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Acupuncture Alumni Return for Panel Discussion (10/03)

The Swedish Institute welcomed back three alumni from its Acupuncture Program for a panel discussion entitled "How Acupuncture is Changing Patients' Perception of Health Care" on October 22, 2003.

Panel members Moses Alvarez, L.Ac.('02), Beverley Hutchinson, L.Ac.('99) and Catherine Parker, L.Ac.('00) were guided by moderator Eric Demry, L.Ac.('02).

The forum brought students, alumni, prospective students, teachers and friends together as part of the activities scheduled around North American Day of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine on October 24. Here are some of the highlights from the evening's thought-provoking conversations.

Early Uses of Acupuncture in Harlem

Eric Demry opened the discussion by asking Beverley Hutchinson whether she felt acupuncture was changing her patients' perceptions of health care.  "I can best answer that by talking about my first experience with acupuncture, and how it affected me," Hutchinson began. 

"My interest in acupuncture began around 1985 when I noticed a little brownstone near where I lived in Harlem with a sign that said, 'First World Acupuncture Association of North America.' I was looking for help with a medical condition and Western medicine could only suggest drugs that would have to be taken for a lifetime. So I went into the little brownstone to see what was being offered. My path to where I am today began on that acupuncturist's table.

"I not only found relief from my physical complaints, but a sense of community as well. It turned out to be a group practice, and they felt  part of their work was to educate the Central Harlem and South Bronx community about acupuncture. I remember they did talks at St. Anne's Church on staying healthy in the seasons, and that was one of the things I was able to sink my teeth into. The community organizing and educating was an important part of my physical and spiritual health at the time.

"The folks who were leaders had taken up the baton from the Young Lords and Black Panther parties, who, along with South Bronx residents, had mobilized to look for ways to treat drug addiction.  Mainly they were looking for alternatives to methadone. A group called Vida Positiva, positive life, was instrumental in creating the demand for natural medicine within the community. It was the people within the community who mobilized and agitated for alternatives that led to the changes in medicine we're seeing today. As a result, ear acupuncture is routinely used to treat drug addiction in several places, including  Lincoln Hospital and the program where I work, Project Samaritan, Inc. (PSI), which also provides herbs, yoga, massage, meditation and Tai Qi for people with HIV/AIDS." 

Education–for patients and professionals–a key factor for integration

Moses Alvarez , who works in an integrative medical care center in Pennsylvania, responded to the question "When complementary and alternative practices are  available to patients, how do they find their way through the many options?"

"In the group practice where I work we talk about this quite a bit–who does the patient see first?" Alvarez replied. "Will it be the M.D., N.D. or a holistic health counselor trained in doing intake? Who will guide the person and chart the course of treatment?

"There has to be a guide, a gatekeeper. The gatekeeper needs to know about intake, diagnosis and all of the modalities. Right now, the way it's set up in our office, the M.D. is the gatekeeper. Patients see him first for a diagnosis, especially if it is an acute problem. Once the illness is under control, the patient will usually be guided next to the naturopath, who looks for natural ways to help.   Those may involve the chiropractor, massage therapist, nutritionist, or myself. 

"The other important piece of integration is education.  Education is important not only for patients, but for the team members as well. We often have group discussions like this panel, where we educate each other about our practices and how they might mesh with everyone else's. In my office we spend 3 to 4 hours a week trying to figure out ways to work together and understand each other's role in the team.

"Part of the issue also involves economics—who will get the dollars that each patient represents?  Today's patients are very aware consumers, willing to spend $27 billion a year out of pocket for CAM.  The gatekeeper also directs who the income goes to, so that puts another kind of pressure on the decision-making process. There's a lot of thought that has to go into making integration work. Ongoing communication is a key factor in whether a multi-disciplinary approach will be truly integrative in practice."

Patient Involvement in the Process of Healing

Patients, of course, can also take the lead in finding care by following their inner needs, whether those needs involve immediate relief or more long-term goals. Catherine Parker, who maintains a private practice in Nyack, NY, addressed the question of what an  individual might be seeking.

"At first someone may need symptomatic relief, much the same way I was when I first went to acupuncture," said Parker. "That's often how things begin.  As I start to work with people and they see changes in themselves, then they start to open up and I can provide treatments on a different level.

"It doesn't bother me if people come in for symptomatic relief.  I've learned to start with the area they are focused on. However, while I'm working on that specific symptom, maybe a painful toe, I also start talking to them. I'll explain what I'm trying to do, acupuncture theory, the significance of the points I'm using. For instance, I might tell someone that a particular Gall Bladder point can help with making decisions in life. Or I might say, 'This point is a gateway to your true self.' I talk to people like that.  And sometimes they will respond with, 'Yes, what's really going on with me is that I feel like I'm stuck in time and can't move forward in my life'. 

"However, I must say that sometimes people are very aware that they want something else. Just last week a woman came in and when I asked her how I could help her she said, 'I want the courage to change.' There was no question in her mind what she was seeking."

"I follow the guideline established by our teacher, Jeffrey Yuen, that all healing is basically about change. I can assist patients in any number of ways: bring more energy to certain aspects of the body, nourish them as they attempt to change, free their movements so they can change more freely. But essentially the changes will occur within the individual, which is where the healing takes place. I don't consider myself the healer. And I don't see it as my role to tell people what healing should be for them."

The issue of education for patients came up repeatedly, as all panel members agreed that it is an important part of practice. However, Beverley Hutchinson pointed out that "Education is a two way street. Like Catherine, I don't think of myself as a healer. I think of myself as a self-healer. Often the interaction between practitioner and client is an educational process for both of them. It's not something you can study directly, it just happens in the moment, arising out of a certain sensibility, experience and openness.

"Whatever the situation, if I'm working with someone who needs symptomatic relief, I have to deal with that first. A person who has a pounding headache can't listen to a lecture on five element theory."

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