Though we technically don't do walk-ins for now, that just means we want you to have an appointment before you walk into the office. But, if you see the light in your schedule, or your driving or walking or biking or bussing by, call us and we'll get you an appointment. You can also always check the online scheduler @ https://kindred.openacu.me/.
Acupuncture and Liberation
Here's why I started doing community acupuncture: the structural inequalities and, specifically, the explicit racism and classism baked into the health care landscape in the U.S.
At acupuncture school, the cost of which was exorbitant and therefore unnecessarily exclusive, I was only taught how to set up a practice doing private treatments for people who could pay between $80 and $150 for a single session. Acupuncture schools, professional organizations, and licencing and regulatory bodies were all set up to create an industry that essentially fenced off the simple and powerfully effective medicine of acupuncture and maintained it as almost exclusively a privileged luxury. In a glaringly insidious example of structural racism, my acupuncture school had also not even mentioned the vast history in the U.S. of acupuncture being used in liberation movements with powerful and transformational results among black and brown and asian communities. Acupuncture in the U.S., it turns out, has a very different origin story than the one I was presented at school and the one most of us still hear. I invite you to take the time to watch one of the videos or read one of the articles I linked below to learn about what that story is.
Just after Hurricane Katrina, I joined a group of acupuncturists treating people in New Orleans on sidewalks, in churches and mosques, under Red Cross tents, and school gymnasiums. Even though our training didn't prepare us in any way for this kind of clinical experience, I immediately felt more useful than I ever had. And, I had rarely seen healing as profound. That's not just because there was crisis. It was also because people who cared joined together in solidarity and left behind the delivery system of you-get-the-healthcare-you can-afford in exchange for a community supported model that meant widening access to more people and improving results of treatments. This is what I want, I thought to myself: building a future of community connection and support with more democracy, and more healing potential. What I'm learning is that everywhere that acupuncture has been used, it has been used in the daily lives of common people. And that the real story of acupuncture in the U.S. is a story of powerful liberation movements among poor and violently oppressed communities of color, of cross-cultural solidarity, of the loving transmission of a brilliant medicine through the hands of people committed to the health and survival of their neighbors.
Please explore these links about acupuncture and liberation in the U.S. These stories should be known. As Tenisha Dandridge LAc. says, we've had 50 years of not telling these stories; and that's 50 years of black and brown people and of poor people not seeing themselves in the story of acupuncture, and therefore not being safe in the white space of acupuncture clinics.
In the Hands of Revoltionaries and Communities: A Social History of Acupuncture
A short two-part video series
An Unusual Tale of Acupuncture, Racism, and African American History in the USA.
Short article by Tenisha Dandridge LAc
Using Acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine to Treat Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome and Racial Battle Fatigue.
Short article by Tenisha Dandridge LAc
Dope is Death.
Podcast and film
The story of how Dr. Mutulu Shakur, stepfather of Tupac Shakur, along with fellow Black Panthers and the Young Lords, combined community health with radical politics to create the first acupuncture detoxification program in America in 1973 - a visionary project eventually deemed too dangerous to exist
And, join local acupuncturist and artist, James Shelton at his exhibit, People’s Medicine: Acupuncture, Liberation and Recovery.
Outside the Common Ground free health clinic, residents of the Algiers section of New Orleans rest and receive acupuncture after Hurricane Katrina.
Gathering resources. Looking for the right time to open.
I wanted to hop into your email inbox just to let you know I am thinking of you, and working hard on a plan to re-open the clinic.
COVID-19 continues to be an ongoing threat, even beyond the individuals and communities that have already been impacted. Even though Rhode Island has done a relatively good job flattening the curve of transmission and also supporting hospitals, we are not disconnected from the rest of the country and from very concerning trends related to infection rates and lack of leadership. Also, it's clear that the virus spreads most easily indoors with people near each other for stretches of 15 minutes or more. So, I am making the decision that it does not make sense for us to open Kindred just yet. But, we are keeping our eye on the national and local situation, and exploring every possible strategy for making the clinic safe, so we can open as soon as is wise.
Healthcare is a human right; and we can see that and other human and civil rights being undermined right and left right now. In the midst of it all, and even with the clinic temporarily (we hope) closed, I want you to know that your health, and your access to good care, matters to me. Community acupuncture is one of the only great models of affordable, accessible, community based consistent care that I have found; and, together, we're going to have to innovate that model to keep it working well for all of us. In the meantime, as much as I so desperately want to do acupuncture and to see you all again, I do not want to risk anyone's health. So, until the epidemiological picture is trending positively and we have refitted the clinic to maximize safety and comfort, we will remain closed.
