Los Angeles Wellness Practioner, Doris-Owanda Johnson, L.Ac.
with the children of Haiti.
April 2010
This post features a message from Los Angeles healer Doris-Owanda Johnson, L.Ac., who is currently in Haiti, offering her services to the victims of the recent earthquake. She is there with a contingent of the organization Acupuncturists Without Borders.
"Dr. Doris" is a Wellness Practioner, and has been serving patients in Los Angeles, since 1993. At her Westwood clinic, Heart and Soul Institute, the staff offers acupunture, Chinese herbal medicine and massage. She grew-up in Los Angeles, attending Audubon Jr. High, and graduated from Dorsey High School.
Information is included below her message, should you like to make a donation to the ongoing effort to offer the people of Haiti wellness options to speed their recovery. Her message reveals that despite the efforts of all that has been sent to the island, because of the immense poverty, poor infrastructure, and years of inadequate health care open to the public, much is still needed.
Hi Everybody!
A lot has happened these past few days. We have been working long days, partly because of the transportation and traffic situation. You think LA is bad! One of the main places we've been doing treatments is the General Hospital. It is about 4.6 km away from our apartment, yet on Monday it took us well over an hour to get there.
With transportation issues, we have been working an average of 5 hours per day. And yet, with this acupuncture protocol, the three of us are averaging about 75 treatments per day.
Doing the treatments and witnessing the conditions has been slowly sort of draining us. All of our treatment sessions have been outdoors, either in tented areas or in a shady corner. General Hospital has proven to be the most disconcerting. The nurses and staff and patient family members are doing the best they can to keep patients clean, administer medicine, etc. But often patients are on glorfied cots with old, overused and sometimes dirty sheets. Patients are uncomfortable in the heat and with only one or two fans in each tent. Many patients are catheterized, and/or have bandages that badly need changing. To say that there are lots of flies is an understatement. And there are many folks recovering from amputations.
The whole hospital is comprised of these tents-dozens at the very least. So far, we have only worked in three. We will see what today brings, as we are waiting for our driver to pick us up. He was supposed to be here an hour ago; surely he is stuck in traffic. Or he may simply be running on CP time.
This is not to complain, but merely to give you a snapshot of an aspect of our experience.
We have actually had some sweet moments, like dinner at a restaurant with our host last night, fresh acerola berry juice made by our host, deeeelicious fresh mangoes, lovely soursop, lessons in the local herbal medicine and plants in general, and moments of cooking together. Yes, you all know me well; these all have to do with food! Even while stuck in traffic, we enjoyed fried bananas (like potato chips) roasted corn from the roadside, and local purified water, pre-dosed in little baggie-like plastic containers, all the while listening to the latest national music on the radio.
Our health has been very good throughout, especially digestively. Marc did catch a little cold, and I had a sinus congestion attack. Both were very short-lived, as we adjust to the dust, exhaust (much of which is very black and stinky) and general muggy mildew miasma.
Enough for now. Please feel free to share with whomever you wish.
Love,
Doris-Owanda
Dr. Doris says,
"We are still accepting contributions. You may either send me a check made out to Doris Johnson or Heart & Soul Institute, or if you prefer to make a tax-deductible donation, make your check out to Acupuncturists Without Borders and indicate in the memo line that your contribution is earmarked for my trip to Haiti. Send your contribution to me at Heart & Soul Institute, 1736 Westwood Blvd. #202, LA, 90024. I will make sure it gets sent to AWB, who will in turn send you a tax-deductible receipt."
http://www.heartandsoulinstitute.com/AboutHeartAndSoulInstitute.html
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