My Mission as President: Value for our Members
Kimberley Benjamin
I am excited to have this opportunity to serve all of you in the coming year. We have a great team this year--some new people along with some veterans volunteering their time to work for you. Please welcome them and keep in mind that someday you may want to take a turn at serving your profession. (Don’t miss the free e-book download at the end of this newsletter from James MacRitchie, a founding member of the AAC who wants to pass on some of what he’s learned in more than 35 years of practice.)
My goal this year is to effectively carry on the work that the AAC has done for years–to track policy and legislation to be sure we are protecting your scope of practice, and to educate policymakers and the public to build awareness of Acupuncture and Oriental medicine to help your practice prosper–to be the voice and the ears of acupuncturists in Colorado. My hope is to also update the AAC’s systems and policies to help future boards transition easier and give new board members the tools they need to further strengthen our profession.
In addition to this work, I’m proud that the AAC has been involved with the CSA (Council of State Associations) as they have gone through a lengthy process to start a new national association to help support our profession. After much debate and discussion the new organization has been named the American Society of Acupuncturists (ASA). They have had three teleconference meetings to date and the AAC is tracking their progress.
By being a member of the AAC you are automatically a member of the newly-formed ASA and have national and international representation. For example, Vice-Chair Eric Buckley recently attended the International Standards Organization Technical Committee meeting in Beijing as a part of the U.S. ISO delegation to work on standards directly related to TCM.
One of the concrete benefits you are already receiving from the ASA as an AAC member is free access to the peer-reviewed journal Meridians Journal of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Please see the summer issue announcement further down in this newsletter.
Another inherent benefit of being involved with the ASA is that we are constantly informed of current issues facing our profession. Through the ASA we have received a survey being conducted by the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine on attitudes toward the use of the term “Oriental” to describe our medicine. You can take the survey here. Please feel free to share this with other practitioners and your patients to help us gain a better understanding of the cultural norms and attitudes towards this particular word, and what it means to our community. This research could influence evolution of the terminology of our field.
We are also learning how other states have approached getting included as an Essential Health Benefit under the Affordable Care Act and will use this information in our own efforts as we present to insurance companies and policymakers. We look forward to seeing additional value the ASA will add to our organization and membership.
The AAC board of directors is excited to work for you in the year ahead. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions about what the AAC is doing or have ideas about how the AAC can better serve our profession.
Kimberley Benjamin, L.Ac., Dipl. OM
President, AAC Board of Directors
President@acucol.com
(970) 214-6683
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Injection Therapy Update
Scott Richardson
Thank you all for your patience as we are trying to restore procurement rights of sterile substances for injection since our bill HB 1360 passed this spring. We have been calling local pharmacies and distribution centers letting them know of the recent change, but we are still waiting for DORA to promulgate rules and publish an official list of substances (this was part of the bill that was passed). We have been in contact with DORA on a weekly basis trying to expedite this process and resolve any concerns they may have on setting hours of training. If you want the most up-to-date information or would like to have a better explanation as to why this process is taking so long I invite you to contact LeAnne Duffy at DORA, as she is their Program Director of Acupuncture. Her contact information is: (303) 894-7796, leanne.duffy@state.co.us.
It MAY be possible to order some products like cynocobalamin and lidocaine from College Pharmacy. We do not know for sure yet. We also have a contact from McKesson that is looking for a couple of acupuncturists to open up accounts to make sure the kinks are worked out for ordering from there. They have B12, Lidocaine, Epi-Pens, and more.
McKesson Medical Surgical
Brad Becker
Account Manager
cell phone (303) 596-1416
brad.becker@mckesson.com
The bottom line is that it won't be official until DORA finishes their part, but we look forward to letting you know when that happens!
Scott Richardson, L.Ac., Dipl. OM
AAC Immediate Past President
IPPresident@acucol.com
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What goes on at AAC Board Meetings?
Building a Stronger Profession–Together!
