Happy Spring Sunshine!
The Dragon year has been dragoning, starting out a bit chaotic. But as the energy matures it’s feeling more grounded and a better balance between bold action and allowing things to unfold naturally. That as well as the spring sunshine finally replacing the winter gloominess is feeling really good. We noticed a pep in a lot of patient’s steps in the last week.
And we have several changes that have been and will be unfolding. Most of you have met our new office manger Kimberly who joined us just less than 2 months ago. In addition to her positive, jump-in-with-both-feet attitude, she brings years of experience with patient care and provider support. She’s been a bright addition to the team. And soon you’ll get to see her smile too!
Below we have more info about this week’s change to masking requirements for healthcare personal and our price update for June 1. Plus what we’ve been treating in the clinic–curious minds want to know–and a product highlight.
Mask Update For May 1
As of Wednesday May 1, Healthcare Personnel in Sonoma County are no longer required to wear masks.
Let us know if you would like Christina to wear a mask in the treatment room with you. If you have a mask on, she will put one on.
We know many of you are excited to see our faces, but we might have a mask on sometimes for a variety of reasons. For example, if Christina is wearing a mask for one patient, it’s easier for her to leave it on as she goes between rooms.
As a reminder, do not come to the clinic if you could be contagious with a cold, flu, or respiratory virus (more details about that here). Thanks for keeping our clinic healthy so we can keep helping people!
Price Update For June 1
In order to continue to provide you the best care possible, starting June 1 our prices will be:
Follow up Acupuncture Treatment (time of service/non-insurance rate):
- $115 Per Treatment
-OR-
- Packages that work out to be $95.83 per treatment:
- $575 for 6 Treatments (Buy 5, get 1 Free)
- $1150 for 12 Treatments (Buy 10, get 2 Free)
Packages never expire so if you want to buy a package before June 1, simply let us know next time you are in or reach out by email or phone and we’ll be glad to help you.
Missed Appointment Fee: $75 for cancelling less than 24 hour before a follow up appointment or less than 48 hours before an initial appointment. We do not charge the missed appointment fee if you are sick/contagious, but we appreciate an early heads up.
We appreciate your commitment to your health and wellbeing and we’re honored to share the journey with you. Thank you for being the best patients around!
What We’re Treating In The Clinic
Gardening Injuries
It’s that time of year. I was in the garden all weekend. So were a lot of my neighbors. Pulling weeds, building trellises, trimming bushes, fixing the irrigation, turning the soil. All that activity has us using muscles we haven’t used in a while. In the last 2 weeks we’ve treated sore arms, tight hips, swollen feet, aching low backs, ouchy knees, arthritic hands, all aggravated by gardening.
The good news is that I practice a style of acupuncture that is renowned for quick relief for pain and inflammation. And by quick I mean that patients normally feel relief on the table as soon as some of the points are activated. It’s not uncommon for me to put points in someone’s leg to treat their arm, then ask them to move their previously stiff wrist and they exclaim “it’s magic” while they rotate it freely. Yes the body is capable of seemingly magic self healing, and yes that did happen this past week.
If you want support treating your gardening aches and pains, make an appointment through our online booking site or get in touch. We’d love to help you get back out there and enjoy the spring sunshine!
Product Highlight
Last year we got a new product to treat poison oak and patients were loving it. I saw the poison oak going crazy recently in Annadel when I was mountain biking so we stocked up for you.
Each box of Nature’s poison ivy relief contains dried leaves from the sweet fern plant which grows near poison ivy. Poison ivy is on the east coast and poison oak is on the west coast, but they have the same oil that causes the rash. It’s a common truth in herbal medicine that the remedy grows near the problem, so someone along the way discovered that sweet fern treats poison oak/ivy rash. You brew the dried sweet fern leaves into a tea, store it in the fridge, and then apply it topically to the rash. If you’re a mountain biker, like me, or nature lover who gets frequent poison oak exposure, you can keep it in the fridge for 6 months to have on hand.
I had been hearing colleagues rave about it so my expectations were high, but I was still really excited when patients told me how well it worked to stop the itching instantly and help clear up the rash. Here’s what one patient said:
“The PO sweet fern tea is amazing. Instant relief as soon as I applied it and the swelling and itchiness has gone down 1000%.
Definitely would recommend. It lasts 6 months in the fridge too, so totally worth it.” –CB
Since we’re mountain bikers in my house we have a box at the ready so we can brew it up and start treating any possible poison oak asap. Let us know if you want a box to have on hand and we’ll make sure we have one for you at your next appointment or arrange a time for you to swing by and pick it up. Of course I also treat poison oak with acupuncture and herbs that you drink (just last year I updated the foundation of the formula with info from a dermatology herbal mentor), but there’s nothing better than having something on hand to treat it as soon as you think you have it.
Here’s To Enjoying More Spring Sunshine!
Christina and Team Thrive
P.S. Please share this with anyone you think could benefit from any of this info.
