TCM school

Photo by seventeenstars

It's all over!

I just finished my last NCCAOM (National Certificatoin Comission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) board exam (finally!), and now I wait for my license. It's a really great feeling to know that I don't have to study for school any more! Any learning I do now is on my own, and I find myself surrounded by amazing books I've collected these past three years, and instead of wanting to get rid of them, I can't wait to start using them in my own practice! It usually takes about 2-3 months for a license to come through (so I've been told). In the meantime, I have a lot of small business "stuff" to figure out.

OCOM has a great resource in Jason Stein, LAc, who is the head of the Professional Development Center at OCOM. He recommened that we graduates check out SCORE to get some assistance in starting up a new business, which I recently did. They were incredibly helpful, and gave me everything I needed to start an LLC, as well as answered all of my questions (no matter how strange!). I recommend them to anyone starting a new business. Oh- did I mention it's free and that you can use their library of resources?

I also wanted to share a fantastic Australian TCM site! Chinese Medicine Adventures has been up since January, but I didn't discover until today (thanks, Yael!). There are photo essays, a few videos of life in a TCM school in Sydney. For those of you who have graduated, it will be a trip down memory lane. For those of you who are still in, it's definitely something you will be able to relate to. Check it out when you have time (not in class, of course....)

More on Community Acupuncture

One of the first posts on this blog featured a favorite clinic of mine- Working Class Acupuncture. Since it's been over a year (!), I thought I'd update you on this fantastic way to experience the healing effects of acupuncture.

Still going strong, Working Class Acupuncture is changing the health care system by offering affordable (sliding scale) and thorough treatments for all. Check out the previous post for more information on community acupuncture, and be sure to read Lisa Rohleder's blog to see what the newest happenings are at Working Class.

Pamela O'Malley Change recently published an article in Utne magazine about her experience with community acupuncture and how it inspired her. Read it here!

Also, check out this video produced by Moses, one of the acupuncturists at Working Class Acupuncture.

Acupuncture offered at an affordable price makes it available to everyone. We can't sit around and wait for it to change in the US healthcare to happen- we have to change it ourselves. The people in the community acupuncture setting have started a revolution in the healthcare system, which is exactly what needs to happen.

Interview With a Practitioner: Sarah Hayes, LAc

Acupuncture Northwest

Sarah Hayes, LAc is a practitioner in North Portland who has a great blog. You can find her site at acupuncturenwpdx.com, and here is a some more insight into Sarah and her practice.

1. What brought you to Portland?

I moved to Portland to go to OCOM. It is the best acupuncture school in the country. Moving here also felt like coming home, being a native Northwesterner from Olympia, Washington.

2. Why did you decide to become an acupuncturist?

I always wanted to be a health care professional and actually I wanted to be an MD. When I was in my 20's I had my first experience with serious chronic pain, I had hip pain that was a horrific. The doctors I went to told me that there was nothing wrong, and that rest and Advil would improve my pain... When it didn't, I ended up turning to acupuncture and my hip pain was resolved in four treatments! I was blown away and so thankful to feel better and have my life back. All I kept thinking to myself was, there must be so many people who have a story similar to mine - people dealing with symptoms that you can live with but don't have to, like pain, fatigue or allergies. Unfortunately most people don't realize they don't have to live with this stuff. In short - I decided I wanted to be a different kind of doctor: I wanted to treat conditions that are not dealt with adequately by Western medicine.

3. Tell me about your practice.

I see a vast array of patients in my practice. I treat people in every stage of life, from birth on. We see a variety of conditions. Some of the most common include fertility, pain, allergies, autism, stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, digestive issues, post operative symptoms, and lots of crazy things that come up and for which western medicine just doesn't know how to treat.

I practice a variety of styles of acupuncture to accommodate the individual needs of my patients. I do trigger point work, Tan style acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and more. What works for one patient is not necessarily going to work for another... Thus I tailor each treatment to the individual.

I really get to know my patients. I listen to their stories, ask lots of questions and encourage them to tell me as much as they can about themselves. The more information I have, the better I can treat them. Patients usually come in for 1 or 2 specific complaints and we usually end up watching a handful of symptoms to track their progress and watch as they transform their health.

4. Where does your passion for the medicine come from?

I love what I do because the medicine works so well and people get amazing results. It is an honor to be in people's lives in such an intimate way. Listening to patients stories and watching their lives greatly improve is an incredible way to spend my days. I feel so lucky to facilitate health in a way that is so unique and powerful. I watch people change in ways they never thought were possible.

4. Do you have any advice for patients?

I always tell people to listen to their bodies and trust their instincts. We have a lot of information and if we pay attention, our body will tell us what we need to know.

I also like to remind people that life is crazy and it is not going to get any easier. No one gets a free pass, we all have stuff, and our job is to figure out how to be graceful within it all.

5. What is your favorite Portland restaurant and why?

I love Andina, they just do it right. But we go to the New Old Lompoc in Northeast a lot. It is a great place to go with the kids, it is causal and easy. They have a great beet salad and good beer. That's all we need.