What is Acupuncture? | The Sliding Scale System | What is Community Acupuncture? | Practitioners - who we are

About Acupuncture

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a methodology used by Oriental Medicine practitioners to treat people. Acupuncture practitioners use thin, sterile needles inserted superficially into specific areas of the body in order to initiate healing and promote health. It is akin to a telegraph system giving instructions to the patients body/mind that enables it to return to balance. Acupuncture is part of a 3 to 5,000 year old medical healing arts system developed initially in China. Today, it is widely used around the globe. In Washington State, acupuncture has been a recognized profession by the Department of Health since 1987

Over the three decades or so in which acupuncture has developed in the U.S., it has been proven to be not only exceptionally safe when performed by licensed professionals, but statistically effective in an increasing body of scientific studies.

Statement by the National Institute of Health: "Promising results have emerged, for example, [demonstrating the] efficacy of acupuncture in adult post-operative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in post-operative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma where acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful." (NIH Consensus Statement, November 3-5, 1997)

Statement by the World Health Organization: "The effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia (pain control) has already been established in controlled clinical studies. Acupuncture analgesia works better than a placebo for most kinds of pain, and its effective rate in the treatment of chronic pain is comparable with that of morphine.
Because of the side-effects of long-term drug therapy for pain and the risks of dependence, acupuncture analgesia can be regarded as the method of choice for treating many chronically painful conditions." Source: Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, 2002.

Acupuncture also is extremely useful in relieving stress. According to many health experts, stress causes or complicates most modern diseases. In order for acupuncture to be effective, an individual usually needs to commit to regular treatments. By lowering the cost of treatment, CommuniChi aspires to help people make that commitment to their health.

The Sliding Scale System

The purpose of our sliding scale is to separate the issues of money and treatment; we want you to come in often enough to really get better and stay better! The table below contains suggested guidelines for what to pay. You choose where your budget falls on our scale: First treatment $25-$45; subsequent treatments $15-$35. We accept cash or check only. No income verification required.

Income	1st Appointment Paperwork Fee	Acupuncture Treatments	Additional Treatments within a week
Under $20,000	$10	$15	+$15 each
$20, 000 - $25,000	$10	$20	+$15 each
$25,000 - $30,000	$10	$25	+ $20 each
$30,000 - $50,000	$10	$30	+ $20 each
$50,000 +	$10	$35	+$25 each

Community Acupuncture

What is Community Acupuncture (CA)?

In pre-Maoist China, acupuncture was community medicine, meaning it was available to everyone. There were no five thousand dollar deductibles, visit limits, waiting periods, or other fine print exclusionary language which is increasingly commonplace in the so-called 'managed' care system. As more and more Americans find themselves lacking options for care, the health standard of our nation continues to decline across a broad measurement of international standards. Many people believe that the current system is unsustainable and will likely collapse within five to ten years.

At a clinic in Portland, Oregon, Working Class Acupuncture (WCA), founders Lisa Rohleder, Skip Van Meter, and Lupine Hudson have developed a sustainable acupuncture practice model which addresses the inequities of the current health care system. This has proven to be enormously successful from a community health perspective, with hundreds of people every week receive high quality care.

The WCA founders have organized the principles guiding their mission into a national movement by launching the Community Acupuncture Network (CAN), a non profit organization which seeks to promote the CA principles within the acupuncture profession.

With health care systems in America crumbling, we would do well to heed the advice of Bill McKibben, the noted deep ecologist: "The technology we need most is the technology of community -- the knowledge about how to cooperate to get things done."

A point of clarification: Community acupuncture is not "group acupuncture". Community acupuncture is personalized care with complete respect for the privacy of your personal history, with the treatment conducted in a common area. If you have any further questions about this distinction, please don't hesitate to ask.

Practitioners

CommuniChi was founded on January 1, 2007 by Serena Sundaram and Jordan Van Voast. In August, 2009, Serena left CommuniChi in order to play a greater role in the lives of her niece and nephew in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. She recently founded "CommuniChi Central" in early 2010. Look for a live link soon.

Jordan Van Voast, L.Ac. graduated from Bowdoin College in 1981 with a BA in Psychology. In 1997 he completed his Masters in Acupuncture from the Northwest Institute of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, obtaining his Washington state license (#432) in 1998. He is board certified by the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) and is an adjunct clinical faculty member of Bastyr University, serving as a preceptor for students interested in the community acupuncture model.

In October, 2005, he joined Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB: www.acuwithoutborders.org) as a volunteer acupuncturist doing trauma relief work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and subsequently became a Team Leader on later trips, as well as a founding member of the Board of Directors.

He has also worked in a variety of community health clinics including a Tibetan refugee clinic in Northern India, and in Seattle at the Asian Refugee clinic at Harborview Public Hospital, Mount St. Vincents Nursing Home, SeaMar Clinic, North End Rehabilitation Facility (low security jail), Kang Wen clinic (serving people living with HIV/AIDS), and Evergeen Clinic (chemical dependency recovery). He also serves on the Board of the Dharma Friendship Foundation, a Buddhist center in Seattle. www.dharmafriendship.org.

In January of 2010, he volunteered with Tzu Chi International Medical Association's relief mission in Haiti. A Powerpoint slide show of his trip is available here: Powerpoint Slide presentation. Note: You will need either Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 installed, or the Free Powerpoint Viewer. (You will also need the Free Mozilla Firefox broswer installed or Google Chrome.

Sam Weng, L.Ac. Sam Weng, L.Ac., is a descendant of several generations of Chinese medical practitioners. He completed his Masters degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in 2007 from the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine, is licensed to practice in Washington state and is board certified by the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).

He has experience working in community health clinics such as the Evergreen Treatment Services, Asian Counseling and Referral Services, the Pike Place Market Senior Center, and currently devotes his time practicing his art at Communichi on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as other community clinics around town the rest of the week.

Raised on the east coast of the United States, Sam enjoys his current residence in the Pacific Northwest playing electronic music, drumming for West African dance classes, communing with plants, and serving the various communities surrounded by lush cloud filled valleys and snow capped peaks.Sam joined our practitioner staff in June 2009.

View the current practitioner schedule.

Copyright 2009 CommuniChi. All Rights Reserved.

2524 16th Ave South, #301, Seattle, Wa, 98144 { Tel: 206.860.5009 }

Community Links:
Community Acupuncture Network | Working Class Acupuncture | Acupuncture without Borders
National Acupuncture Detox Association | Washington Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Association | El Centro De La Raza

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