Acupuncture For Everyone is sponsored by Harbor Healing Center, which is located in the Old Kingston Hotel in downtown Kingston.  The Acupuncture For Everyone clinic is open at specific times each week, and offers affordable treatments for a wide variety of conditions. 

There's a growing movement in the United States toward community or group acupuncture treatments.  Generally, private individual treatments have been the model for acupuncture in the U.S.   However, in China it's much more common for an acupuncturist to practice in a community setting, with several patients receiving treatments simultaneously. 

Nancy Knode, the acupuncturist at Harbor Healing Center, worked in a pain clinic in Huangzhou, China as part of her training.  At the clinic in Huangzhou, patients came in for treatments several times a week, in a room filled with treatment tables and chairs.  There were two doctors, each treating five or six patients at a time.  

While there are definitely merits to individual treatments, the community setting makes acupuncture much more affordable and, therefore, accessible to people.  A private acupuncture treatment can cost $65 to $165, and for many people this is simply not affordable.  To be effective, acupuncture treatments must be regular and continue on long enough to alleviate the problem.  In addition, maintenance treatments are sometimes necessary.  Occasionally, two or three treatments will be enough, but this type of case is the exception.  A series of treatments is much more beneficial. 

Insurance companies are offering acupuncture coverage for certain  conditions, but many people who could benefit from acupuncture do not have this type of insurance.  Also, some conditions require more than the number of visits allowed by the insurance companies, and often patients are unable to complete their series of treatments.

Most conditions can be treated in a community clinic setting, with two or three tables in the treatment rooms, without removing any clothing.  Quite often, hand and feet acupuncture points (distal points) are used, so the area of pain is not treated directly.  This style of acupuncture makes the group setting very viable.  It's a model that not only works well in China, but has been proven to be popular in many clinics in this country. 

www.HarborHealingCenter.com