Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Open House Photos
Friends, family and neighbors all turned out for a great evening on Friday, May 1st. We missed all of you travelers and out of towners in New York, St. Louis, Barcelona and all over! Folks were able to come celebrate from Portland, Pullman, Chelan and Olympia. It was a warm night for Seattle and people were out in full force to hear local musicians performing all over Columbia City.
Our Clinic!
This is the outside of the Community Acupuncture Project of Columbia City! We are located in the lower right unit, in the oldest apartment building in Columbia City - over 100 years old!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
May Day!
For International Worker's Day, we offered free treatments all day. It was the end of our third week, and Angie and I saw 29 people on Friday! It was busy! At one point Angie was practically laughing at me because I was dripping in sweat! We try to keep the clinic warm because you often get cold, lying still with needles in, but man! After 30+ people are in a small space, with the thermostat cranked up HIGH, and I'm concentrating hard and juggling a lot of people, I get hot! I hope it was only Angie who noticed the sweat! Oh well.
Folks from the neighborhood who walked by and saw our signs came, as well as previous patients and friends of friends. Somehow our outreach efforts reached many nurses - ER and general hospital types. We probably saw 5 nurses in one day! Many of whom had never had acupuncture and were a bit nervous about the prospect. As one patient left, she said that she thought she could send us many referrals in the future because nurses don't go to the doctor, don't want to take pharmaceuticals, and don't trust the western medical system. Interesting. I hadn't realized this as such a potential base of people to introduce to acupuncture.
Another highlight of the day was treating someone who was quite pregnant with a breech baby. She was interested in gently inviting the baby to turn into a different position in the upcoming weeks before birth time. In school, we learn a lot about acupuncture points that are contraindicated for pregnant people as well as how to induce labor in people who are past due and labor support during the actual birth. There is a point on the little toe that with moxa (a Chinese herb that you burn over and/or on acupuncture points for different health concerns) and needles has proven to be very effective at turning breech babies. I put 5 needles in this patient, including the 2 toe points. After the treatment, my patient said she felt the baby moving a lot while the needles were in, not flipping around, but moving. We sent her home with moxa to burn above her toes for the upcoming days. We'll see how it works for her!
Our Open House was a great success. So many lovely people from both Angie and my lives came by to see the space and welcome us to the world of community acupuncture. There was a Desi caucus + Briggs watching over the front porch and organizing people from the street who were out and about celebrating Beat Walk to come in and learn about community acupuncture. At one point passersby thought both Uma and Nitika were acupuncturists because of their comprehensive and enthusiastic explanations of why community acupuncture was such a good model and how it could benefit these peoples lives. And then Uma or Briggs would run and find me and tell me to come talk to an interested neighbor who had questions. I am lucky to have such good people helping me out!
Folks from the neighborhood who walked by and saw our signs came, as well as previous patients and friends of friends. Somehow our outreach efforts reached many nurses - ER and general hospital types. We probably saw 5 nurses in one day! Many of whom had never had acupuncture and were a bit nervous about the prospect. As one patient left, she said that she thought she could send us many referrals in the future because nurses don't go to the doctor, don't want to take pharmaceuticals, and don't trust the western medical system. Interesting. I hadn't realized this as such a potential base of people to introduce to acupuncture.
Another highlight of the day was treating someone who was quite pregnant with a breech baby. She was interested in gently inviting the baby to turn into a different position in the upcoming weeks before birth time. In school, we learn a lot about acupuncture points that are contraindicated for pregnant people as well as how to induce labor in people who are past due and labor support during the actual birth. There is a point on the little toe that with moxa (a Chinese herb that you burn over and/or on acupuncture points for different health concerns) and needles has proven to be very effective at turning breech babies. I put 5 needles in this patient, including the 2 toe points. After the treatment, my patient said she felt the baby moving a lot while the needles were in, not flipping around, but moving. We sent her home with moxa to burn above her toes for the upcoming days. We'll see how it works for her!
Our Open House was a great success. So many lovely people from both Angie and my lives came by to see the space and welcome us to the world of community acupuncture. There was a Desi caucus + Briggs watching over the front porch and organizing people from the street who were out and about celebrating Beat Walk to come in and learn about community acupuncture. At one point passersby thought both Uma and Nitika were acupuncturists because of their comprehensive and enthusiastic explanations of why community acupuncture was such a good model and how it could benefit these peoples lives. And then Uma or Briggs would run and find me and tell me to come talk to an interested neighbor who had questions. I am lucky to have such good people helping me out!
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