Please - be safe. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. FInd some play and some rest and some joy.
I can not wait to invite you back to the clinic, and to all the ways that acupuncture can boost your immunity, your nervous system, and your overall health during a time of change.
Don't hesitate to drop me a line and let me know how you are doing. I miss seeing you at 545 Pawtucket Ave.
Here is a link to a wonderful interview with John Lewis, whose passing we mourn. I cherish his life’s work and his words here on the “Beloved Community”.
Hope and Precaution
On RE-OPENING, and continuing to care for each other.
Two months ago Kindred closed temporarilly. I lost my job and my ability to help people everyday. I had to lay off my wonderful employees, and I stopped seeing the hundreds of people I'm used to seeing evey month. My immediaite family and I have been fortunate to remain healthy, housed, fed. You have a story to tell, too, about your life over the last 10 weeks or so. I can only imagine the breadth of loss many of you are experiencing. One of the losses we're all exposed and succeptible to right now is the loss of hope - in the face of so much death and dysfunction and while the most violent and manipulative aspects of our political and economic system rear their ugly heads.
While I am not yet able to report a date for our re-opening, I did want to offer you the hopeful news that kindred will definitely survive this. When it is safe to re-open, our precious and powerful clinic will be here, maybe literally with bells. You might discover that our operations will be a little different to start out - fewer chairs, fewer patients per hour, masks being worn, dividers between chairs, and a few very important guidelines for patients to follow. But, we will be here, providng the acupuncture which we recognize could have helped with so much phyiscal and emotional suffering since March 13th. I cannot wait for the moment I can send you a message that says we're open and then to welcome you.
I pledge to base our re-opening strategy first and foremost on the safety of you and me and the other employees at Kindred. We are staying abreast of new information and guidelines as they evolve from the RI Health Department, and from the C.D.C. We are staying in communication with other acupuncturists and paying attention to the experiences of other similar businesses. We are also studying the epidemiology *, which frequently gets lost in the confusing and politically motivated mixed-messaging coming from the federal government about the economy and plans for the relaxing of infection controls. Please also know, that the Mills Building, and it's managing company, 545P Associates has been and will continue to take measures around the sanitation and safety of our building. Currently, one can only enter the building with a key.
Many of you have reached out to ask if we are able to do private treatments during this time. It is hard to say no to our patients who are obviously in need. However, we are committed to creating access for the many through community supported acupuncture; and, when it is safe to have a clinical interaction with one other person at a time, we can also create a safe container for more people to get affordable acupuncture. If you have the time, please read this statement from the People's Organization of Community Acupuncture. It speaks to this commitment to creating access for regular treatments in the context of our current global health crisis.
* "I Promise. I Promise. You Can't Cheat a Pandemic" By Jonathan Smith, epidemiologist at Yale and Emory
"COVID !9. Path Forward" by Harvard School of Health, Center of Communicable Disease Dynamics
Resources for this time of homebound distancing and thriving during the COVID outbreak
Here are some useful links for self-care and community care during this time. I will add others. Email me with suggestions of useful things to share.
COVID-19 info and support
Pawtucket based support and info, from City Counselor, Meghan Kallman
Self-care and community care, in the absence of regular acupuncture
Do-it-yourself acupressure videos. These are short, wonderful videos created by POCA just for you.
Do-it-yourself acupressure for nausea and anxiety.
Do-it-yourself acupressure for calming and to help sleep.
Simple qi qong exercises for lung health from acupuncturist, Peter Deadman.
20 minute morning qi qong routine from Lee Holden
A tea to break a fever, and more from Manchester Acupuncture Studio
Do-it-youself “air moxa” technique for strengthening immune and reducing stress
Music and Art and Play for Joy and Melting
Playing For Change: Beautiful music videos to raise money for music programs around the world
How I Got Over: ahalia Jackson
Sanctuary Music TV: Live music series from Troy, NY
WWOZ: The best radio station in the world. Streaming from New Orleans
Writing and Poetry and Praise and Prayer
“ Prisoners”. Gwendolyn Brooks
“Wilderness”. Carl Sandburg
Brain Pickings: A fantastic daily journal from writer Maria Popova. Try it.
