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

• The Centers for Disease Control

• 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.

• Ear acupressure, and applying seeds/pressballs

• 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.

American Academy of Poets

Native American Poetry

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.