogger obligations. I thought I would continue with the herbs discussion I began last month and hopefully, stimulate some more discussion on the subject.

Brands I prefer and why:

The first thing I learned as a client at David Singer Enterprises was tenacity. My first weekend seminar was with one Dr. Mark deEulio, a chiropractor who is no longer with DSE. (sometimes I wonder why) He was encouraging, dynamic, motivational and had some good stories. The one that caught my attention was about a client of his who had migraine headaches. She came in three times a week for three months, as was his standard issuance, and saw no change in her headaches. He said to her, well I have some other ideas about how to treat you so lets do another three months. She agreed. Still no change. At this point he was getting uncomfortable and said, well if you are willing to continue, I have some other treatment ideas so lets stick with the three times a week. She agreed.

The other day I received a card from a chiropractor I had seen a few times a couple of years ago after I went overboard using a chain saw. I didn’t commit any gruesome acts but the end result was that my neck was so stiff that I couldn’t turn my head. Friends recommended this chiropractor. What I didn’t like about my experience with this practitioner and her practice was that she acted like I was something special (was she hoping for referrals?) when actually I wasn’t. I don’t mind not being special, I minded the pretense that I was. She told me since she was going on vacation (and my neck was still painful) that I should come in the next day before she opened at 6:45am. I arrived early to find several other people, apparently in the same special boat as me. I guess the chiropractor was trying to make us all feel like there was enough of her to go around even though she was actually terribly overbooked.

Yes-terday, I was at my glorious work place (yes I love my work), CommuniChi, fixing a chair when I stood up, and suddenly my trick knee went out. That's the way the meniscus cookie crumbles , I later remarked to a friend in a moment of lightness. Still, the habit of self pity is deep and my wife had to remind me - "Maybe it's a good thing."

Perhaps you've heard the Tibetan story about the nomad boy who finds a wild horse. "Oh how lucky" everyone says, except for the wise elder. "We'll see" he says, calmly reciting the mantra of compassion.

The next day, the boy attempts to tame the wild horse and is bucked off, breaking his leg. "Oh, how terrible", everyone says, except for the wise elder. "We'll see", he says, still chanting mantra.