For release: Community acupuncture clinic brings health care reform to Tucson
As Congress debates and devises ways to reform our nation’s health care system, two local acupuncturists are already working to revolutionize alternative medicine in Tucson.

Keith Zabik and Larry Gatti say they founded Tucson Community Acupuncture last year in order to make acupuncture more affordable and accessible for residents in southern Arizona. The clinic, located at 2900 E. Broadway, is one of more than a hundred around the country that is using a “community model” where treatments are conducted in a large open setting and prices are set on a sliding scale starting as low as $15.

“Acupuncturists have been treating in this community-style for millennia in China,” Zabik says. “But in the U.S., private treatments are more the norm and typically cost $60 and up—a price most people can’t afford on a regular basis.”

Instead of treating people in isolated rooms and cubicles, the Tucson clinic treats people in a quiet, common area filled with comfortable recliners. The acupuncturists place hair-thin needles primarily in people’s hands, feet, legs, and arms in order to treat pain anywhere in the body and also to relieve a variety of common ailments.

“It’s like a big living room rather than a typical medical office,” Gatti says. “Many of our patients comment that the group setting is very relaxing and helps their healing.”

Since opening their doors in June 2008 the clinic has given more than 8000 treatments—with currently anywhere from 150 to 200 patient visits each week. Zabik notes that the clinic recently expanded their current operation by 700 square feet in order to provide additional treatment space and to be able to serve more Tucsonans.

“It’s bittersweet that we are one of the few businesses flourishing under such a bleak economy,” Zabik says. “I think it reflects how much people need affordable health care.”

In particular, Zabik and Gatti say they are reaching out to working- and middle-class Tucsonans who have never tried acupuncture before.
“A lot of people don’t realize how much acupuncture can help relieve pain, fatigue, and stress,” Gatti says. “Plus many who already know about the benefits would not try acupuncture due to the high cost. Our goal is to remove financial barriers and help people get better.”

Each time patients visit the clinic they are asked how much they wish to pay on the sliding scale of $15 to $35 (with a additional $10 fee for the first visit). Zabik emphasizes that the clinic does not ask patients to declare their salaries or require any proof of income.

“We recognize that people’s financial situations can change, even from week to week,” Zabik says. “Our sliding scale is one way to remove barriers and empower people in their medical choices—something that doesn’t seem to be happening right now in the current health care system.”

For more information contact:
Keith Zabik, L.Ac. or
Shoshana Mayden
(520) 400-5606 (cell)
(520) 881-1887 (clinic)
info@tucsoncommunityacupuncture.org

Related links:

Tucson Community Acupuncture website

http://www.tucsoncommunityacupuncture.org

Community Acupuncture Network

http://www.communityacupuncture.org

***************************
Link to Yes! Magazine article: Acupuncture for All (Winter 2008)

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2108

This concept just makes sense. So many of us combat vets are living with pain so much of the time that we just write it off, or rely on medications that ultimately are not very friendly to the kidneys over the long haul. Before you just cave into your chronic pain game, try some of these tiny magic sticks for an hour or so. I did, and now I can probably reach under the Christmas tree for the gifts!