Category Archives: Covid-19

Don’t Forget! – Acupuncture your Ace in the hole!

Acupuncture is an ace in the hole for most acute pain and symptomatic issues.

Experience says – Don’t wait or forget to come and get acupuncture.  Here’s why.  The longer you  wait for treatment, the harder it is to treat and the more treatments you need to get the help you seek.  Here are the best examples of conditions that benefit from immediate treatment:

Acute Back pain.  If you injured your back, unless it is fractured, acupuncture can help restore function and reduce or eliminate pain.  If you did fracture your spine, ask your physician when you can come in for acupuncture.

Chronic Back flare.  For those of you with spinal stenosis, spondolythiasis (ankylosing or otherwise), bulging disc, post surgery, degenerative disc disease or even back pain from cancer conditions, acupuncture can help reduce the pain.  With most of those conditions, as many of you  so wisely know, in the case of acupuncture or any other treatment modality, the issue is finding effective ways to manage (occasionally eliminate) the pain.

Dizziness, vertigo, Meniere’s disease.  These conditions are best treated earlier than later.  Luckily, with these conditions, acupuncture can effectively treat the symptoms fairly quickly even if they have been troubling (how about aggravating) you for a fairly long time.  While nothing is 100% effective in every case, One World Acupuncture has a good track record for treating these conditions.

Shingles.  As soon as you are no longer contagious, get acupuncture.  It mostly doesn’t matter what kind of medication you are on, acupuncture can really help.  Seriously.  But the longer you wait, it may take longer to improve.

Bell’s palsy.  Acupuncture. Yes. Again, it doesn’t matter what medication you are using, acupuncture can accelerate the rate of healing, so the sooner you come in, the better.  Make sure you have been tested for lyme disease (if it’s not known why you have bell’s palsy) as bell’s palsy is a common first symptom and as we all know, lyme disease is rampant in these parts.

Trigeminal neuralgia.  This one is a bit more tricky because it may take a little longer to help.  My thought is that the nerves get very inflamed so acupuncture takes longer to help with the inflammation.   People are usually painfully more symptomatic before acupuncture kicks in to relieve pain.  The course of treatment for it is longer too.

Headaches/migraines.  Especially if brought on by stress or lack of sleep.  Getting acupuncture will help ease the symptoms.

Course of treatment:  Acute back problems can mostly resolve in 5-10 treatments, 2-3 times per week.  Acute flare of a chronic condition is usually 10-20 treatments, 2 times per week.  The rest, is every clinic you can come in the first 2 weeks, comes.  I’ve even had people come in once in the morning, once in the evening and that can really help make the pain go away faster.

Good News! Expanded hours and Private Treatments

Service times are expanding and will include private visits on Monday and Wednesday.
New schedule begins week of 3/22/2021

COVID numbers are down and vaccines are arrivingI have been scrutinizing the data on local and statewide COVID 19 and expecting the numbers (cases, hospitalizations, deaths) will be sufficiently low to slightly increase clinic numbers by the week of the Vernal Equinox, around March 21st. 

Nina will be returning, and by this time we both will have been vaccinated. I consider vaccination helpful in reducing risk of infection. While encouraged, we respect your rights to not vaccinate. So to reiterate, vaccines are recommended but not required.

Double Mask

Due to the new variants of the Covid 19 virus, the CDC is strongly recommending wearing 2 masks in public because those variants are up to 50% more contagious.

  • Double your mask unless wearing a N95 or KN95
  • Please keep your masks over your nose for the protection of the clinic.
  • Masks are strongly encouraged in the restroom.

Visit the CDC Mask info page for complete details on proper mask wearing.

Air Purifiers

We now have high quality air purifier filters in both treatment rooms. Soon we will add filters in the the reception area too!

When the winter temps are traded in for Spring temps, we will be keeping all our windows open as much as possible.

Clinic Updates

Prepaid plans will be retired by the end of March

We urge you to come in and use your visits. Please book on the web site, email or call.

Private Visits

A few of you have decided to wait out the pandemic before resuming. If you prefer we are offering private acupuncture on Monday or Wednesday beginning in March. I will treat one person per hour for $80.00. It is full service treatment.

New Patient Visits

In order to more effectively get new patients their first treatment while providing visit times for regular visits, we will begin New patient full consults and first acupuncture visits on the same day for $80. The visit will be 55 minutes long and as comprehensive as needed.

BYOB (bring your own blanket or sheet)

We are no longer providing sheets and blankets, so please bring your own if you like to be covered. The expense and volume of laundry we faced with Pandemic precautions was too onerous to continue. Each station is sanitized after each use so sheets and blankets are for your comfort, not your safety.

Closing thoughts…

I was lucky enough to get my vaccination at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield. Through a flyer given to everyone getting vaccinated there, I was able to register with VSafe and I hope you all strongly consider doing the same. VSafe is a side effect reporting program easily accessed from your smart phoneor with a browser by going here:
https://vsafe.cdc.gov/

The CDC will send you a text at regular intervals enabling you to report any health irregularities (expected or not). It’s a good opportunity to contribute directly to science. You can opt out at any time.

