Community Acupuncture Network
Posted January 29th, 2008 by river Jordan
"You folks in the Community Acupuncture Network have just been so wonderful." Those more or less were the words of the mother of a patient who just left the clinic an hour ago.
It's been a long day and week, with my partner on vacation, and myself working 40+ hours a week in the clinic, but all worth it. Not because I was able to help someone...but because someone was helped....the "I" is really irrelevant, especially when considering that I am part of a network, a community of practitioners all sharing a common mission to throw open wide the doors of an ancient tradition and make it accessible to 95% of the population, instead of 5%. That's us - everyone part of CAN.
I received the phone call around 2:00 p.m. They were in Portland and got CommuniChi's details when they were at WCA. My guess is they found out about WCA via Bend Community Acupuncture. In any case, they had been to all 3 clinics. Now they were on a journey to find a inpatient drug detox center to help deal with the psychological aftermath of a recent detox from opiates. Everything was full in Portland, so they decided to try Seattle.
They got to Seattle around 6pm, right at closing time, but I couldn't think of not treating her. The daughter was a bit emotionally remote and obviously under severe inner stress when I spoke to her, so I kept my talking very brief. I asked her what her previous experience of acupuncture was and she said it helped her relax. I didn't really need much more information than that.
I put in the NADA 5NP, Yintang, Du20, and 4 gates and then helped the mom find local inpatient care centers. I encouraged the mom to come back for a treatment (mother child dynamic definitely important to tonify in this situation).
The treatment helped and sent them on their way with directions to a nearby treatment center.
Somehow I think this healing story would be a lot less likely if we were all charging $75 or $100 for a first office call, and sitting in our little private clinics with private treatment rooms, and not feeling part of something much larger.
Thank you Lisa for starting this. I'm starting to get it. This is big. Really big. This has the power to heal nationwide. Globally. Even beyond.
Maybe not always easy to actualize the full vision, setting up sustainable clinics that pay practitioners a livable wage, but hang in there anyone who is looking for some hope to cling to. It's all worth it.
Re: Community Acupuncture Network
Thank you, Jordan, for a lovely post.
The Network really becoming a network is the ultimate payoff for me. Last Tuesday I had one of my long-term regulars, Ellen, come into the clinic limping and grimacing with a painful gout attack. Acupuncture always gives her at least temporary relief, so I suggested that she come in again later in the week. "I can't," she said, "I wish I could, but I'm going to Florida." We've run into this issue repeatedly over the last four years I've been treating her, because she has aging parents whom she has to look in on pretty often in Florida. This time, however, a lightbulb went off in my head. "Hey, " I said, "how close are your folks to Bradenton?"
It turns out they live only about an hour away, and it also turns out she's been looking for an acupuncturist for them for the past few years with no success. Her family is not poor but they are retired and living on a fixed income. She was delighted to hear about Melonie and Gene and said she'd do her best to work in an appointment during her visit. Later that week, I got a private message from Melonie saying that Ellen had made appointments for herself and her parents and they were all coming in together!
How fabulous is that.
Re: Community Acupuncture Network
I just spoke with a woman whose son lives on the other side of the continent and loves his acupuncture, so is encouraging her to use acupuncture too. It reminds me how much we are a community and how we are actually ambassadors for each other.
Re: Community Acupuncture Network
What a wonderful story! It really is a gift of the universe to be a part of this community, a part of something bigger. It is a gift to be able to give acupuncture to so many people from so many walks of life and earn a living at it.
Re: Community Acupuncture Network
Just reading a commentary in the New York Times by David Brooks about Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama:
"The awareness that we are not self-made individualists, free to be you and me, but emerge as parts of networks, webs and communities; that awareness is back again today."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/opinion/29brooks.html?em&ex=1201755600...