BAC is a proud member of the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA), an organization made up of independent yet similarly minded clinics, businesses and individuals.
If you have family or friends that you want to tell all about community acupuncture, or if you are traveling out of town and want to continue your treatments, POCA has 150 clinics listed on their website. But that’s not all POCA does. They offer support and micro-loans to bolster the community acupuncture business world, helping make acupuncture more accessible for everyone. As if that wasn’t enough, they have also started an affordable acupuncture school!
POCA has been a backbone for BAC, here are the things POCA has done for us:
Offer forums & blogs on common interest issues that come up. This gives us a feeling of connection. Isolation is common in the acupuncture profession, and POCA puts a stop to that. Every time a business related hurtle arises at BAC we consult the great POCA database and find our answers and read about others who’ve been in a similar situation.
Tips for start up and running a business and complete detailed instructions on how to do so. Running a business was not a main focus in our acupuncture education and we don’t have a business background, so all of this was new turf for us.
Forms and documents til your heart’s content. With a little branding we collected most of our documents (if not all) from other clinics who have openly shared them on POCA. This includes the entire process of going Non-profit, along with an 80+ page application.
Real life continuing education credits. In Idaho Licensed Acupuncturists are required to complete continuing education courses annually. POCA offers courses that apply specifically to community style acupuncturists - yipeee!
In the future it’s an option to seek support from POCA for expansion of the clinic.
POCA’s affordable acupuncture school, POCA Tech makes it an option for community clinics like BAC to hire a community trained acupuncturist.
POCA continues to represent the working class, in acupuncture lawmaking & alternative healthcare. Collectively we stand up in support of each other.
How we give back to POCA & you can too:
We are POCA Tech sustainers – you can sign up to have whatever amount you can afford automatically donated to the school. Here is how to set that up & what that $ goes to.
Get treatments & support your local POCA clinic(s).