The two important pieces of information vital to its success is the type of vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Astra Zeneca etc) and the Lot # received. It is the law that the Lot # is provided at the time of vaccination.  If you are not provided this information, refuse to vaccinate at that time, having inaccessible Lot #s to vaccines is against the law and that’s a really good law to have on the books!

Re-Opening Date

Back! June 23, 2020…but wait!

We are changing our online scheduling system from Mind Body to Jane; appointment online scheduling starts June 19. Once we have integrated the system into our website www.oneworldacupuncture.com, you will be the first to know.
Due to the activities of Covid 19 and mandated by the Massachusetts Department of Health Services, we are all required to wear masks and practice appropriate social distancing. At O.W.A. social distancing means reducing the number of folks being treated.

New hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
10 am – 1 pm AND 3 pm – 6 pm.

For us to let patients in, while keeping Covid 19 out,
I promise to make the process as safe yet practical as possible.
I apologize for delaying my opening, it is due to circumstances beyond my control. Just know that I am so looking forward to seeing all of you, even if it’s “half mask”. Check our website for the most up-to-date information.
Here is a brief list of what changes you can expect:

  1. Masks are required for anyone coming to the clinic.
  2. Our health update discussion will be via your mobile phone just prior to your appointment.
  3. Hand washing upon entering the clinic.
  4. Acupuncture in an outdoor tent on the back patio as an option!
  5. No more than 4 patients, well spaced, in any treatment area at a time.
  6. Telehealth appointments for herbal/lifestyle consult will begin July 7 for $50. If this is an option you want to explore, send me an email at info@1worldacu.com.
  7. Simple head treatments will be available in your car! (crazy talk!) Simple yet effective designed for those who are not quite ready to commit to coming into the clinic. Same prices apply.
  8. New pricing: while we continue to accept AcuNap Packs already paid for, we are discontinuing all pre-payment packs. Regular visits are $30, new patient visits, $45. Priority booking for patients in consistent treatment before the clinic closed due to pandemic through the month of July.

    Acupuncture is still the same! Nothing different. Quiet, peaceful healing…

What and When at OWA

Hello Everyone!
Just another day in the life of a pandemic. Thank you all for your outpouring of kindness through phone calls, notes and emails. It meant so much to me that you would reach out. Some people have called me during my Monday hours 10 am – 2 pm just to see how I’m doing and chat for a few minutes. It’s so nice to hear from you!

Here is my most realistic plan for reopening the clinic:
We will most likely reopen sometime between June 8 and June 15. This has changed to 6/23

I am busy putting together an office safety strategy that encompasses personal protective gear and methods of sanitizing that considers these ideas: safe for anyone who comes in; cost effective; considerate of personal contact with and between patients; waste reduction minded; and as easy to implement as possible. Like social distancing, I consider this something we can all do together.
One thing glaringly obvious is that the clinic will have to cut down the numbers of patients being seen hourly. At first we will be opened for limited hours as it will take some folks time to feel comfortable going to an office. And it will take the office some time to get used to implementing this level of change in office policies.

Today I started imagining the space and it was the first time I actually was feeling hopeful that I could safely make the change. As someone who wants to obey the rules even as i question them, I felt a little overwhelmed by all the masks and sanitizing. Is this what I want my life to be?
But then I think of you and I realize that my time of feeling sorry for myself for not having a perfect life and a perfect situation is over. None of us (well most of us anyway) want to live this way but it is what we need to do for now.

Many of us are either in a risk category that is unacceptable or, we are caring for someone at high risk or we work somewhere that is at high personal safety risk. We don’t know how long we will have to be extra careful as there are many unknowns but I hope to consider myself in the “part of the solution” camp. The solution for me for the near future is deferring to those who have expertise in communicable diseases and allowing them to keep as many people safe as possible given the number of people infected in Massachusetts and given the patient population in which I serve.
For the moment I will rely upon the Governor’s office and Mass DPW to provide guidance on what the best course of action should be for when and how to safely re-open. I feel firsthand the financial effects of this pandemic and sympathize with those who are really struggling to keep from financial ruin and keep their businesses afloat. The statistics of loss in both cases is staggering.
I also agree that the health effects of stress and poverty will create a strain on people’s patience and health with not being able to work. I do not envy policy makers and politicians who have to weigh one side of the coin against the other. Many of them will suffer the consequence of their decisions. It is humbling to watch this all unfold and to think about how opaque the path to righteousness can be.

Unless you ask me something specifically I may not get back to you right away. But do know that I am thinking about all of you everyday and I hope that you are all doing okay. If any of you have experienced first hand the devastation of Corona virus via you, your friends or family, do not hesitate to reach out. Some of you may be experiencing non corona virus issues that are adversely affecting your life and if there is any way I can help, let me know.

Love and Peace to all of you,
Tess
Telehealth and other health ideas are coming to this acupuncture clinic so keep a watch out for my next newsletters.