Acu-Whuuut?
How Acupuncture Can Change
the World
Acupuncturists Without Borders 2006
Diana Fried, Executive Director
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AWB Vision and Mission
• to see stable, peaceful, global communities
• to offer free acupuncture after traumatic events to
interrupt the cycle of pain and chaos and relieve
suffering
• to partner with local organizations and treat with
community style acupuncture in group settings to
support the healing of the whole community
• to provide services and training in local communities
that will have long-range benefits after we leave
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• Possibly the largest hurricane of its
strength ever recorded.
• Area of disaster is almost the size of
the United Kingdom.
• The most destructive and costliest natural
disaster in US history
• Number of people needing mental health
services in the aftermath of Katrina:
500,000 (U.S.gov./Newsweek)
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Stay Out I Have a Gun
This is How I Feel
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Photos from October 2006
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Post-Traumatic Stress
Suicide rate doubled
 Almost everyone experiencing PTSD
 Pills won’t work
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-- Henri Roca III, MD, assistant professor of
medicine at Louisiana State University, New
Orleans, and chief of LSU's Integrative Medicine
program
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PTSD
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Changes how brain works
Keyed up for stress hormone cascade
Affects language processing
Talk therapy alone can’t heal
Need to tap non verbal parts of brain
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Why Use Community Style Acupuncture?
Five ear needles and other accessible body points
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SIMPLE AND SAFE
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PORTABLE
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COST-EFFECTIVE
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PROVEN RELIEF FOR STRESS AND STRESS RELATED SYMPTOMS
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GENTLE
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DOESN’T REQUIRE “TALK THERAPY”
• BRINGS PEOPLE INTO THEIR CALM CENTER –
pulls the fragmented pieces together
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Acupuncturists Without Borders
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September, 2005 AWB
sprung into action
Volunteers offered
services from all over
country
Preparations began
Arrived in New
Orleans in October
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Numbers
 72 volunteers have gone to NOLA
 24 teams in total so far
 Volunteers stay generally for 10 days on the ground.
Were housed in FEMA tent cities, now in a hotel.
 12 volunteers came more than once, and 4 went three
times
 174 days on the ground, close to 6000 volunteer hours
 About 7,000 free acupuncture treatments
 Delivered in dozens of separate venues from
Lafayette (Cajun Dome) to Baton Rouge (Vietnamese
Community) to New Orleans.
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AWB Free Acupuncture in Louisiana
FOR:
 evacuees
 displaced residents
 relief workers
 emergency responders
 Black, Latino, White and Vietnamese communities.
AT:
 community health clinics
 food distribution centers
 Red Cross shelters
 mobile units
 churches
 workplaces
 public libraries
 street corners
 tent cities and hotels housing relief workers
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Café Toute de
Suite, Algiers
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Community Based Treatment
keeps people from feeling
isolated
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Cruise ships in the Mississippi
We found that AWB was a perfect therapeutic/medical bridge
around which First Responders could begin the work of establishing a
personal health/wellness plan.
Sandra W. Ortega, PH.D. Consultant
Substance Abuse Mental Health Services (SAMHSA)
Health and Human Services Administration
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“This is the future of medicine!
Mo O’Brien, Common Ground Health Clinic
Integrative Medicine –
We treated many docs and nurses,
And worked side by side with them…
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Under tent with Red Cross
in 9th Ward
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- Algiers Neighborhood -
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Vietnamese Community
Honduran Community
EOC
9th Ward
Tent City
Common Ground
St. Bernard’s Parish
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Meetings in the tent or the mess hall
Having a
Moment!
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Common Ground:
• holistic, integrative free clinic
• serving primarily poor, Black, medicallyunderserved population
• was run on donations and volunteers,
now getting grants
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Common Ground set up
mobile clinics
in 9th Ward,
St. Bernard and other areas
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"Please continue to offer
this work. All members of
our community need this
support. Thank you so so
so much!!!!" People’s
Hurricane Relief Fund,
NOLA resident
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“My only wish is that you were at the clinic full time.
Every day people come in looking for acupuncture.”
