Finding a Voice

As many of you may recall, when you first start acupuncture school you have to, at least in my school, introduce yourself in nearly every class and say what brought you to acupuncture school. I never really told the whole truth, it was a little too personal at the time.

The reason that I rarely share is that my sister was diagnosed with cancer, malignant melanoma, a little while ago. She is young, healthy and never had any major health problems before that. My world was rocked to say the least. The idea of my sister suffering in any way or worst of all losing her was beyond my comprehension. We were so fortunate because it was caught early enough and removed and things returned to normal. The thing is, cancer is funny, and it could come back at any time, especially this type. I wanted to help. I wanted to make sure that it never came back and she lived forever, well longer than me at the very least.

Anyway, how did I get to acupuncture school from my sister's cancer? Well, I got really focused on preventative medicine. I thought that was the key for her. I investigated everything and eventually entered acupuncture school with a very specific interest in treating cancer. Now as I reflect, two years into the program, I seldom think about cancer anymore. My focus has changed to making sure that my sister can even have access to Chinese medicine, period.

As I started to wade through the inner workings of the profession, I realized that my sister, a successful career oriented, married (meaning a two income household), mother of two can't afford regular acupuncture treatments anyway. About a year ago she went to an acupuncturist to help with some relatively minor medical issues and her first visit was $125. In order to see any progress with her problem, she needed to go a couple of times a week for a few months. That was $100 per visit (the going rate where she lives), so $100 X 7 = $700 + 125 for the first visit = $825 in 2 moths...who has that sort of cash laying around? She certainly did not. Her insurance would kick in once she paid $500, and then it would pay for half of the visits, so that brings the grand total to $688 (about, math is not my favorite). Oh, I forgot to add in the herbs as well, not covered by insurance. Wow, insurance is just fantastic isn't it?

She was in a lot of pain so she went three or four times but then just could not justify spending the money anymore and was not seeing immediate progress. I knew if she kept with it she would feel better, but how could I tell her to keep spending so much money? I felt completely let down by acupuncture.

So that was the next phase in my learning, I was investing my life into a profession that was not even accessible to my own family. I seriously considered quitting acupuncture school. I was disgusted. From my perspective, the only way my sister could get regular care was after I finished the program and that was just unacceptable. My anger was actually good because it motivated me to start looking for a solution. I started talking to acupuncturists in my community and I eventually found Lisa and Skip, and here I am blogging away trying to take advantage of every opportunity to raise awareness about issues of access in our profession. I am trying to make sure that my peers in school know what lies ahead...and what they can do about it.

The Community Acupuncture model was actually the reason that I stayed in acupuncture school. I saw a clinic that I would be proud to practice in and see as a viable solution to the problem facing our health care system today.

As I write this I realize that I am probably preaching to the choir for the most part, but if there are people reading this who want to know why Community Acupuncture is so important, I ask you to think about your family, friends, and neighbors and ask yourself if they would have the money to access quality treatments from a Chinese Medical practicioner for an extended period of time?

If not, I think you see my point.