acupuncture in the medical reserve corps · renée k. barsa, m.s., l.ac. -santa barbara county...

Acupuncturists Without Borders 1

© Acupuncturists Without Borders

Acupuncture in the Medical Reserve Corps:

Building a National Model for Disaster Healthcare

_________________________________

Presentation for NADA Conference

May 2016


Renée K. Barsa, M.S., L.Ac. -Santa Barbara County Medical Reserve Corps

Acupuncture Team Leader

-National Disaster Preparedness Coordinator

Goals:

Update on the use of acupuncture in the MRC

Building of a replicable model

How we can each be leaders in our community response teams




Medical Reserve Corps provides an established organization to be deployed by in the event of disaster, with full credentialing, training, and license verification

Acupuncture is unique to the MRC: many people are able to receive a safe, rapidly effective, inexpensive treatment at the same time in a calm, quiet group setting, without the need to verbalize their concerns

The NADA protocol is the only treatment available to quickly treat large numbers of people for acute trauma without the need for pharmaceuticals

Break the cycle of trauma: allow responders & survivors of disaster to have immediate access to treatment!



Community-style acupuncture in group settings to relieve stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma, by using the NADA 5 needle ear acupuncture treatment protocol

Recipients sit quietly with those needles for

up to 45 minutes, without need to verbalize

Treat all who have been affected – first responders, emergency personnel, and other care providers, as well as survivors

We also work with public before a disaster – healthy communities are resilient communities, and we all deal with stress and trauma on a regular basis

Strategy for Treatment


Stress, Anxiety, and Fear Reduction

Restore Deep Full Breathing

Restore Full Vision and More Normal Functioning

Mental Clarity and Ability to Concentrate

Increase Sense of Purpose, Wellbeing, and Safety

Increase Sense of Connection to Others

Deeper Sleep and Ability to Relax

Reduction in Pain

Foster Resilience and Healing so That Those Affected May Begin to Rebuild Their Lives



Calms the sympathetic nervous system, ie. the fight, flight, or freeze response

Works on the endocrine system to regulate hormonal response to stress

Quiets racing thoughts and induces deep relaxation

Works on the nervous system to reduce pain and on areas of the brain that process pain response

Gives survivors and responders a chance to sit still and ground back into their bodies

Allows people to realize they are not alone in trauma




Still in shock after the fire, although extremely grateful to be alive, I experienced many symptoms of acute trauma:

•Insomnia •Panic attacks •Loss of most color vision and peripheral vision •Palpitations and hand shaking •Hypersensitivity to unexpected noises or touch, and other people’s trauma •Feeling of total isolation, like a foreigner in a strange world


Shortly after the Tea Fire, Acupuncturists Without Borders offered me a scholarship to attend training

The following year, in 2009, Dr. John Ackerman approached a small group of acupuncturists about joining the Santa Barbara Medical Reserve Corps

After speaking at another AWB training in 2011, realized no one else had established an Acupuncture Team in their MRC, Santa Barbara letter of support

In 2012, contacted MRC Capt. Rob Tosatto in Washington, D.C., and obtained his full backing along with an invitation to speak at the National Disaster Preparedness conference in Nashville

acupuncture in the medical reserve corps · renée k. barsa, m.s., l.ac. -santa barbara county...

Documents