Baruch Zeichner
Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor
Common Ground Clinic
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Jefferson Parish
Care Center
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Emergency Communities:
Feeding over 1300 meals/ day
in St. Bernard Parish,
one of the most devastated areas
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Most of the Vietnamese community in New Orleans came to the
U.S.in the 70’s and 80’s.
• Many were “boat people, who had lost everything.
• Many have lost everything again, except for their community,
which has stayed very close.
•
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Father Luke and Graham
Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church
After receiving an acupuncture treatment myself, I felt an amazing release of tension.
At this time in our lives that is one of the best things we can ask for.
Parochial Vicar
Reverend, Mary Queen of Vietnam
Luke Nguyen Hungdung
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St Anthony’s Catholic Church,
Vietnamese community Shelter
After treatment
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Châm cứu
§Ó ch©m cøu cã hiÖu qu¶, xin anh, chÞ vui lßng:
- gÜ im lÆng
- nh¾m m¾t nhÑ nhµng
- vµ hÝt thë ®Òu.
Châm cứu rất hữu hiệu cho những bệnh:
-Đau lưng , nhức mỏi,viêm khớp
-Nhức đầu, viªm xoang
-Nãng gan, lì miÖng
-Suyễn, dị ứng và bệnh hô hấp
-Tiêu chảy, táo bón, đau bao tử, trÜ …
-Lo âu, căng thẳng, stress
hoa, thống kinh, vô sinh; mệt mỏi, mất ngủ, huyết áp cao, bÐo ph×, huyết áp thấp, tai biến
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Acupuncturists Without Borders
(AWB)
Thank you for filling this out. This is how we will be able to get funding for community acupuncture services.
Acupuncture Evaluation Form
1. Please circle all that apply:
Responder
Displaced worker
Paid Relief Worker
Injured
Displaced resident
Other:
Evacuee
Volunteer Relief Worker
2. Is this the first time you’ve experienced acupuncture? Yes
Lost a loved one
No
3.Was this session effective in reducing your stress level?
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Not at all effective
2
Somewhat effective
4. Would you do this again?
Yes
5. Would you recommend this to others?
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Effective
Very effective
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Extremely effective
No
Yes
No
6. What could we do to make this session more effective?
7. Comments/ Suggestions:
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Bodhe Buddhist Temple
Vietnamese New Year
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I went, as many, a skeptic, but after 20
minutes, was completely convinced. I
haven’t felt so good in years…the
acupuncture I received was amazing and
went far beyond a pleasant experience; I
believe it was a necessity.
– Red Cross worker
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Treating U.S. Health Services/
Surgeon General Staff
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Treating FEMA staff
Treating firefighters
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Audubon Zoo Health Fair
13,000 attendees, 6 hour waits
Hundreds treated with acupuncture
I thought it was great,
and for a brief moment the
world subsided
and I could reflect on me for a
second.
-- Acupuncture client
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Treating Habitat for Humanity Volunteers and Staff
On behalf of the New Orleans Habitat for Humanity,
I wish to convey our heartfelt gratitude for the services you extended to us.
The experience was unique and mind soothing.
Our staff enjoyed every bit of the relaxation that your services provided
and they really needed it too…
Ali Hussein,
Special Projects,
New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity
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“You have helped more than anyone or anything else here.
Thank you so much.”
Client evaluation after being treated
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Preliminary data from our demographic and evaluation project in
Louisiana – based on 250 responses:
Effective at reducing your stress
level
1: 0.8% Not at all effective
2: 6.4% Somewhat effective
3: 32.8% Effective
4: 36.8% Very effective
5: 20.8% Extremely effective
68.4% first time experiencing
acupuncture
30.8% this is not the first time they
had experienced acupuncture
Would you do this again?
Yes: 98.4%
No: 0.8%
Would you recommend it to others?
Yes: 98%
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The Return Home
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The Disaster is ongoing
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FEMA Closes Office in New Orleans
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 2, 2006
Filed at 11:30 p.m. ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Federal Emergency
Management Agency is closing its long-term recovery
office in New Orleans, claiming local officials failed to
meet their planning obligations after Hurricane
Katrina.
