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Community Resources
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Putting the unity back in community
Protect your most valuable asset: your health!
Be active in your learning process as you begin to explore the realms of balanced health, and learn what you can do to safeguard yourself in today’s tumultuous world. As a consumer, it is important to know safe and comprehensive resources so that you can remain informed about how natural modalities interact with the body, what side effects exist, and any precautionary measures you should be aware of for a particular treatment.
Moreover, you can learn crucial skills involving the preparation of herbal compounds, tinctures and teas, so that you have to rely less upon health practitioners over the long term and keep your health expenses low. Your knowledge will also help to alleviate the tremendous burden taxing our current health care system. It’s really just that easy! Thanks for taking the initiative and becoming curious about your health!
Complied below is a list of comprehensive resources that can help you navigate the world of medicine. This list will remain dynamic, getting updated all of the time, so make sure you check back periodically to ensure that you have the latest information available. You can click on the option that peaks your curiosity the most, or you can simply use the side scroll bar to your left.
Getting Started
Establishing Clean Environments
Food Resources for Portland
Gardening and Herbal Information
Regenerative Health Care
Admin’s Note
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Getting Started:
Several resources already exist that inform the consumer of cautions and choices with household purchases, food products, and sustainability issues. The following sites are a bit of a motley crew, but adequately, in their own unique way, offer a compass to consumers who are becoming aware of health and the desire for decision-making based upon conscious purchasing power and political policy.
Resources for consumers:
The goal of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics “is to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems, and replace them with safer alternatives.” The website includes a list of health conscious beauty products and what chemicals to watch out for due to toxic components.
Health Taken Seriously “How to make informed choices in order to keep your family and home healthy.”
Talk Health Reform is a pretty amazing idea. This organization is actively discussing a myriad of topics getting all perspectives on what a genuine health care system looks like and how we can create the tools to obtain it. And what makes it even more awesome, is that YOUR input is personally requested.
OPB’s documentary series Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? is a worthy visual representation of what social factors are undermining our attempts to create an equitable health care system.
Weston A. Price Foundation “Everything you wish to ever know about nutrient-dense foods: where to find them, how to eat them, and what these foods can do for you and your health.”
Resources for clinicians:
iCaduceus is a site dedicated to improving “the health of people throughout the world by offering highly-disseminated medical information and education that supports integrative and holistic clinicians in creating successful and satisfying practices.”
Physicians for Social Responsibility calls itself “the medical and public health voice for policies to stop nuclear war and proliferation and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and toxic degradation of the environment.” And this organization is certainly cleaning up a lot of the environmental debris, making sure that our current situation never gets out of hand again.
The Enso Center “The mission of this blog is to increase awareness of Naturopathic Physicians and the medicine we practice.”
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Nutritional Information:
The basis for optimum health begins in the kitchen. The incorporation of whole foods into your diet can make the world of difference for maintaining a well-functioning immune system, healthy organs and tissues, and provide you with a strong beginning for the practice of preventative health. Your food choices directly provide your body with the tools it needs to remain healthy, despite the litany of chemicals and toxins that are now commonly present in our air, water, and food supply.
However, when you’re first getting started, it’s not necessarily easy to know what foods are good for you, how to prepare meals from scratch, or which foods to avoid based upon any medications you may be taking or medical conditions you possess. So, in order to provide you with adequate knowledge and hands on workshops, check out the links below:
The American Institute for Cancer Research has a Health-e recipe of the week, and weekly diet and cancer news updates that you can subscribe to.
The Cancer Project also has weekly e-mail recipes and tons of healthy easy-to make recipes posted on their website.
Nutritionmd is a great resource for both health professionals and consumers. It’s a free online meal planner and wealth of healthy recipes.
A new research study in the news “Psychoneuroimmunology: Stress Reduction To Prevent Cancer Recurrence“
Nourishing Our Children “Timeless principles for supporting learning, behavior and health, through optimum nutrition.”
New Seasons Market “We’re passionate about the community where we all live. That’s one of the reasons we give first preference to local growers, fishers, farmers and ranchers. It’s also why we’ve chosen to take a proactive role in everything from the health of our food supply and those who consume it, to the health of our environment and those who reside in it.”
