Responsible 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.”

It is the mission of La Clínica del Cariño Family Health Care Center to make affordable and high quality medical and dental care accessible to everyone in our community (residents of Hood River and Wasco Counties in Oregon, and Klickitat and Skamania Counties in Washington).

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.”

LifeWorks NW acts “to promote a healthy community by providing quality and culturally responsive mental health and addiction services across the lifespan.”

Mercy and Wisdom Healing Center “is a non-profit 501c 3 organization formed to provide primary health care services to the community, especially for medically underserved populations, and also serves as an educational institute to teach the public how to achieve and maintain health physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”

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.”

Recovery Association Project (RAP) works to remove barriers to recovery. RAP “teaches people in recovery to transform themselves. We help advocate around issues in the community resulting from addiction. We empower our neighbors and our legislators to rebuild their beliefs about people who are recovering from the disease of addiction.”

The Mission of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center is “to provide high quality, comprehensive and culturally appropriate primary healthcare to the communities of Washington and Yamhill Counties with a special emphasis on migrant and seasonal farm workers and others with barriers to receiving health care.”

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:

The Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC) is a vehicle for shifting medicine toward a system which focuses on health. We engage and support activities in the areas of education, clinical care, research and policy clarification which will help transform the patient-experience through strengthening understanding and cooperation among educators, researchers, clinicians from distinct health care disciplines. We believe that quality patient care demands that we take action to get out of our separate silos.

Acupuncture Relief Project “is a free community acupuncture clinic that travels to countries that have been impacted by poverty, conflict or disaster. In 2008 our 6 week project is located in Kathmandu, Nepal.”

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.”

Africa Bridge “is dedicated to empowering East African communities to improve the lives of children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa serves as the foundation upon which a bridge can be built linking the western and African worlds - a bridge over which diverse cultures can share complementary gifts and lessons, and create possibilities for those in need. Africa Bridge’s approach to helping orphaned and vulnerable children is unique, innovative and effective.”

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) H2E s 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.”

Mercy Corps “exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds.”

Natural Doctors International (NDI) “promotes global justice through natural medicine by focusing on clinical care, education, cross border collaboration, and international policy.”

Partners in Health (PIH) “at its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well—from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services. Whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of our own family—or we ourselves—were ill.”

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Admin’s Note: It is our aim at the Helfgott Blog 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 Helfgott Blog 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!

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