1. How
can Inner Ecology best educate the general public about the importance of
sustainability with regard herbal medicine? Given that most people are not familiar
with even the bare basics of East Asian Medicine, how can we best incorporate
messages about high-quality, fresh, local medicinal herbs in our profession's
pitch to the layperson? How can Inner Ecology best communicate the role of
sustainability in ensuring the preservation and evolution of East Asian
Herbology to our colleagues?
1.
We live in a
society that relies heavily on advertising to educate the public about new
products. Politicians and pharmaceutical
companies, alongside the food industry, have led us to recognize good quality
advertising and trained us to respond in certain ways. Facebook is the latest, most powerful source
of inspiration. Several friends have
commented that in the past year the majority of their nutrition information has
come from my FB feed; I have a great deal of respect for the sources of my
shared knowledge, including pages and organizations that I like, and that I
learn from just as my friends learn from shared knowledge. Information that is brightly packaged, with
rhythm and an emphasis on "Always Fresh, Always Local" will spark the
attentions of a large target audience.
Presenting an industry as utilizing the highest quality of sustainable
ingredients is the natural direction for us to grow; we work in pattern
recognition, with skills uniquely suited to recognize trends. Show our colleagues that the role of
sustainability is essential for our evolution and they will soon realize their
need.
Regarding
education via the internet; a poorly designed net won’t catch many fish. Maintaining quality and consistency is
key. If your audience is large enough,
or if the content of a post is so useful that it is worth a second read, then repeating
posts isn’t a bad
idea. The real difficulty lies in
maintaining a presence on all platforms for social networking. Applications that streamline this process are
available, and my form of social media management has been adapted to reflect
postings in different formats from various sources. With each generation of mental programming,
with youth experiencing the world through technology, it is good to note the
differences between a blogger using Tumblr versus Wordpress versus someone
whose sole presence relies on Facebook.
2. Write
a sample blog or facebook posting about an herb you love. Assume
that we carry the very best quality from the very best known cultivation
and distribution sources. Talk it up with a combination of good
science, thoughtful reflection, and a little dash of waxing poetic.
2. Blog post titled “GINGER”
Heading the post would be an
image such as this…
From the “Just Eat Real Food” FB page.
“People
are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are
treated by the health industry, which pays no attention to food.” –Wendell Berry, The Organic Indian
As the change of season
brings cold, wet, damp conditions (and artificially dry, warm, indoor
environments) our bodies constantly have to adapt from warm to chilly and back
again. Exhausting! Sniffles, coughs, chills, and fevers are
right around the corner…
East Asian medicine provides
treatments that affect the whole person, beginning with the body and balancing
the mind. This traditional medicine
brings herbal remedies into the home that you can find in your own
kitchen. Your spice rack is a vast
medicine cabinet! One simple traditional
remedy is ginger; famous for its culinary flexibility, ginger a very important
herb in East Asian herbal medicine. Use
the recipe for “Ginger
Tea” in the
image above to ward off all those nasty colds floating around!
3. Explain
why it is better for patients, practitioners, domestic growers, the profession
and the planet for herbologists to rely on a professional prescription service
rather than having their own in-house pharmacy. What are the disadvantages to the in-house
pharmacy model that has prevailed in the Chicago area due to a previous lack of
alternatives? How can Inner Ecology best communicate that skilled
herbologists choose superb pharmacies rather than having their own?
3. Expanding herbal services
within the East Asian Medicine community means that we reflect upon our
motivations and the needs of industry; primarily there are huge discrepancies
in the distribution system of herbal medicine.
The standard of pharmaceutical medicine needs to be taken into account
because Big Pharma has already met the demands of public distribution;
customers regularly find medications at familiar pharmacies and the primary
caregiver provides options for trusted medicinal services. The practitioner is expected to focus on
treatment while out-sourcing the complications of herbal inventory. This model creates a positive feedback loop
for East Asian Medicine; the pharmacy gains an opportunity to impress a wide
audience, and the practitioner fits the standard for our Western medical
paradigm. Consumers will experience
distinct correlations between Western and Eastern medicine; every time they
make a purchase will be a time to promote the local, sustainable, and domestic
resources needed by a desperate economy in need of renewed industry. Conceptually expanding the trust that
patients have for our medicine brings opportunities for connecting ideas (and
resources) in a way that will strengthen our community, promote better quality
domestic products, as well as creating resources for future networking and
education.
4. What does the future hold in store for herbal medicine in
the United States? Discuss some of the opportunities and obstacles that East Asian medical
practitioners may face in the near future in terms of their herbal practice and
that we as a profession face. What would you like herbal practice in the U.S. to look like 10 years
from now?
4. Our current medical paradigm is experiencing
a major shift towards alternative medicine; we are adapting to a need for
preventive treatments without the harsh side effects of pharmaceutical
dependency. Yoga, qigong, and meditation
are becoming commonplace offerings at group fitness studios and at the same
time the general public is being made aware of food as medicine. Herbal medicine stands to gain widespread
acceptance, lobbying power, and household credibility. East Asian medical practitioners will need to
pool their resources to effect positive change; individuals struggling to
maintain a steady client base must organize and network, educate the public,
and promote this paradigm shift by empowering organizations fighting for our
rights to practice. Developing the
expectations of the public to include a steady supply of healthy herbal treatments
is part of this movement; East Asian medicine practitioners gain an advocate
with each patient that experiences positive change via herbal medicine. This brings political support that is
essential to a decade of growth. In that
amount of time we may win or lose all, dependent upon regulations, however, in
a best case scenario our hospitals will reflect developments in China; patients
choosing Eastern or Western treatments based on personal choice rather than
necessity. Wellness centers, a place
where we might find everything from acupuncture to yoga, are becoming a place
that people can afford. Hopefully
hospitals and wellness centers will merge; my dream of a perfect hospital includes
gardens, organic architecture, and a zen feeling of being in a space dedicated
to personal growth.
5. In
what ways can Inner Ecology support East Asian practitioners who are no longer
comfortable writing customized raw herbal prescriptions for their patients? How
can we encourage and inspire them to graduate from patents, or even granules,
to raw herbs? Describe one or two concrete ideas in detail
5. Patient compliance is a concern for any
practitioner considering granules versus raw herbal formulations. Kamwo Herbal Pharmacy provides a Pao Zhi
pharmacy service that fits the growing need for convenient and potent raw herb
formulas; precooked, packaged, and available to practitioners who support the
most potent treatments. This line of
product is highly effective and is the capstone of the Kamwo pharmacy for good
reason; they provide a necessary service to the herbal industry in New York and
anywhere else that a precooked, prepackaged formula can be delivered. Our local East Asian Medicine industry needs
this service; Chicago is exactly the right place to gain a foothold with a
large patient base, hospitals, and hundreds of qualified practitioners.
The initial cost of equipment
and facilities would be worth the investment; once the industry becomes aware
of this new convenient service and is trained to sell this type of solution, it
quickly becomes a new standard for treatment.
The next phase involves “Obamacare” coming to fruition in 2014; hospitals and insurance
companies will be pressured to offer exactly these kinds of services. Practitioners will accommodate to adapt for
greater freedom and greater profits.
