Low-cost acupuncture treatments

For several years, Manhattan’s Swedish Institute (226 W 26th St.) was the place to go for low-cost acupuncture treatment in New York City.  The Institute’s teaching clinics offer both acupuncture and Swedish massage.  A 13 week course of acupuncture cost $360 ($150 for seniors).

Earlier this week we ran into a colleague,  Dr. Ben Kligler, co-author of Integrative Medicine: Principles for Practice, who informed us that the Swedish Institute has been purchased by the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine.  He recommended the PCOM teaching clinic where acupuncture is provided by interns at somewhat higher prices than the Swedish Institute; see the details on their website. The address of the PCOM is 915 Broadway, 3rd floor.

Both the Swedish Institute and PCOM have interesting websites.  Here is the Swedish Institute’s explanation of what it’s like to experience an acupuncture session.

Advanced Directives

A recent article in The Teaching Physician (a publication of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine) discussed a new (free) initiative to make it easier for people to both make – and retrieve – advanced directives.  “Information Technology and Teaching in the Office: Advance Directives Online” by Richard P. Usatine, MD, and Craig M. Klugman, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio was published in the October 2009 edition and discusses Caring Connections (http://www.caringinfo.org/).

Caring Connections was developed by the  National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  The website offers a number of resources for people considering end-of-life care.  The one highlighted in the article was the ability to create and store advanced directives on line.

As noted on the site: “Advance directives allow you to document your end-of-life wishes in the event that you are terminally ill and unable to talk or communicate. ” They generally take two forms. In a living will someone specifies what kind of care he or she would like in future.  A health care proxy is someone who can make decisions for a patient if he or she is incapacitated.

As a practicing clinician I find that there are several problems with Advanced Directives.  First, people don’t fill them out. No one likes to think about their own death. Second, people often turn to lawyers who charge money to complete these forms. This is really not necessary.  The forms in New York State can easily be completed by a family.  [The specifics of advanced directives, however, vary by state.] Finally, there’s no logical, single place to put Advanced Directives so that they are easily retrievable in an emergency.

The Caring Connections site deals with both problems. State specific forms are available for downloading.  The forms come with very detailed instructions.  Once they have been completed users are encouraged to scan them and upload them to a Google Health Profile. This profile can then be shared with the key people who need access to the advanced directives.

One is always a bit reluctant to further promote the Google monopoly on the web, but this is a useful free service.  It is, however, only available in English, a true limitation in an ever more diverse United States.

More free stuff in NYC – medical and not

The Swedish Institute is mentioned in a wonderful book sent to us by a reader entitled The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to New York City. Interested readers of the portal should consider getting a copy at the New York Public Library (of course).

posted by Matt Anderson, MD