January Herbal Happenings
Tuesday, January 1, 2013

This month’s offering–a hope for 2013 that we can live with purpose and work with compassion. And if you don’t yet know your life’s passionate purpose, may you have the courage and curiosity to keep looking for it.

I’m writing fresh off a shift with the People’s Relief Medical Clinic in the Rockaways and Coney Island. The picture here is of the Coney Island walk-in clinic being run out of a medically outfitted train-car. After offering some care to walk-in cases, we spent the evening providing medical services door-to-door in a 19 story high rise that hasn’t had elevator service since Hurricane Sandy hit. The residents of Ocean View Towers not only have had to withstand the horrors brought by the hurricane, but a difficult recovery process that is lasting far too long. Many residents are elderly and/or disabled and are unable to navigate the endless flights of cold, slippery, concrete stairs to fetch their food and medicine. We encountered a wide range of medical ailments, conditions often aggravated by the fear and frustration they are living through. They are now told the elevator won’t be fixed until the end of February. It is truly heartbreaking.

The team of volunteers that coalesced to provide relief services when governmental agencies were failing this community is an inspiring vision of what health care can be. These dedicated, compassionate and endlessly patient health care workers provide a full spectrum of health care services — nurse practitioners, herbalists, doctors, EMT’s, social workers, and street medics working side-by-side. This is collaborative medicine at its best. Navigating the tactical challenges of providing free grassroots health care in a country whose healthcare system is profit-based can be draining and daunting. It is important that we continue to share the stories of our successes and failures to create a collective knowledge base from which we can continue this work. To learn more about the People’s Relief Medical Clinic including plans for a more permanent wellness center click here.

Atlanta has urgent medical needs as well. And there are many here working to spread the health. In particular, I’d like to thank all the volunteers from the Harriet Tubman Free Foot Clinic for their dedication to providing foot care for our city’s homeless. Caring for feet not only ensures basic mobility, but can provide relief from pain, ease stress, and tonify the different organs and systems of the body. For our last clinic of 2012, we had a celebratory evening, offering foot, acupuncture, and massage services all while passing spiced cider and sweets. You can see pictures of the holiday clinic and party here.

This month’s edition of Herbal Happenings is filled with many more opportunities, both herbalistic and fantastic, to learn, feel, and share the health. Enjoy!

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