Today’s post is a follow-up to the one on the business model from the other day, because somehow I managed to say that there were other community acupuncture clinics out there without mentioning the national co-op that most of them are part of. Also, I didn’t want anyone to come away thinking we were the ones that came up with this style of clinic. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants here folks, and a bunch of really awesome people freely sharing their ideas has made this whole thing so much easier to figure out!

When we started down the path to opening our community acupuncture clinic, one of the first things we did (at the recommendation of a friend) was join CAN: the Community Acupuncture Network. At the time it was a professional organization for acupuncturists, with the goal of spreading the ideas behind community acupuncture clinics: what worked, what didn’t, etc., to get as many people on board with making acupuncture available and affordable to everyone. What started in one clinic has now grown to over 212 community acupuncture clinics worldwide!

As it turns out, when you help a whole bunch of people, you end up with a whole bunch of people that want to help you out. The way CAN was structured, there was no easy way to allow patients to formally be a part of the organization and have input. To answer this, the People’s Organization was formed as a multi-stakeholder co-op, which basically means that now patients, acupuncturists, students of acupuncture and other organizations can all join and have a say in shaping and directing the whole thing.

What does POCA mean to you? For starters, the Locate a Clinic page currently has over 212 community acupuncture clinics listed worldwide. If you’ve been helped by acupuncture, chances are you know quite a few people who can also use some needles. Got a friend in Nashville, Portland or Tel Aviv who needs relief from headaches? POCA Locate a Clinic to the rescue! Even with all those clinics, there are still way too many areas without a friendly community acupuncture clinic to call their own. There’s a POCA for that too! In addition to providing a supporting network for business advice and motivation, spreading best practices etc, POCA also uses membership funds to provide micro-loans to get new community acupuncture clinics started in areas they’re really needed. I’m leaving a bunch of stuff out, but I would hate to re-invent the wheel here when they already do a wonderful job describing what they do on their website. So, click the logo down below and check ’em out!