Repalle, India 2007, Inaugural free Medical Camp

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain.

“Is it just the heat or did I just walk into an oven?” I asked my friend as we stepped off the plane in India. “Oh, get used it, its September, it doesn’t cool down In India till November.” she replied. So began our journey into the heart of India to treat the untreated masses.

This trip was the inaugural voyage of One Day Closer (ODC), a nonprofit that provides acupuncture and Chinese Medicine to those in need. We had raised over $44,000 in herbal supplies from Evergreen Herbs, another $8,000 in cash, and 400,000 needles from Helio. Our community generously supported this endeavor; we asked companies, schools, teachers, friends, families, and we even donated ourselves. We took numerous seminars to help us with all the difficult situations we would see.

This was going to be my first experience providing acupuncture and herbal treatments outside of my home country, America, and outside of the clinical setting of my school. Ripe from the spoils of our graduation ceremony, we were sky bound to Repalle, India for a 3-month Acupuncture/Herbal free medical camp. Repalle, a town in southeast India, with a population of 100,000, was about to receive their first ever acupuncturists. A fellow student had brought to our attention the lack of day-to-day medical services. An intense need for medical assistance coupled with our passion to give back for the incredible skill we had learned, drove us to commit to a 3-month stint.

The first day?  Overwhelming.  Simply overwhelming. The river of people flowed down the dusty, dog-ridden street. The simmering heat cooked the open sewers so the sweet sticky scent shrouded the crowd. Shoulder to shoulder people stood, reporters lingered, all anticipating the first day of free acupuncture treatment. People were everywhere, upstairs, downstairs, sitting on ledges, crippled, sitting down, mothers holding their children, kids were crying, almost to the point of insanity. A rainbow of conditions confronted us, from headaches to paralysis, to seizures and cerebral edema. Regardless, we had made a commitment that we would not turn anyone away; no one would be refused treatment regardless of their condition or caste level. Seeing the hope lifting the snakes of despair from their bent backs, I cried for the first time in 15 years.

After the first 3 days treating 180 people each day, our bodies wracked with physical and mental exhaustion, we realized our roles had morphed from the academic acupuncturist to a two-person hospital: emergency paramedic, family physician, gastroenterologist, nutritionist, physical therapist, and counselor. We educated people about basic hygiene and sanitation, food preparation to avoid E. Coli and infection, proper dressing of wounds, and basic first aid; We had truly become “doctors” in the original sense of the word; the original Latin word meaning Doctor as “Teacher”.

Some of our treatments were conventional TCM, such as St36 for Stomach Pain, or PC6 for Nausea. But the unusual variety of illnesses demanded our friggin’ flexibility; Bleeding thumb to rapidly facilitate the healing of open diabetic sores. And the case of the man with the short leg. How bizarre to refer to the local cobbler as part of our medical practice! While treating for his main complaint of back pain, one of our assistants noticed unequal lengths in his legs. We walked down the street to the shoemaker, and had him design a new shoe with a higher lift in the heel of the short leg. Back Pain gone! We were constantly challenged to view the whole picture from the in-depth medical, to the common sense; to not be locked into a medical vacuum, but to discover the multi-layered individuality of each case.

Fast forward to 150,000 needles used, over 8000 treatments given, 600 different patients, 350 bottles of herbal powders prescribed, 42 spiritual ceremonies, and one awakened heart of compassion.

ODC is based on the West Coast of America; it operates nationally and internationally providing free health care. ODC works in conjunction and collaboration with all types of health care providers. With our nonprofit status, donations, and generous sponsors, we are starting to take free acupuncture and Chinese medicine to the world. At ODC, we seek to educate, remove obstacles to health, and give free health care to those in need.

 Guatemala 2008:

I was in Guatemala, Lake Atitlan this year and it was amazing.  It is still in the in its infancy, but amazing opportunities are abound down here.  Christian nix is a wonderful acupuncturist and very helpful in establishing connections with the western allopathic community.  The setting at Lake Atitlan is breathtaking, and it will romance you away in never returning.  The community around the area is enchanting.  It is a community of other natural health care providers and the chance to learn, compare, and contrast is wonderful. Please see christian site, or email him for any questions you may have about going down to Guatemala and providing health care.  I was very excited and felt very fortunate to be a part of his Guatemala project.   His info is below, please contact him for future trips and or questions.

Christian Nix M.A., L.Ac.
utzawatch@onebox.com - email
(866) 841-9139 ext.1011 phone/fax
teishininstitute.com
calacirya.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pz9nrYQd5w

 Vietnam 2009:

Well, Vietnam was AMAZING!  This was the first trip that I had taken a Western medical doctor, Shelly LaFrance.  We joined forces and treated people together with Eastern and Western medicines.  We spent time in Ho Chi Minh city, Vi tran, Can Thao, Ha Tian and Mu Nie.   All i can say is the country, the people, the food, the scenery, the culture, and the kindness of my friends were simply magnificent.  We were treated so graciously and the healing work we did was out of this world.

My friend and I treated people together.  We were able to educate those patients who needed western drugs.  In Vietnam you don’t need a prescription.  All You need to know is the generic name of the drug.  All you need to do is go to the pharmacy and pick out what drug you need.  With our two weeks in Vietnam we were able to do many amazing things with acupuncture but some patients still required additional treatments.  We gave them the generic names of the drugs that would continue to help them heal with their sickness.  Since the drugs are so cheap their, its not a matter of money, but more a matter of education; knowing what you should take. 

As usual, most of the complaints were digestion, pain, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, headaches, female issues, sleeping disorders, fatigue, and sinus/allergy issues. 

One Day Closer donated over 50,000 needles to the local temple where monks treat the locals for free.  People come from miles around to receive this free acupuncture.  We were able to learn and teach the local acupuncturists in our styles and their styles.  We treated each day in an open air restaurant.  People would show up with simple aches pains to congestive heart failure and recent strokes!  In the afternoon we would walk the streets, going from house to house treating families.  The people were amazing.  We would walk down the street, stop by a house and ask if anybody was sick.  The family would come out, neighbors would come over and before we new it, there was a group of patients ready to be treated.

In the later afternoons and weekend we traveled up the Mekong delta to the villages that weren’t able to get treatment from us.  We would travel by boat for about an hour, show up at a farm and start treating everybody from 2 years old to 102 years old.  The people were magical and moments seemed legendary.    We would treat everybody and then the meals would start.  Snake, fish, duck, chicken, vegetables, you name it; we ate it! 

In the evening we would retreat to our dwellings.  The patients and people were so happy to have we would always celebrate each night.  We were dancing, eating, sharing, laughing, smiling, and in the end; crying because of what educational and heart felt experience we all had.

Vietnam was a magical place to me.  I have never felt so at home, so at peace.  I felt as if i had lived there for ages.  I felt as if i treated many of those people before.  I look forward to going back one day, to see my friends, see the ones i loved, and to see my patients that taught me so much.