Why a Community Clinic?

A look at the current model of healthcare in the U.S., including the practices of many alternative therapies, leaves us with a sense that something is missing. The health insurance and pharmaceutical companies are making money, and like any other large-scale corporation, that is their objective, and that's fine. Unfortunately, our valued family physicians must now spend tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for malpractice insurance every year, and even more time and money trying to keep up with third-party reimbursements.

Individuals and families who seek alternative health practices such as various styles of bodywork, acupuncture or herbal medicine, find that these avenues, even though they may be effective at keeping people out of hospitals, are either not covered by health insurance, or come with a substantial extra premium and copay. In these worsening circumstances, the choices for personal health care in the U.S. diminish markedly to the extent that middle and lower income individuals and families are being left behind.

Though technological advances in modern medicine have done remarkable things, and many lives are saved every year from disease and serious injury, it is clear that we as individuals can also take a more proactive role in our own well-being.

During the past three thousand years that Oriental medicine has been practiced, it has been used to treat the ruling class of China as well as the common folk. In our society, it cannot not replace the need for modern medicine but having access to this very basic approach to healthcare does provide us with an effective opportunity to care for ourselves. It is a way to protect against the development of more serious physical imbalances or the onset of disease, and it is a way to re-activate the body's innate healing energy so that life can continue without emotional stress, physical pain, or the side-effects of numerous drugs.

Acupuncture is a powerful and effective medicine, but it need not be expensive nor complicated for it to be available. As a community-style clinic, we offer a plan that is open to everyone, and a sliding-scale fee structure within which the client decides what is affordable for them. A community acupuncture clinic makes it possible for more people to realize the benefits of frequent acupuncture treatment when it is needed most, and to use it sparingly when only a small adjustment is necessary -- all within the family budget. This is the place medicine is meant to occupy in the course of our lives.

Life is a journey, and the goal of that journey is to align one's mind and body with spirit, to better illuminate each personal path.