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 Latest News From Our Volunteers in Nepal

VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY CARE CLINICS IN NEPAL

Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world and has been plagued with political unrest and military conflict for the past decade. In 2015, a pair of major earthquakes devastated this small and fragile country. 

Since 2008, the Acupuncture Relief Project has provided over 300,000 treatments to patients living in rural villages outside of Kathmandu Nepal. Our efforts include the treatment of patients living without access to modern medical care as well as people suffering from extreme poverty, substance abuse and social disfranchisement.

Common conditions include musculoskeletal pain, digestive pain, hypertension, diabetes, stroke rehabilitation, uterine prolapse, asthma, and recovery from tuberculosis treatment, typhoid fever, and surgery.

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COMPASSION CONNECT : DOCUMENTARY SERIES

Episode 1
Rural Primary Care

In the aftermath of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, this episode explores the challenges of providing basic medical access for people living in rural areas.

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Episode 2
Integrated Medicine

Acupuncture Relief Project tackles complicated medical cases through accurate assessment and the cooperation of both governmental and non-governmental agencies.

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Episode 3
Working With The Government

Cooperation with the local government yields a unique opportunities to establish a new integrated medicine outpost in Bajra Barahi, Makawanpur, Nepal.

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Episode 4
Case Management

Complicated medical cases require extraordinary effort. This episode follows 4-year-old Sushmita in her battle with tuberculosis.

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Episode 5
Sober Recovery

Drug and alcohol abuse is a constant issue in both rural and urban areas of Nepal. Local customs and few treatment facilities prove difficult obstacles.

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Episode 6
The Interpreters

Interpreters help make a critical connection between patients and practitioners. This episode explores the people that make our medicine possible and what it takes to do the job.

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Episode 7
Future Doctors of Nepal

This episode looks at the people and the process of creating a new generation of Nepali rural health providers.

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Compassion Connects
2012 Pilot Episode

In this 2011, documentary, Film-maker Tristan Stoch successfully illustrates many of the complexities of providing primary medical care in a third world environment.

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From Our Blog

Acupuncture Relief Project  | Good Health Nepal | Jesse Jory

Nepal for me was a practice in being comfortable with the feeling of groundlessness. 

Have you ever been on a suspension bridge?  

Nepal, I came to learn, is full of suspension bridges.  My experience as a volunteer acupuncture physician was analogous to crossing a suspension bridge.  After our first week arriving at camp we had our first Saturday off.   It was decided that we would take hike into the local mountains to visit a village.  The day was perfect, the sky clear and we were all excited to venture out and explore.  We visited the villagers high in the mountains of Suping overlooking Bhimphedi.  Our trusted guide Tsering informed us we would be crossing a suspension bridge on our decent back down.  I immediately began to have anxiety as I have a fear of suspension bridges. That feeling of groundlessness gave me a pit in my stomach and sweaty palms as we started our decent and got nearer to the bridge.  

You see groundlessness, insecurity,  vulnerability and even uncertainty or fear are generally words that are associated with a negative connotation.  Most of us try to avoid situations that make us feel this way.  Our psyche from an early age on tells us that feeling this way should be avoided.  When we got to that bridge even Nani the dog did not want to cross it!   She proceeded to try to climb down cliffs edge before being retrieved and carried across.  Well, a long story made short is that we all made it across the bridge on that beautiful afternoon, even Nani the dog!  Some of us held each others hands, some of us had to be carried and others walked right across.  What stuck with me about my experience was why I felt this way?  How could I relate this experience to my daily life. Specifically,  how can this feeling of groundlessness be made into something positive. The bridge was a small part of my experience in Nepal, but it represented of the totality of my experience in so many ways.

Acupuncture Relief Project  | Good Health Nepal | Jesse Jory

As the weeks past I realized that this feeling kept showing up in many different ways.  From seeing a patient in the clinic and not knowing what to do,  to wondering if I had the skills to treat 20 patients a day.  In fact, even prior to starting out on this journey, I wondered if I had the knowledge to practice medicine in a place so far from what I was comfortable with.  When I reflect back on the beginning of my journey at Earth House in Kathmandu it is very much the same as that sunny afternoon on the mountainside preparing to step across the suspension bridge, a feeling of excitement mixed with uncertainty and even vulnerability.  

During my stay at the camp over the seven weeks I made my way back to that suspension bridge.  With the help of a truly remarkable brother, who took the time and had the patience to allow me to become comfortable with the feeling of groundlessness.  I sat on the middle of that bridge, I meditated on that bridge while villagers passed me by, and I even stretched out on my backside on the middle of that bridge.  I became comfortable with being uncomfortable!  It wasn't easy, and I am not saying that the next ‘suspension bridge’  I cross will be any easier, but I have a new found idea of what it means to be present in those feelings of “groundlessness” and how those moments can be a place of great learning.  

I've come to understand a little deeper that we are in all this together, interconnected and we have the ability to make positive shifts with one another in places that are challenging and “groundless” while doing good in the world. --- Jesse Jory

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Our Mission

Acupuncture Relief Project, Inc. is a volunteer-based, 501(c)3 non-profit organization (Tax ID: 26-3335265). Our mission is to provide free medical support to those affected by poverty, conflict or disaster while offering an educationally meaningful experience to influence the professional development and personal growth of compassionate medical practitioners.


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