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August 2, 2006, The Times-Picayune states:
“In a grim assessment of mental health in
post-Katrina New Orleans, two New Orleans
psychiatrists say the condition is critical and
warn that it probably won't get better anytime
soon. Depression and post-traumatic stress
disorder are common complaints, but most
mental health professionals have left the
city…they write in today's issue of The Journal
of the American Medical Association.”
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•Donations
www.acuwithoutborders.org
• Via check or on the web via Paypal
• Volunteer in the field or at home
• Vets Project, administrative, fundraising,
graphics, web help, media, etc.
• Join our community acupuncture events
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YES! Online: Post Katrina Acupuncturists help ease post-Katrina
stress
by Richard Muhammad
Ancient art of healing helps calm stress of life after the storm
from Katrina Information Network
A New Orleans resident is given acupuncture treatment at the Common
Ground clinic in the city's Ninth Ward. Photo Courtesy of Katrina
Information Network
The idea that pins and needles could help people may be a revelation for many, but Acupuncturists Without Borders has used the ancient healing art to soothe the stress,
aches, pains, tired minds and muscles of residents, relief workers and National Guardsmen struggling under the weight of surviving and rebuilding a city and region still
feeling the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Acupuncturists Without Borders, founded after Katrina hit New Orleans, has been working in New Orleans since October 2005. The name is based on the more familiar
group of social service doctors who provide medical needs in areas of crisis. Rotating teams of volunteer acupuncturists from across the country come to offer their free
services community style. They work at health clinics, food distribution centers, Red Cross shelters, mobile units, churches, and the tent cities and hotels housing relief
workers.
Acupuncturists Without Borders volunteers travel in teams throughout the city and nearby towns. “We see people of every color, different cultures, and enjoy doing our
small part to help make the city whole,” said Diana Fried, the group's executive director.
'Put a pin in it'
“New Orleans remains a very difficult place to live and work. "People are under tremendous pressure to keep things together and we are doing what we can to help,
Fried says. The practitioners with her nonprofit organization are experienced, licensed, and follow recognized treatment guidelines. "We also bring a different
understanding to what ‘put a pin in it’ means,” Fried added.
Treatments last from 30-60 minutes with fully clothed patients sitting in chairs. The protocol AWB uses involves needles on the ears and other accessible body points.
Done in groups, community-style acupuncture can help break the isolation often felt after traumatic events. Even those who resist traditional treatment for Acute Stress
Disorder are often willing to receive acupuncture. “The treatments support rebuilding strength and resiliency that is essential for the recovery process. Acupuncture
treatments have a calming effect and help those struggling with anger, hostility and frustration,” Fried says.
Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the state's governor issued an executive order to allow out-of-state doctors and other licensed medical professionals to provide
emergency services to patients. Questions remain about the future of Acupuncturists Without Borders and other out-of-state medical professionals.
“There is so much devastation, so much to clean up, so much homelessness,” said Geralynn “Gigi” Felicetta, an acupuncturist from San Diego, who performs her work in
the Ninth Ward. At the corner of Claiborne and Pauline, Felicetta could observe food lines, ice coolers provided in the absence of refrigeration, makeshift shelters,
sleeping bags, and rubbish, along with abandoned and condemned buildings. These sights have made a distinct impression on her. “It is like a war zone in America,” she
said. "but there is so much spirit, the spirit cannot be broken.”
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We really want to see
this grow
We really want to
hear your ideas
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Other AWB Successes and Challenges
Fundraising Projects
Organizational systems set up
Volunteer applications, management, feedback
Field Work Orientations, documents, forms, handouts in 3 languages
Donor list maintenance and cultivation
Website, logo, photos, flyers, brochure, PowerPoints, branded products for sale
Community Acu Events concept, kits
News media
Email listserve development
National presence
Vet project development
Developing Board of Directors
Evaluations project and data compilation and analysis
Bookkeeping systems
Presentations around the country, including at college graduation at Rainstar
University
Worked with volunteers around country to help promote AWB and their own
practices, and spread the word about acupuncture
Numerous volunteer community presentations and fundraisers
Seeds planted for future international projects
Successfully worked with Louisiana Medical Board and Dept. of Health and Hospitals
to allow out-of-state acupuncturists for disaster relief
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