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Establishing Clean Environments:
Lately in the news you often hear or read about Indoor Air/Environmental Quality. You may see it abbreviated IEQ or IAQ. The EPA has determined human exposure to pollutants is 2-5 times, and occasionally greater than 100 times, more contaminated then outside air. Health experts extol the dangers of mold and toxic chemicals and the media often headlines the closure of “sick buildings or school.” You may wonder if this issue is really new in our nations schools and homes. Do these media stories describe new issues or an old problem? Is it really toxic mold and chemicals or just poor ventilation? Find out what you can do to keep your indoor and external environments clean and clear, establishing a safe and healthy area where you know you can breathe easy.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) connects you to list of great resources concerning a variety of IEQ issues.
Learn more about the EPA’s Integrative Pest Management (IPM) “an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices.”
National Education Association (NEA) has a “mission to improve the health and safety of school personnel and students by providing the school community with vital and timely health information that will increase teacher and education support professional (ESP) quality and student achievement.”
Learn more about the National IEQ Movement in schools and what you can do to make sure that your child is not unduly exposed to hazardous chemicals and other environmental pollutants.
The Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) contains a wealth of information and it is difficult to sum up all of its successful accomplishments over the past 40 years. The Oregon Bottle Bill, the 5 cent return deposit, is just one simple example. Please follow its link in order to check out a full description of their commitment to cleaner environmental policy. Here is a brief introduction: “we help individuals live green; we help businesses, farmers and health providers thrive with sustainable practices; and we help elected officials create practical policy.” This group is nothing less than astounding.
Also produced by the OEC are several well-designed research studies examining a range of the toxic effects that pollutants have on our environment as well as on the human body. It’s a bit alarming, however, if you equip yourself with the right information, you can drastically reduce and limit your exposure to toxic chemicals. Take a look at their publication section and find out information, such as what pollutants are found in the bodies of Oregonians and what price we’re paying for harboring these pollutants in our ecosystems.
The Dirt or Spreading Roots, Springing Forth is a Portland based initiative aimed at reconnecting community to the earth. This organization dialogues about what changes are happening in our environments and explore ways to trouble-shoot the remaining challenges that we face on global and community levels.
Learn how to collect and identify particulates in your indoor environment. The MicroLab Northwest help you learn more about issues with particulates, as well as what it takes to test and prevent exposure.
This resource provides you with the tools to practically implement changes in your indoor environment as well as establish funding agencies to help these changes happen. Get a copy of the 3-Step School IAQ Program and free subscription to the IAQ in Northwest Schools Newsletter.
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Food Resources:
Luckily for Portland and much of the Northwest really, discovering where to purchase local and organic foods is an easier endeavor compared to the remainder of the US. Here are some resources to get you started, and enable you to fill your belly with wholesome goodness.
Local avenues for food:
Hood River’s Fruit Loop offers a seasonal and up-to-date listing of all the U-pick farms in the northwest! A valuable resource for family fun, educational experience, and sweet, sticky fingers!
Interfaith Food and Farms Partnerships is designed to “empower faith communities, farmer and neighborhoods to build rural-urban alliances and create innovative partnerships for just and sustainable food systems.”
New Season’s Market has a rather comprehensive websource for farmer’s markets. Or you can go directly to the Oregon’s Farmers Markets Association, which provides resources for the remainder of Oregon.
People’s Co-op “is owned by the community and not by an individual, we can genuinely focus first on our customers and the services that we provide for them, not on the profit we make from them.”
National avenues for food:
National Directory of Fruit Stands and Farmer’s Markets will help you find a farmer’s market near you! This resource is updated frequently with locations and seasonal information. If you don’t have a market in your neck of the woods, let them know; or if you do, and it’s not listed, again, let them know: be part of the change.
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Gardening and Herbal Information:
Just because it is natural, does not necessarily make it safe. A preliminary search on any herbal compounds and natural therapeutic methods reveal a multitude of advertisements and biases claiming questionable results. To learn more about continuing workshops designed to educate the consumer about how to mindfully tend a garden or how to properly prepare herbal salves, tinctures, and teas, check out these valuable references:
Local level:
Arctos School of Herbal and Botanical Studies “brings together the fundamentals of herbalism, botany and ecology with meaningful interaction and practical experience.”
Berry Botanic Garden is a wonderful resource for learning more about how, what, and where to plant. Many classes are offered that teach about gardening basics as well as creative alternatives to conventional plant management.
The Herb Shoppe offers free Wednesday night lecture series, demonstrations, and classes for the Portland area residents specifically detailing how individuals can use and concoct herbal salves, teas, and other healing compounds. Moreover, on the The Herb Shoppe’s “Links Page”, there is a wealth of resources for those that wish to delve further into a botanical education.
Portland Park and Recreation has a Community Gardens program, where individuals within Portland who have with limited land space area can grow a garden using organic and sustainable methodology.