Yvonne Piper
The AAC meets every six weeks to discuss important issues that affect our members and to explore and coordinate actions we can take to support our profession in Colorado. Below is a brief summary of what was discussed during our last meeting.
- We are happy that our efforts have allowed us to procure injectables now! We continue to work with the pharmacies & DORA to complete the list of substances we need. Resources for procuring injectables will be listed on the Resource page of our website.
- Board members have been trying to make sense of the OSHA requirements and will continue to post information to Yahoo Groups, Facebook and the AAC website. Please see Membership Chair Sa’bura Goodban’s article in this newsletter for more info.
- The AAC voted to engage Brent Foster, who was the lead attorney on the successful cases to stop PT’s from dry needling in Washington and Oregon, to research case law and statutes in Colorado. He will be working with Kari Hershey, a Colorado attorney. They will submit a brief on legal options and the strength of any possible suit. The estimate for this work is $2,000 - $2,500. If it is decided that legal action is warranted we will need to raise at least $25,000 to proceed.
- The AAC continues to build and maintain relationships with companies that offer discounts, services, greater exposure and fundraising collaboration to acupuncturists such as Blue Poppy, BancTek, ZenVault and Colorado Medical Waste. Fundraising Chair Sue West is exploring how we can become a part of the Amazon Smile program as well.
- Sue is also continuing to work on presentations to insurance companies and decision makers regarding getting Acupuncture included as an Essential Health Benefit under the ACA. Former board member Anne Chew is assisting with this. They welcome any help.
- The AAC now has two student representatives who help us with fresh insight to our profession by offering us their time and feedback as well as involving the student bodies at Colorado acupuncture schools. Brittney, the student rep at CSTCM has conducted a student survey and is organizing the results. She is also setting up a student Facebook page.
- We are pleased to continue working with Charissa Haines, who provides the AAC with administrative services. Charissa fields all of your emails, phone calls and mail, helps members join and renew membership, sends out announcements and newsletters, and helps maintain or website and organize our annual conference. Thank you, Charissa!
Now is the time to come together to build a strong profession. Please help us make our profession stronger by volunteering some time. If you would like to help the AAC with any of these issues, please contact me using the information at the end of this article. All AAC professional and student members are more than welcome to attend AAC board meetings. Space is Limited - Please RSVP if you would like to attend the next meeting:
Saturday, July 18th 10am – 12pm
The Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine
1441 York St. #202
Denver, CO 80206
Room E (Located in the right corner across from the student clinic)
To RSVP text message me at (720) 387-9522 with your name and email address, or email me at omwellnessllc@gmail.com
Yvonne Piper, L.Ac.,Dipl. OM
AAC Secretary
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Annual Conference Update:
2015 Feedback & Lonny Jarrett in 2016!
Stephanie Shober
Thanks to everyone–attendees, speakers, and sponsors–for a fantastic 2015 AAC conference featuring Jeffrey Yuen, Daisy Dong and Bruce Levy. Thanks particularly to:
* Golden Flower Chinese Herbs for the $100 Gift Certificate raffle item
* Blue Poppy for sponsoring Saturday's lunch
* Lhasa OMS for donating three cases of Seirin needles to encourage new membership in the AAC and for sponsoring Sunday's lunch
* Far East Summit for sponsoring Saturday's breaks
* American Acupuncture Council for sponsoring Sunday's breaks
We are listening! Here is a sampling of the attendee feedback we received:
Good job remarks:
- Awesome all around: timing, preparedness, breaks, everything! Felt that all attendees were respectful, interested in material, and happy to be here.
- Best lunches ever! Great job!
- Good job. Well organized. Great meeting.
- Great experience! Thank you all for your hard work!
- Great to bond with other practitioners. Great speakers.
- Liked the location and lunch provided was a very nice bonus!
Needs work remarks:
- The “lecturing at students” style kind of has its limits. Smaller groups? Conference style? Discussion groups?