Two poems from the founder of the U.S. Dept of Arts and Culture, Adama Horowitz.
"To Our Elders"
When you turn off the news
When you sit for a breath in the sunbeamed chair
What is the stirring in your heart?
The memory that dances across your mind?
We’d love to hear.
We need to hear.
Not answers, nor certitude; not even a sense that all will be well. (We are not well.)
But a story, perhaps, of how time has lived you,
Pulled you into and out of the wilderness
A memory of mystery unfurling,
A tale of mutuality amidst turmoil,
The saying or story that an elder once told you,
And that has tumbled through your being so many times
So as to grow smooth like a riverstone.
This is an invitation to take the riverstones from your pocket and put them on the community altar.
If you’ve never considered yourself an elder, this is the invitation to become one.
Not because we’re expecting perfect words of wisdom,
But because in this unraveling of the world, we are reweaving the village—
And you have a role to play.
Listen in, and know that we’re listening too.
Know that we’re seated in this circle together,
that we need you to stay,
and want to hear what you have to say.
-Zoomed Out" or "What To Do When Everyone You Know, Love, and Dream of a Better World With Is A One-Inch Talking Head In A Pixelated Box"
Praise their presence, grieve their absence.
Grow in your capacity to be touched by other faces, and to not touch your own.
Look someone directly in the eyes (they won’t know) and send them love and a prayer for the wellbeing of everyone they care about.
Try to wrap your mind around how they got here, in front of you.
If that doesn’t spark radical amazement, try to explain how *you* got here, and who “you” is…
Wiggle your toes and watch the freshly budding tree rustle outside your window.
Envision that tree occupying one of the squares on the screen; ask what they would like to contribute to the conversation.
Take your dreams off of mute and drop your spells in the chat box.
Then, dazed by days online, unblock the gridlock with a tech Sabbath—
Recover three dimensions, reach for a fourth.
And remember, we’ll be back at the bonfire before long;
Gather your poetry, prepare your song.
Support Kindred through our pause. Buy a specially priced treatment package now.
We’ve just made it possible for you to buy pre-paid treatment packages online.
As you know, we have shut our doors temporarily in order to join efforts to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. Like many small businesses, especially social businesses like ours where the fees from our services go right back into the clinic operations, closing will take a heavy toll on our financial ability to sustain our mission. In order to guarantee that we can come back strong and keep making regular acupuncture an accessible reality for local individuals and families with working class incomes, we need help from our community of existing patients and from those of you who’ve been considering coming for acupuncture. Specially priced treatment packages are available here. Each one sold will help significantly offest our losses every day of this shut-down. Choose a sliding-scale fee for a 5 pack of treatments where you get a 6th treatment free. Or, purchase a ten pack where you get two treatments free. You can find the link here.
None of us know when business as usual will return. Or, if business as usual will return at all. We do know that community acupuncture is very well suited for these times. It’s cheap. It’s closeby. It emphasizes regulating the basic sytems in our body so that we can get healthy and then stay healthy. Community acupuncture has always been about making this miraculous natural medicine accessible on a large scale to a majority of people. It has always been about transforming healthcare from a profit-driven sytem of high intensity, techno-pharmaceautical intervention to a gentle but powerfully effective web of holistic and preventative care offered locally, and supported and sustained by the members of that community.
We’ll be posting health tips, such as self-administered acupressure, recommended resources about COVID19, links to mutual aid efforts, and info about the ongoing fight for universal healthcare. We can get through this crisis together. And, together we can build more resilient and relevant and effective and democratic sytems of care as we move forward.
Closing for now. Safest option.
We are committed to our mandate to promote the best possible outcome for community health and safety. So, today, in light of the COVID19/Coronavirus epidemic, we are closing the clinic until Friday, March 27th. We are following the best advice from public health professionals and scholars, who all agree, that based on world-wide data, the best thing we can do is to encourage "social distancing" towards "flattening the curve" of transmission of the virus.
Our choice is a hard one, and heartbreaking in some ways. We realize many people in our community rely on us for healthcare, and there is so much we can do with acupuncture to keep people's immune sytem strong and resilient as well as helping with innevitable stress and fatigue. But, acupuncture cannot treat this virus. What we CAN do is to join efforts to slow it's spread. And, that means closing down for at least the next two weeks.
Please stay in touch with us through our website, and/or through our facebook and instagram pages, for updates. We'll post other health tips and info about the pandemic and how it relates to our communities,
We'll also let you know ways to support Kindred and affordable acupuncture during these extraordinary times.