The Plant Peddler “is based on swift and sensitive response to the business world’s need for cost-effective foliage plants that provide a healthy, inviting and attractive interior environment.”
The Purple Garden is about “connecting people with plants creating places to grow. Designing herb gardens, native plant gardens, and instruction classes. The vision of The Purple Garden is to encourage people to deepen their connection with plants and nature by creating sacred spaces for refuge, relaxation and healing.”
Zenger Farms is a noteworthy organization that teaches sustainable farming methods and the benefits of herbs, plants, and our natural habitat to public schools and the general public. Their motto: “We are a unique, working urban farm promoting: sustainable food practices, youth education, environmental stewardship, and community and economic development.”
National and International levels:
Evidence-based information about herbal compounds, supplements, and botanicals can be found here. This website offers information that is pertinent to the patient and practicing physician. You can search by botanical or condition name and have access to additional supporting research documents.
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Regenerative Health Care:
How do you discover which health practitioners are already working towards sustainable health care? More importantly, which health practitioners are involved and working to give back to the community through low-cost options? Below are some networking organizations that are in place to help you locate a practitioner in your area as well as national organizations working to harness the potential of qualitative and effective health care:
Local level:
Brooklyn Community Acupuncture “We believe that acupuncture is an integral part of routine health care for everyone. Building community means supporting each other.”
Coalition of Community Health Clinics is “a non-profit agency dedicated to the support of our members, a network of thirteen private, non-profit health clinics throughout Multnomah County. These clinics provide health services to the uninsured and under-served men, women and children in the Portland Metropolitan area.”
Health Equity Initiative “works to address the root causes of socioeconomic and racial injustices that lead to health disparities.”
Oregon’s We Can Do Better brings to you the Archimedes Movement, where “the mission of the Archimedes Movement is to create a new space for civic engagement outside our traditional legislative and governance structures to advance solutions to the common problems we face –starting with the crisis in the health care system.”
Oregon’s Health Policy and Research is a great site to visit when you want to compare hospital costs and quality throughout the state of Oregon. You can peruse the site as a consumer or a researcher, either way, it’s gov. Kulongoski’s way of keeping everyone armed with clarity about our health care system.
Oregon Primary Care Association (OPCA) “provides advocacy on public policy and assistance to members in order to help decrease health disparities and increase access to comprehensive health care for low income and vulnerable people in Oregon.”
Portland Impact has a rather benevolent mission “to help people achieve and maintain self-sufficiency and to prevent and alleviate the effects of poverty.”
Working Class Acupuncture uses “acupuncture to create social change in health care. We provide, and advocate for others to provide, accessible acupuncture and wellness resources for working class patients; we support acupuncturists in being social entrepreneurs; and we share our business model for natural health care that empowers patients, builds community and breaks down class divisions.”
National and International levels:
Acupuncturists Without Borders’ “vision is to foster the creation of stable, peaceful global communities through its community-based acupuncture services and training which interrupt the cycles of unresolved trauma.”
Seattle-based Alternative Health Care Access Campaign works to ensure that complementary forms of health care are available to low-income and homeless people. If you’re in the Seattle area and would like to get involved, check out the site and learn about all the phenomenal work this group is doing to improve access to health care despite the economic void.
Community Acupuncture Network “A nonprofit organization of practitioners, patients, and supporters whose goal is to make acupuncture more affordable and accessible by promoting the practice of offering acupuncture in community settings for a sliding scale ranging within $15-40 a treatment.”
Healthcare Without Harm seeks “to transform the health care sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment.”
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) “H2Eis based on a vision of a healthy health care system–- a system in which an environmentally aware and engaged health care community is dedicated to the health of patients, workers, their communities, and the global environment.”
Natural Doctors International (NDI) “promotes global justice through natural medicine by focusing on clinical care, education, cross border collaboration, and international policy.”
Sick Around the World is FRONTLINE’s and PBS’s visual description of what the current state of international health care is like… and where the US measures up in the grand scope of global health. It’s a little disturbing, but a must-see for anyone that wants to be informed.
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Admin’s Note: It is our aim at the Helfgottblog to ensure that the practices and principles of the organizations listed above are benevolent and contain compassionate intentions. If at any time you believe that the organizations above do not uphold these values, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are an advocate for the patient first and foremost. If you are an organization that feels that your mission statements and ideals are in-line with those of the Helfgottblog and would like to be considered as a reference on our Community Resource page, please let us know and we will review your cite. Thank you for your interest!