- Start at 8AM so we can get out by 5:30-6:00.
- Chairs were very hard for the long lectures. Very uncomfortable.
- Location far from central. Why Colorado Springs? Otherwise, very nice.
- Need more restroom facilities.
- Room too long & narrow. Back tables too far from speaker. Hotel was nice by atrium very noisy.
- Very crowded on our first day.
We thank you for your comments and will use them to shape future events.
SAVE THE DATE - April 23-24, 2016!
We are excited to announce that Lonny Jarrett will be joining us in Denver next year for a two-day seminar entitled Treating Trauma with Chinese Medicine: Untying the Knot.
Lonny will discuss how to diagnose and treat trauma with Chinese medicine, considering the heart/kidney axis as the physiological foundation of stability and how to restore integrity to this most important relationship. Lonny will emphasize the importance of the practitioner's awareness of the dimension of self that is never wounded or traumatized as a gold standard in diagnosis and treatment. The class will be rooted in an appreciation of the core dimensions and capacities of the self, including the spirit, ego, emptiness, soul, conscience, and the will.
Lonny S. Jarrett, M. Ac., author of Nourishing Destiny, The Inner Tradition of Chinese Medicine and The Clinical Practice of Chinese Medicine has been practicing in Stockbridge, Massachusetts since 1986. He hosts NourishingDestiny.com, an online community for 3000 practitioners of Chinese medicine worldwide.
The conference will be held in the Denver area, and details about the venue will come later this year. Like this year, we will contract with a hotel that is attractive, well-maintained, and economical. We will find a ballroom with a larger capacity and better layout for accommodating the large crowd that we are. Looking forward to seeing you all there!
Stephanie Shober, L.Ac., Dipl. OM
AAC Conference Chair
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Are you prepared? The Colorado
Acupuncture Medical Reserve Corps is!
Every day there are more stories about natural disasters such as fires, floods, tornados and earthquakes. Not only is our planet demonstrating this volatile state, so are we, its inhabitants and caretakers. There seem to be increasing stories of wars, riots and shootings. As practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine, we understand the principles and relationship of EXTERNAL and INTERNAL energies. We understand how to bring balance to our patients on an individual basis, but what can we do globally in the wake of so many disasters and traumas? You already have the tools to make a difference─your skills and knowledge of acupuncture. Colorado has a unique way for you to apply those tools. It’s known as the Colorado Acupuncture Medical Reserve Corps (CAMRC).
All 50 states have Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) units, however Colorado has the nation’s first acupuncture-based, federally approved unit that deploys either on its own or with Behavioral Health units in response to disasters within the state. The CAMRC has responded to numerous disasters and events to assist in the immediate healing and long term recovery of the communities and people affected. As a result of the success with this program, other acupuncturists who have witnessed it or heard about it have requested assistance from the CAMRC to begin the process of creating acupuncture-based or integrated units in other states. Some of the more recent efforts outside of Colorado: Maryland has assembled a team of seven L.Ac.’s who have been NADA or AWB (Acupuncturists Without Borders) trained, and will be treating First Responders at this month’s MRC conference. In addition, a small group of acupuncturists have responded to the flooding in Texas, and there have been other states in contact to prepare for future needs.
In Colorado we currently have 58 L.Ac.’s who have taken the CAMRC training, including the FEMA ICS 100/700 courses and become part of the CAMRC Team through the Colorado Volunteer Mobilizer. The CAMRC schedules three or four weekend training courses (with free CEUs) per year as well as an annual mock drill for disaster response. This year’s drill will be held on October 4, 2015, and will be deploying teams to three different locations (Colorado School of TCM, Southwest Acupuncture College, and the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture). Even if you have not yet taken the CAMRC training course you can still be involved as a volunteer evacuee for the drill and experience treatment from our response teams. This is a great opportunity to learn what it is all about and how you can use your knowledge and skills to bring hope and healing in times of need.
