Proposed Lecture Series: Caring for Under-Served Populations

[tank]

Howdy, Folks.

Sara Szmodis (my housemate, T4) and I have been kicking around all sorts of ways to reach under-served communities, and one of the things that came up was the idea for a lecture series on just that very topic. I want to know who would be interested in attending, as well as if you know people who would be qualified and interested in speaking.

The focus would be on caring for under-served populations like migrant workers, sex workers of all stripes, and addicts. These folks are right here, in our community, and they need care from people with whom they feel safe. What do you say to reach these folks, and how do you say it? What do you _not_ say? Who are your referral resources? We do have people in the Bay Area who work with these populations in their own ways (Clean Needle Exchange, St. James Infirmary, Berkeley Free Clinic, etc) that we can ask to speak, but maybe you know more or have a special 'in' with someone. ??? I'd like to get acupuncture and herbs to these folks, especially since most of them don't have access to medical insurance.

If you are interested in taking such a series, volunteering to make it happen, know people who might like to speak in the series, or just plain think it's a good idea and want to see it happen, please drop your comment into the thread and help build momentum for it.

tank
PS: Our not-so-secret wish is to ultimately generate enough momentum to get externships setup in the East Bay for these specific populations. ;-)

[Aly Condon]

So my big suggestion is actually bouncing this idea off of Elyse and seeing what her suggestions are. (If you haven't met Elyse, I can dig through my TCM in Public Health stuff until I get her contact info...) Since public health is her big thing, and has been from the get-go, she's got her fingers on a lot of different pulses in the area, and would be a really good person to brainstorm with for putting together a lecture series.

Obviously, I'm interested in this kind of thing -- but you could probably tell that after spending five minutes with me talking about my specialties. That said, I'm not volunteering to help you -- sorry! Boards! Eek!

[kd]

I would love to help use any resources I may have to help make this lecture series happen. Since I am a Virgo my mind jumps to logistics such as, is there any school funding to pay the lecturers? Most of the folks in these realms tend to be overextended already and may not be offering over their free time. But then again they might.

I know a great speaker, Donna Odierna. She started and directed the program HEALTH at Casa Segura, which was a harm reduction program utilizing herbs. She now is finishing her PhD in public health. She is a firecracker, so smart and yet so down to earth.

I also know someone, Dan, who did groundwork for Berkeley Free Clinic and is now finishing up his specialty in being an Osteopath. He might be available.

Of course the local community acupuncture folks would be great additions to the series.

I think it would also be amazing to get in touch with people at the Larkin Street house in SF which serves homeless youth, a large number of which are gay. Having access to acupuncture at an earlier age could be really powerful for these folks. I'm sure if I dig I would know someone over there.

I also know an acupuncturist up in Portland that works in the prisons.

There's also the acupuncturists without borders group.

I'm getting really excited just writing down all of these people in one spot. I could definitely help to "curate" this talk series. I have a lot of experience through the non-profit arts in making something out of nothing. It could be as simple or as in depth as we want to make it. From word of mouth to grants.

There's my morning thoughts.

Thanks for having this conversation!
K

[Site Owner]

FYI, if you end up writing a document that you want to share with the group, you can upload files with your post.

[Sara Szmodis]

So I was helping Lianne Audette with the NADA CEU class over the weekend--she was very helpful in suggesting that the NADA protocol can be used for all kinds of things, including dependencies that I hadn't thought of--processed sugars, online gaming, gambling, etc. I'm thinking that underserved communities could cover all kinds of folks, as we've mentioned a bit above. She also mentioned that she's had alot of time in setting up various clinics for ear acupuncture amongst populations who could really use it--including the Sacramento court system. I will follow up with her about all of this to see if there may be options for us we haven't thought of yet.

[Site Owner]

That's amazing! I had no idea you could use it for other forms of addiction. It makes sense once you think about it.

[Aly Condon]

NADA can be used for addictive behaviors as well as physical dependencies. For example, a person with anger management problems can benefit from NADA. A person who is having low self-esteem could be caught in a self-deprecating cycle that would improve with NADA treatments... You see where I'm going with this, right?

[Site Owner]

Very nice.

[Shane B.]

The curandero, Chuck Garcia ( http://www.hispanicherbs.com/ ) who lives in Richmond, has a class he teaches specifically about treating homeless people. He goes to them...it's like a street ministry without the churchy part. I'm sure he'd be interested in speaking here at AIMC about this specific topic.

Is this project still in the works?

[Aly Condon]

Thanks for the insight! I would say that it's a rather "ongoing" project, in that many of us are taking ideas and running with them. (Sometimes it's a little more like meandering with them, but at least there is overall progress.) As I've mentioned in conversations with other folks, sometimes it's just enough to get the idea percolating through a person's head that we don't *just* do "spa-style" treatments for the individually wealthy.

Have you seen the upcoming class that Garcia will be teaching at AIMC on Nov 1-2? Looks very interesting; I'm torn between that one and the other offered that weekend by Michael Guen.

[Shane B.]

Chuck Garcia's new schedule of classes is up on his website (CA school of Hispanic herbalism).

[Abby Rappoport]

Hey There!

I just had dinner with a good friend of mine who works at the Homeless Prenatal Program in San Francisco. She said that they may be quite interested in setting up an externship to provide acupuncture to their patients. Check out the website at http://www.homelessprenatal.org/ . I know that they're located in SF, but If this is at all interesting to you, please let me know and I can set up a dialogue for you.

[Aly Condon]

A friend of mine would probably be interested; I'll mention it to her, as she's not on "The Acupuncture Channel". I don't know that she'd be willing to set up externships, given that she's working on graduating. However, every person that expresses interest is one more pebble in the avalanche.

Thanks for the info! :)