The Integrative Health Project 2016 Report
2016 has been an exceptionally fruitful year for IHP.
We have solidified our partnerships with the Ministry of Health office as well as a governmental agency, SOSEP, that provides services to the elderly, women and children. These alliances have provided the basis for IHP's weekly free clinics at 3 governmental sites in Solola. In 2016 these locally run clinics have provided close to 5000 treatments.
In addition we continue to work with other area NGO's including Hospitalito Atitlan facilitating the integration of acupuncture into their services. Hospitalito has a special program for diabetes education in the Lake Atitlan area and has been using the "Boccino Protocol" (an ear acupuncture point combination for reducing blood glucose) in their outreach. Other groups are providing services in their communities in the departments of Quiche and in Guatemala City. We have also extended this work to the Caribbean. Working with longtime friend and colleague, Jose Santini and Salud y Acupuntura Para el Pueblo, IHP has assisted with training and community clinics in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
We continue to run twice yearly medical missions as we have since 2012. Working at the ministry of health offices has allowed us to provide more detailed care and follow up. As we continue our work we have been able to train a solid base of local providers to assist with continuing care.
We are overjoyed with the success of a diabetes focused protocol I developed for my doctoral work in 2015. In this pilot study entitled "Can a auricular acupuncture protocol lower blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes" ear acupuncture was found to lower blood glucose an average of 45 points fasting and 109 post-prandial. This is almost double the results found with typical oral medications with a tremendously reduced price tag and side effect profile.
We have been able to do this work through generous donor support. These funds have gone directly to supplies like glucose meters and test strips. We have no paid staff and rely on volunteers for our work. 2016 saw the first of our long term volunteer presence. We can't thank Lynn Minervini, L.Ac., Emma Sanchez, L.Ac. and Nicole Miziolek,L.Ac, enough for their fine work!
With your continued support we look forward to continuing our work with the underserved. Central to this is our concern for the needs of indigenous peoples. DAPL is only the tip of the iceberg. Incidence of type 2 diabetes, for example, is in some areas twice as high as in the general population (which is alarming enough). We would like to sponsor a larger study on the ear acupuncture protocol, so successful in the pilot. If shown to be effective in a more robust study this could be a game changer for people with diabetes everywhere. We would like to strengthen our training programs and upgrade our equipment (we have been working on improvised treatment tables for example).
Again let me thank you for your donations. We have accomplished much together and appreciate your continued support.