There is also a general CAMRC meeting at 3:30 pm this Sunday, July 19th at Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder (6620 Gunpark Dr, Boulder, CO 80301) if you would like to get involved.
You may also contact our outreach coordinator, Monica Edlauer, for more information at boulderacupuncture@comcast.net or (303) 859-7556
http://acucol.com/acupuncture-medical-reserve-corp/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CAMRC/
Steven Shomo, L.Ac., DOM
CAMRC Training Coordinator
zenmedic9@gmail.com
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Your Free Download of the Summer Issue of Meridians Journal is Ready!
The summer issue, v. 2 #3, of Meridians: The Journal of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is now online! This and all issues are available free to you as a valuable benefit of being an AAC member. To access your download just create a new account at their website and self-certify that you are a member of a State Association. You will be able to place an “order” for the zero-cost PDF downloads. You do not have to do this for each issue, just for the first time you access them. After initially registering, all you have to do is log in when a new issue is uploaded.
If you have any questions about access to the online issues, please feel free to contact the webmaster, Brian Smither, at webmaster@meridiansjaom.com. He will be happy to assist you so you can read this issue and all issues of Meridians JAOM.
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Student Rep Update: New Student Facebook Page Under Construction
Brittney Chowning
Hey there acupuncture students–I hope everyone is having a great summer! I have a couple of updates about student matters that could be of interest to you. I put a survey out to the acupuncture students of Colorado at the beginning of the year. Thanks to those of you who participated for all your efforts and responses. The results are in! The only problem is I couldn't think of a simple way to get the results to the student population. I'm working on creating a Facebook page for acupuncture students in Colorado where we can post questions/responses from us to the AAC, updates on legal information, the AAC meeting minutes, and more. I think it's important to stay involved and informed even at the student level. Eventually the acupuncture field in Colorado will depend on us to thrive. So, let's start building our community! The page will be up and running by the end of July. If you have any other burning questions or would like to get involved you can always e-mail me at studentrep@acucol.com, or if you attend SWAC in Boulder, you may like to reach out to our new rep Allicen Maier at studentrep2@acucol.com. We look forward to connecting with you!
Brittney Chowning
AAC Student Representative, CSTCM
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Free E-Book Download to AAC Members
The Adventures of an Acupuncturer: 35 Years Behind the Needle
A Clinical Autobiography of Qigong Acupuncture
By James MacRitchie
James MacRitchie
In writing a ‘Press Release’ for this book–a brief introduction and overview–I reflected on who it was most written for. As somewhat of an autobiography I realised that patients, students, friends and family may find it of some relevance, but the principal audience is the members of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado–not least because I was a member of the AAC from its beginning. Who else would be more interested in what it has to say–technically, practically and professionally? And it contains my ‘practice secrets’, which helped keep me in full-time practice in Boulder for over 30 years. These may be of some curiosity to other practitioners.
The Adventurers of an Acupuncturer is the story of 35 years of ‘working with energy’ with a wide variety of patients...my clinical autobiography of how Qigong became integrated with Acupuncture...and a personal means of summarising life as a practitioner so far. I began Acupuncture practice in 1977, in London, England. In 1981 I took what was to be a one-year sabbatical to Boulder, Colorado. A third of a century later I finally returned to my hometown of Liverpool in 2013. During these years I discovered Qigong, and over the course of time integrated it into my clinical practice. This book is the story of those adventures.
My hope is that you will find this text of some value, and that it will provide another perspective on combining Acupuncture and Qigong in clinical practice. And also that it is accepted in the spirit of homage to practitioners everywhere who are doing, and pioneering, this most astonishing and miraculous work with the energy system.
This e-book can be downloaded free at www.globalqiproject.com.
Please note that it is 4+ MB in size, so may take a little while to download.
Jim MacRitchie
jamesmacritchie@gmail.com
phone: UK 44 (0)79-13-20-89-59
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