This month, CAC’s acupuncturist, Seth, & office manager, Hannah, traveled to beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida for the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA) yearly 3-day conference. POCA is the organization behind the creation and support of community acupuncture clinics, including City Acupuncture Circle.
We attended several classes a day on how to best run a community acupuncture clinic, clinical recommendations for community acupuncturists, and the social justice aspects of providing affordable medicine. Some stand-out classes included, “People’s History of Community Acupuncture,” which detailed the forgotten history of the unexpected role of the Black Panther party in bringing acupuncture to the fore-front in America (see this article for a bit more information), “Pediatrics in Community Acupuncture,” and “Trauma Informed Care.”
Just in time for CAC offering herbs to patients, we attended a class which included lots of tips for how to integrate an herbal program into a community acupuncture setting. Come in and ask about our new herbal offerings and look out for a future blog post with more information!
Clinics, acupuncturists, patients, and supporters can all become POCA members to support better access to acupuncture to all. This month POCA is holding a membership drive for discounted prices to support this fantastic organization that is doing so much to make acupuncture accessible to all people.