5NP 4 OR: Pop-Up Clinic at the Capitol
on word of mouth and the power of experience
Today was a very good day for POCA Tech and the coalition for 5NP in Oregon! By working on a 5NP law for Oregon, our students are learning first hand about how acupuncture intersects with communication, outreach and the legislative process. Here’s what happened today:
This is Noni, a third year student. Noni worked with Representative Travis Nelson’s legislative staff to schedule the 5NP pop-up in a conference room during the 2024 legislative session — on a day when, it turned out, people were especially tired and stressed and could really benefit from acupuncture.
This is Maddie, a new licensed acupuncturist and also a new WCA Board member. Noni and Maddie spent the morning before the pop-up walking through the House and the Senate, letting people know that acupuncture would be available in the afternoon. They were very successful — thirty-four people showed up to receive 5NP in the form of either needles or ear seeds! (Or, as Whitsitt calculated, our team treated one person every 2.8 minutes of the pop-up.)
The conference room was reserved for “Student Acupuncture Meeting”.
POCA Tech interns getting their supplies organized and getting ready to introduce lots of people to the benefits of 5NP! (Thanks to Whitsitt, Noni and Maddie for the photos.)
Here are Maddie’s reflections on the day:
I was totally floored by the amount of (bipartisan!) interest demonstrated by reps and staffers alike. Folks were also thrilled that we weren't there to ask for anything, rather just do something nice for them, which clearly touched a lot of people, even those who weren't interested in getting poked. My biggest takeaway from today: word of mouth and the power of experience.
By now, pretty much everyone’s heard of acupuncture, and most of the people we talked to were at least curious about it. Despite the backdrop of stress in the capitol, lots of folks genuinely wanted to learn more. A good chunk of those curious people had friends or family members who had positive experiences with acupuncture, and were wondering if it could help them too.
When the popup started, Jemila and I went around to the different offices and let people know that our free acupuncture event in the conference room was getting started, and if they couldn't make it, I would treat them, right then and there at their desk. It took a few casts before I got a bite, but once I did, it generated a lot of buzz very quickly. One brave staffer was all it took to get a group of their coworkers to stand around and watch as I needled their colleague.
After seeing how totally fine and okay their coworker was, people got excited and wanted to try it as they peppered us with questions. What are we doing here? What can we treat? How does it work? DOES it work? Does it hurt? All standard inquiries for a day in the life of an acupuncturist, but going down in what felt like a corporate office space while people went about their (very busy) day, and also coming from all sides at once.
Word got around fast, and it turned into more of an 80% educational session with a dash of needling. We only had time to walk 2/6 floors because chatting with folks took way more time than I had anticipated. I could hear people talking excitedly about this weird thing we were doing, and look, it doesn't even hurt! The image of government staffers eagerly walking between offices in their formal business attire to show off the needles in their ears is permanently burned into my brain.
One staffer told me she had taken 4 Advil for her back pain that morning and the 5NP treatment was the only thing that took the edge off of her pain. Most people shared that they felt relaxed, or "kinda good, or maybe it's all in my head," or something along those lines, standard first experience commentary. People with previous experiences were extremely eager to share their stories with us, and with their fellow staffers. I have a feeling people are going to be talking about this for a while, as someone excitedly shared with us their fond memories of a different acupuncture demonstration 3-4 years ago, which they still remembered!!
Of course, we already know that word of mouth is reliably the best way to get patients in the door, and this seems to hold true whether we're talking about a private, student, community, or public health acupuncture clinic. But to see it play out that quickly, in real time, was nothing short of surreal. Today gave me a vision of what could be a huge moment for acupuncture. People are really curious about what we do! They’re intimidated by it, too.
For people to explore the possibility of improving their health with acupuncture, we need to make it visible, convenient, accessible -- so we can make it normal -- so more people can get relief with this weird and wonderful therapy. Basically the whole ethos of community acupuncture in a nutshell. Which is exactly what we are going to continue to do. Yay!!!!
As cute and as personable as I am, I alone can't convince the entire workforce of the Oregon State Capitol to try acupuncture just by talking about it. But their friends and coworkers certainly can. I would be very eager to make this an ongoing thing, and get to more floors next time. People really appreciated the opportunity to chat about something so neat and novel, especially when we were actually offering something more than a handout and business card.
We were constrained by time and the limited amount of people we had, but today gave us some incredible info to help us plan for future outreach efforts. (Our goal is to introduce legislation in late January or early February of 2025. ) Hi, remember us? We're still giving out free acupuncture, but this time we do want something. Pretty please? Wouldn't it be so cool if more people in Oregon got to experience the relief that you did today? I think so too :) *insert handout about 5NP4OR*
All that to say, I think today was a smashing success. And I can't wait for tomorrow.