Healthcare Clinic

Nile Bachmanna note from your practitioner

Doing what we love to change the world is something that most people can get behind, and living our ideals while supporting ourselves and our community is about as good as it gets. These are the kinds of things we’re committed to growing at BRCCM right alongside our medicinal herbs. Whether it’s working with local growers to create sustainable livelihoods in the flourishing medicinal herb market or using natural medicine to support the health of our community, we are doing our best to put this vision into practice.

It seems clear that Floyd County is the kind of place that really “gets” these kinds of priorities. From what I’ve seen, we are a community of pragmatic idealists. We have our feet (and often hands) planted firmly in the soil. We have our hearts invested in the people, animals, and land around us. We believe that hope and change are an inevitability. We’re not afraid to walk the self-made path.

I’m so pleased to have found my path here.

Before coming to BRCCM I was working in a Community Acupuncture clinic in Charlottesville. I was treating patients on a sliding scale and consequently serving parts of the community that can’t always afford alternative healthcare. Seeing patients walk out of the clinic free from pain (some of them for the first time in years) and with renewed hope in their eyes makes me feel very grateful. Add to that the knowledge that I’m helping to heal a broken, profit-driven healthcare system, and I know I’m on the right track. Community Acupuncture is a model for providing acupuncture that I believe fits well with the values in Floyd.

The Community Acupuncture movement is really all about serving working-class families and individuals, people who don’t normally feel they have access to Chinese medicine or alternative healthcare. Having grown up on the low end of the economic spectrum myself it’s a model that I care about deeply.

We are using the payment scale recommended by the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA): $15-$40 per treatment; pay-what-you-can within that range with no income verification. The POCA model has proven itself to be viable all around the country and is the fastest growing model in acupuncture right now.

The other side of the coin is that Community Clinics need community support — they depend on a good patient turnout to stay viable. I encourage you to come see if it’s something that works for you.

For the past few months we’ve been testing out the Community Acupuncture model in Floyd by offering it at the June Bug Center in town on Wednesdays. And, or course, We’re still offering the more familiar treatments including acupuncture, herbal medicine, and Tui Na massage at BRCCM itself. Click the button on our homepage or call (540-651-2682) to schedule an appointment at either location. It’s so worth it!

If you want to learn more about Community Acupuncture you can visit www.pocacoop.com, watch THIS VIDEO or call or visit BRCCM and have me tell you more than you probably wanted to know. When you visit, be sure to check out our beautiful and thriving herb gardens. We’re growing tomorrow’s medicine to keep all of Floyd healthy and strong.

 ~ J Nile Bachmann L.Ac.

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