Sticking Together, March 2021
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On Feb 25, 2021, there was a POCA Live event to discuss the co-op’s status and plans for the future. If you missed it, you can watch it on POCA TV. As part of necessary upcoming changes to the legal structure of POCA, keep an eye out for a survey asking for your approval, as is required by Oregon State law.
There is an official Q&A thread on the Forums where people can ask questions about the upcoming changes, and GC meeting minutes are always available.
Want to get involved in this transition? Join the POCA Slack channel to get plugged in with your fellow POCA volunteers.
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New POCA Mission, Vision and Aims |
People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA) is a member-run 501(c)(6) non-profit organization whose mission is to work cooperatively to increase accessibility to and availability of affordable group acupuncture treatments. We envision a world in which every community has access to local, affordable acupuncture to reduce collective and individual suffering and nurture resilience.
POCA members work together to:
- Build healthy relationships, collaborate, and share knowledge among acupuncturists, students, community acupuncture clinics, patients and community members.
- Develop and support best practices for affordable acupuncture clinics.
- Create sustainable, enriching, living-wage jobs for the staff and owners of affordable acupuncture clinics.
- Create more equity in healthcare systems.
- Build alliances with organizations working to create equitable communities and sustainable, just economies.
- Work with regulators to ease entry into the acupuncture profession and engage with legislative processes to ensure safety and access are prioritized.
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Kitchen Table Chat March 16th
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Join us for a Kitchen Table Chat tomorrow Tuesday, March 16th at 7:30 pm EST. We don't have an agenda, a rhyme, or a reason – this is just an opportunity to connect and chat.
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Ready For the May Membership Drive?
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Find our newest Membership Drive Toolkit online.
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Practice for Sale: Brooklyn Acupuncture Project |
Our beautiful and thriving Community Acupuncture clinic in the heart of Brooklyn NY is ready for the next chapter of its life. Founded in March of 2008, the Brooklyn Acupuncture Project has offered acupuncture, herbs, tui na, shiatsu, reiki, nutrition, sound healing, and social and environmental education for the past thirteen years and has truly become a cornerstone of the NYC community.
We now see 200 people/week on average and have over 14K people on our mailing list. A super diverse team of five acupuncturists, two receptionists, clinic manager, clinic director, and social media maven are running the show and systems are tight.
This is truly an amazing “turn key” opportunity for the right person/people. BAP is a gem. Please contact current owner, Sarah Natan MAcOM, with sincere inquiries.
Sarah.chase.natan@brooklynacupunctureproject.com or 914-330-9073
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Help us make a POCA membership drive video |
We are collecting short videos for the membership drive. It’s DIY on your cell phone or computer. It's easy and FUN. This video could be anywhere between 10 seconds to 1-2 minutes.
Tell us: * why do you love community acupuncture?* why are you member of POCA?* what’s your home clinic?
We hope to get 30 videos (or more!!) and use them throughout the membership drive on twitter/instagram/facebook to promote POCA. These will also be available to share for each clinic’s own promotion. So, disclaimer alert! If you send us a video it will be distributed over social media to help promote your acupuncture clinic. Please send any questions and videos you make to Kelsey (AcupunctureByKelsey@gmail.com). If you need inspiration, email Kelsey and she will send you her video. You can also leave comments in this Forum folder.
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A double punk book recommendation
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Justine Myers from Acupuncture Together shares this book recommendation. She found out about this book from Cait Cain at Lincoln Acupuncture Project.
Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Healthcare by Dayna Bowen Matthew. "This book provides in-depth examples of the history of racial disparities in healthcare in the United States. Numerous examples of racial bias and the unfair but avoidable differences in health outcomes are described for people of color compared with white people. It is a very eye-opening read, and although it is a bit heavy in legal jargon, I think it is an important book as it brings awareness to so many inequities. The material in this book has the potential to bring more mindfulness and understanding of our patients' experiences and can help us avoid potential biases in practice."Have a book or movie that you think other POCA members would enjoy? Send it to newsletter@pocacoop.com and I'll run it in a future issue.
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Acupuncture in the Borderlands |
POCA member Ryan Bemis, from Crossroads Acupuncture in Las Cruces, NM, was a guest on Qilogical’s podcast in March of 2020. In this hour-long podcast –Acupuncture in the Borderlands – Ryan talks about his work providing acupuncture to refugees on the US/Mexico border, Liberation Acupuncture, POCA Tech, and what it’s like running a Community Acupuncture clinic.
Qilogical is looking for practitioners to pitch a show idea and offer to be guests. So far, Ryan is the only Community Acupuncturist who has been on the podcast.
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POCA Tech Library book donations |
The POCA Tech Library continues to thrive. We are always interested in book donations, especially in the topics of Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, and Social Justice. We are looking for copies of these books which were highlighted in the February issue of Sticking Together:
- “Aging Behind Prison Walls: Trauma and Resilience” by Tina Maschi
- “China and the Cholera Pandemic: Restructuring Society under Mao” and
- “Barefoot Doctors and Western Medicine in China” by Xiaoping Fang
All donations to POCA Tech, a 501c3, are tax deductible. Our donation receipt form is posted on our website. Please let me know if you have any questions (carmend@pocatech.org). Thanks for your support. Carmen
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During Covid-19 would it be useful for you to be able to make payments for your POCA Membership? You can email Carmen to arrange a payment plan – finance@pocacoop.com
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PTI Enrollment Opens April 1st
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POCA Tech will start accepting student applications for Cohort 8 (can you believe it!) on April 1st. The application, current Student Catalog, and other application details can be found on our website.
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Read Roppy’s blog post “An Open Letter to the creators of POSE: Where is the acupuncture?”
Have you written a blog post that you think other POCA members would enjoy reading? Email newsletter@pocacoop.com and we'll share it.
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There is a 13 minute bonus video from ADS, Juan Cortez, from Dope is Death and the New York Harm Reduction Educators.
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Want to help create an upcoming POCA Live event? Contact Shanell at shanell.acu@gmail.com.
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