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Professional Developments, Legislation, Regulation 

Sample article from the Thieme Almanac 2008 Print Version

Acupuncturists Without Borders

Diana Fried, MAc, MA, Sandia Park, New Mexico, USA

Our collective response to humanitarian crises, as global citizens in the 21st century, represents perhaps our greatest opportunity to heal many of the roots of violence, and therefore, to sow the seeds of world peace. In the community rebuilding process, similar to an individual’s healing process, we find openings to community-wide transformation.

I started Acupuncturists Without Borders after seeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and feeling utterly compelled to bring the unique powerful medicine of acupuncture to the communities of the Gulf Coast, to offer what we could for healing.

I had been to the Gulf Coast in the past, with Oxfam America—an international community-based organization where I worked for many years—and I will never forget the warm welcome we received in the Black communities of the outer bayou, the open arms, the great food brought in abundance to share with us, the sense of family, and depth of life, and laughter and spirit. I had also done hurricane relief work on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua—another incredibly culturally rich area.

With Oxfam, I traveled to Africa and Latin America, to very economically poor communities, with vital lives of the spirit and the people. I was deeply affected by these travels, and saw myself as a citizen of the world, more than a citizen of the United States.

When I studied acupuncture, and later started a private practice, I dreamt of what this medicine could do in the larger world. I imagined the power with which we could help to heal trauma, thereby helping to bring peace and justice to communities.

As soon as the word went out in the acupuncture community about what we were trying to do on the Gulf Coast, the response from acupuncturists was overwhelming. In Greater New Orleans, I began to see the enormous power of this work. Our volunteer acupuncturists were incredibly moved, over and over and over again, by the simple act we were doing, and the profound implications. Volunteers would come home and say the work had changed their lives.

Sue Pollard, a New Mexico Doctor of Oriental Medicine and AWB volunteer, said: "Treating in New Orleans was a tremendous eye opening experience for me. Witnessing how tiny needles helped people cry, stop crying, find peace, comfort, and hope was just shy of miraculous. Having the opportunity to play a part in the rebuilding of people’s lives in this way was incredibly humbling and truly inspiring."

THIEME Almanac 2008

The people we were treating in Louisiana would ask us when we were coming back again. People would say they couldn’t remember when they felt so relaxed, and I even had people tell me that we had saved their lives. I want to acknowledge the tremendous impact of other groups that have been doing community acupuncture and disaster relief work—deep thanks to the vision of NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association) and Michael Smith, and the thousands of people who carry out that work, to the people who started acupuncture programs after 9/11, the Honduras projects, Guatemala, Pan-African Project, and many more. These are the pioneers.

Acupuncturists Without Borders has also set a precedent for bringing people together from all walks of life in Greater New Orleans. We have treated close to 8000 people. We treat police officers and the people of community clinics who are in conflict with the police officers; we treat the army and those who are marching in the streets against the war; we treat relief workers and displaced citizens. We make a point to reach diverse ethnic groups—in Louisiana, we have strong programs in the Black, Vietnamese, Latino, and White communities. We treat old and young and we focus on under-served areas.

THIEME Almanac 2008

This is my vision—that our medicine, which is all about balance, and harmony, and diversity, can change the world. That we can reach out to communities in need and offer our services for free. And that by doing this we also promote acupuncture among people who, as they said to us over and over again in Louisiana, first say "acu-whuuut????"

Lorraine Hansberry, in her play, A Raisin in the Sun, expressed in this dialogue the basis of AWB’s heart. The grandmother speaks: "There’s always something left to love. When do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When he’s done good and made things easy for everybody? No, no—no, that ain’t the time at all. It's when he's at his lowest and he can't believe in himself because the world done whipped him so. You make sure you've taken into account the hills and the valleys to get to where he is."

Acupuncture students have been the greatest supporters of AWB. They get it—they are inspired, and full of life to go out and change the world. Here is a quote from Nicholas Hoyle, a Santa Barbara College of Oriental Medicine student, who went to New Orleans with AWB in a support capacity: "[Shortly after arrival and seeing the magnitude of the devastation, I wondered] ... how could acupuncture [possibly] help heal this city and its people? But then when we began to visit venues my opinion shifted. People, whether it was displaced residents who now lived in a homeless shelter, or police and firefighters who have been serving the community with limited resources for the last year, or jazz musicians at a church, they were all genuinely happy to see us and were lining up to receive acupuncture treatments." Later on in Nick’s story he says: "I feel so lucky to have heard the stories from my friends in New Orleans and look forward to returning there and am honored to have been given the opportunity to help create a space where people could participate in their own healing."

THIEME Almanac 2008

With donations and a huge amount of volunteer effort (and a great deal of their money) we have set up an organization, with a Board, set up a large volunteer management system, developed materials, had hundreds of stories in news media, many of which were initiated by acupuncturists locally, developed kits and policies and procedures, worked through legal issues in Louisiana, developed donor systems, done a field evaluation program, started our pilot program to offer free acupuncture to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, developed a training program for acupuncturists, and much more.

We have brought the awareness and experience of acupuncture to communities that have never heard of this medicine. Working with local acupuncturists in Louisiana, we have been able to support the rebuilding of their practices as well. The work in New Orleans continues and is still urgent. The levels of despair and trauma are unprecedented. The same is true for veterans returning from war; and we are implementing a nationwide program to offer free services to veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and their families. In the future, we intend to carry out these programs around the world.

The vision for this work is about peace, about intervening in the cycle of trauma, and providing an experience of connectedness for people who are mostly experiencing fragmentation. Through this process, I believe, people can open to a deeper spiritual wisdom in the midst of their trauma, and carry that forward into recovery.

AWB is about hope, renewal, transformation, diversity, purpose, compassion, and service. Probably the most transformative thing about doing this work is experiencing that when one gives in this way, what comes back is so much larger; we become so much larger. We look forward to continuing to build this community of acupuncturists, and to carrying out this vision together, contributing in our way to world peace.

Contact

Diana Fried, Mac, MA
Executive Director
Acupuncturists Without Borders
www.acuwithoutborders.org

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