The Center for Sustainable Medicine

I have just returned from a workshop on Community Acupuncture put on by a group called “Working Class Acupuncture” in Portland, Oregon.

I have been toying with the idea of low-cost group treatments for some time now, and this workshop has convinced me that Community Acupuncture is the way to go. In August I will start offering group treatments at the Two Rivers Clinic in Thetford Center, Vermont for a sliding scale of $20-45 per treatment (you decide where you fit on the scale). For an appointment, call 802-785-2503, or email me through the contact page.

If we look at the Sustainable Medicine Manifesto, Community Acupuncture is a good example of sustainable medicine in many ways:

1. It is financially affordable, for both clients and practitioners, making acupuncture available to all who need it, rather than limiting it to those who can afford it.

2. It is non-toxic, to clients and to the earth, creating less waste per treatment than a single can of soda.

3. It is slow medicine—clients are allowed to relax and stay for as long as they like.

4. It builds and restores community connections by encouraging people to relax in a meditative environment with their neighbors.

5. It is pattern-based and proactive—treating the underlying cause of the illness based on whole body diagnosis.

6. The only thing sterile about Community Acupuncture are the needles. Community Acupuncture creates a healthy fertile environment in which people can grow and change.

Didi Pershouse, founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine, is featured in this month’s (March/April 2008) issue of Upper Valley Life Magazine. The article (written by Elizabeth Ferry) discusses her practice as a homeopath and acupuncturist at the Two Rivers Clinic in Thetford Center, Vermont, as well as her ideas on Sustainable Medicine. Phoebe, the medical dog at Two Rivers Clinic, is featured in the photograph that accompanies the article.

I will be giving a reading from my latest manuscript at the Chelsea Public Library on January 10th, at 7 PM. The upcoming book is about my work in homeopathy–which connects patients’ language and gestures with the medicines they need. It is also about my family’s history in radical medicine. My grandfather and great grandfather were both pioneers: one in radiation therapy (working with Marie Curie) and the other in Neurosurgery—discovering the seat of memory by removing part of an epileptic’s brain. I found myself inspired by and also reacting against this legacy—and thus became a pioneer in alternative medicine myself.

There will be plenty of time for discussion and questions.
Hope to see you there.