Protecting the Future of Medical Acupuncture
By J. Russell Corcoran, MD, AAMA Treasurer
As I sat down to write this column for the June newsletter, I decided to review all the newsletters during the past year and finally my last newsletter approximately 14 months ago. The newsletters all cover topics that are relevant to our practice of medical acupuncture. We are a unique group of medical practitioners, and the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture is our representative organization.
According to some estimates there are between 1,000 and 3,000 physicians who have been trained to perform acupuncture. Considering the number of physicians in the United States we are a unique group.
I have been a member of the Academy since finishing the Helm’s course in Medical Acupuncture in 1999. It has been a great experience and resource for me and my patients. I have met many of the founders of our academy and significant contributors to research and development of Medical Acupuncture. During the last 7-10 years, I have become involved first as a legislative committee member, and now as a board member, treasurer and chairman of the membership committee. I urge you to consider further involvement in our organization. The benefits of membership are numerous — and outlined below in this newsletter.
Membership in an organization is more than just paying dues or going to an occasional meeting.
We need input from our present membership to let our board members know what benefits are most important to their practices. Our education committee needs suggestions for topics for upcoming webinars and our annual meeting. All of our committees can use new members and novel ideas. The committees work extremely hard to enhance the practice of acupuncture and offer educational opportunities to improve the care of our patients.
I have a couple of requests for our members.
- Communicate with our board or the board members and let them know of your needs for both education and growth of your practice.
- Consider joining a committee for a year or two to find out how things work. Your opinion is important to us.
- Reach out to other colleagues and other practitioners and explain acupuncture to them. Foster the interest in acupuncture in both your patients and colleagues.
- Finally, send me an email with suggestions on how we can attract more members to our valuable organization. I would be happy to hear from you directly!
