It's the Right Thing To Do

I read Lisa Rohleder’s article Acupuncture and Social Entrepreneurship in the March 2006 Acupuncture Today and loved the idea but wondered how they did it. How could they see so many patients so quickly? I was totally frustrated and bored with my private practice of nearly 5 years, seeing 10-12 patients a week, having them not be able to come long enough or often enough to get better due to conventional pricing. I started asking questions on the AT forum and never looked back. In 10 weeks I had a 4-chair community clinic with a sliding fee scale of $15 to $35. Within a month, I was seeing 30 patients a week. I now have 9 chairs and one table and am seeing 40 patients a week lately as a sole practitioner with no receptionist. I gave a talk in December at my alma mater and began teaching Jingei pulse diagnosis and Nuts and Bolts of Community Acupuncture to local students and L. Acs. The classes turned into conferences and I’m pleased to say that the greater Twin Cities area now has 9 CA clinics, 7 of which have come from those classes/conferences or talking with me. I also teach clinical nursing 2 days a week during the school year. I plan to move to a large clinic space next year with more L. Acs and a receptionist. I have learned more, had more fun and seen more people get better than I ever dreamed in my old practice. I also want to say a little about Midwesterners. In a post on CAN Lisa said: "Like interconnectedness, altruism isn’t an ideal to strive for; it is a real, pragmatic force in the world. WCA’s success is in the end a direct result of the fact that we care passionately about our patients -- not because we think it’s the right thing to do, just because we can’t help it. And that passion attracts business -- not because it’s right or wrong, just because it is. That passion called CAN into being." The little phrase "not because we think it's the right thing to do" got to me. When I was at the WCA Oct. 06 conference after most of the conference and Alana's workshop, I was standing there with my heart wide open and tears streaming, unable to articulate any reason for my clinic but "It's simply the right thing to do." I wasn't able to explain how deeply that is in my Midwestern heart/mind until I heard an NPR report on the unusual way the people in Iowa reconfigure their legislative districts with each census. It seems they do it fairly. They redistrict so that there are equal populations in all districts, regardless of the political consequences. They are the only state that does this, if I remember correctly. A politician was being interviewed. They asked him if he was worried he might not live in his district or if the other party would be elected as a result of redistricting. He said, "Sure, these things might happen. And then in the next redistricting, the other party might get an advantage. It all comes out in the wash and WE ALL AGREE 'IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO'." I grew up in Nebraska, moved to Iowa for 25 years and then to MN. My parents were both from Illinois. I’m as Midwestern as they get. At my conference in May when I mentioned this story, I saw nods from the Midwesterners there. I'm here doing what I do from the Midwestern passion that says, "If you grasp that something is the right thing to do because it's fair and good, YOU MUST DO IT." Another way to say it is, "YOU CAN'T NOT DO IT." I can't help it, either. Ann Mongeau, L. Ac. Nwtwincitiesacupuncture.com