Remember: Check in with loved ones. Remain generous and connected, even if that's by phone or online. Do not engage in xenophobia. Stay informed; avoid unreliable news sources. And support local and national efforts to enact universal health care. If some of us are left behind, we're all at risk.
With love,
Korben and Rachel and Gayle and Lissette and Amy
Working together to stay healthy in ordinary and unusual times
It remains to be true that for the vast majority of you, it still makes sense to come get acupuncture, maybe now as much as ever: but, of course we want to figure out how to be as thoughtful and precautionary as possible.
As you probably now know, we have coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in our little state; and, of course, Rhode Island is inseperable from the rest of our world. It's not time to panic, but it's a good time to review what we can all do to reduce transmission of this and other diseases. And it's a good reminder of how interconnected we humans are... we can help each other.
STAY HOME IF YOU'RE SICK. First and foremost, please stay home if you're sick (fever, sore throat, coughing and sneezing which is not from allergies). We do not charge a fee for appointments cancelled because of illness. But we do ask that you notify us so that we can open up that appointment slot for someone else.
WASH HANDS! Be responsible to yourself. Take care of yourself, and take precautions. Washing your hands is the single most important thing you can do to help stem transmission of this and other viruses. Get adequate sleep, eat nourishing foods. But Wash. Your. Hands.
BE RESPONSIBLE TO OTHERS This includes staying home if you're sick. It includes coughing into your elbow or a tissue. It also includes being self-aware. If you're under the weather, or if you've been around someone who is, consider avoiding places where you might contact vulnerable people (kids, elders, immune-compromised folks), like daycare centers, nursing homes, and hospitals.
WHAT WE'RE DOING.
Our practitioners will wash our hands and arms thoroughly before and after each client.
We are having every patient wash hands and forearms as soon as they come in to the clinic.
We are changing the sheets after every patient.
We can cover your feet for warmth but may stop covering upper body. So, bring a sweater.
We're doing extra sanitizing around the clinic.
We pledge to stay home if we're sick.
And we're keeping an eye on the RI Department of Health for updates and recommendations.
Check in with loved ones. Remain generous and connected, even if that's by phone or online. Do not engage in xenophobia. Stay informed; avoid unreliable news sources. And support local and national efforts to enact universal health care. If some of us are left behind, we're all at risk.
If you are among the populations at higher risk of succumbing to the COVID 19 virus, you should be very carefully limiting your exposure. Otherwise, and if you can follow some simple quidelines at the clinic, we want to see you for acupuncture. Getting acupuncture is one of the best things you can do to help your immune system function at its best, and also to de-stress. So let's help each other through this unsettling time.
Want unlimited acupuncture for a month? Or two?
“LET’S DO THIS!!!” Winter Special:
one month unlimited acupuncture: sliding scale - 150 - 400
two month unlimited acupuncture: sliding scale - 300 - 800
*recommended - 2-3 tx/wk
*can also be purchased as gift certificate
INTRODUCING......(drumroll please) our new acupunk - RACHEL!
We are pleased to announce that we have a wonderful, new acupuncturist joining Kindred's team. Rachel Martinez will be covering two of Korben’s shifts while he is away between July 19th and July 25th. She will have her own, additional shifts to be announced starting in August, meaning that we”ll be open more hours and hopefully have more available times for your treatments each week. Go to the online scheduler to see when treatments are available and you’ll also be able to see which practitioner is on for that shift.
Rachel Martinez graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture. She is trained in Chinese, Japanese and Orthopedic styles of acupuncture and is also a nationally certified Diplomate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).
Before becoming an acupuncturist, Rachel graduated from RISD in 1994 with a Bachelor’s in
Fine Arts Degree in Painting. She later became a leasing agent and property manager, and
oversaw the rebirth of two apartment buildings in Providence.
Rachel is drawn to acupuncture through her Aikido and Zen training. She is a first degree black
belt in Aikido, a traditional Japanese martial art, and has been training for 16 years. Rachel first
experienced the benefits of acupuncture when she received treatments for her aches and pains
she felt from training and later acupuncture kept her healthy during her two pregnancies. She
loves how acupuncture is a holistic system that seeks to balance all aspects of the patient’s health.
Rachel currently lives in Cranston with her husband, two children and pup. We are delighted to welcome her!