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Wednesday, February 25, 2015 Travelogue Part six: A month in Myanmar series ode of the The final epis ‘Living vicariously through the adventures of our friends’ “People were willing to travel long distances, wait hours for treatment and experience rough travel to get to us. They were always gracious, kind, generous with their smiles and gratitude for relieving them of their suffering and helping them to become healthier. We, in turn, were energized, and overwhelmed by their kindnesses.” HR Accupuncturist gets as much as she gives in trip to Myanmar BY SUSAN FROEHLICH For the News Passport — check. Visa —check. Letter to accept donated supplies — check. New, crisp $$ to exchange for local currency — check. Herbs to stay healthy and to treat illnesses — check. Plane tickets — check. Relax. Enjoy the 33 hour travel to Mandalay, Myan- mar. Remember to thank Charlie once again for taking good care of our patients. Re- flect on my time as a solo traveler, and as a Chinese Medical Practitioner who will be treating people of Myanmar and mentoring young Traditional Myanmar Doctors. Rest. Feel the excitement surge upon landing. Look for your three other teammates from the U.K. (Charlotte, Naomi and Keith), whom you’ve never met and will be working and living alongside for the next four weeks! Smile. My adventure begins Jan. 12, 2015, in Mandalay, Myan- mar, as a volunteer of the Myanmar Acupuncture Pro- ject. This project was started 15 years ago by the Metta Dana Project, Vipassana Hawaii, in association with Sayadaw U Lakhana from Kyaswa Monastery, Sagaing, Upper Myanmar. It was start- ed by two acupuncturists, Michael Zucker and Daniel Bruce from the United States in 2000, and has seen inter- national Acupuncturists yearly since the beginning. This project is funded by Metta Dana, Wachet Sagaing Hills Hospital, personal do- nations and volunteer ser- vice donations (local as well as international). In 2013, a designated clinic was built to serve patients twice a week for free treat- ments in Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine (cost of needles only). This program operates throughout the year, run by U Win Ko and volunteer doctors. Health Care in Myanmar is grossly underfunded and tends to be centered in larger cities, although the majority of the population resides in rural areas. The average household income is about $800 a year, with the major expenditure being food at 70 percent of income. This is a significant indicator of poverty levels, as there is lit- tle to no money for anything else, especially healthcare. Also, clean water and basic sanitation is severely lack- ing in rural areas, which leads to higher levels of asso- ciated diseases and higher death rates, which could be prevented. During our time there, our small team worked alongside eight to 12 traditional Myan- mar doctors, where we were able to treat about 1,200 pa- About the author Susan Froehlich is a Li- censed Acupuncturisat and Practioner of Tradi- tional Chinese Medicine. She owns and operates Columbia River Acupunc- ture with her son, Charles Cannon, with clinics in Hood River and Mosier. tients in 15 days. Our team provided direct mentoring to these young doctors in Tradi- tional Chinese Medicine, specifically acupuncture and theories of Chinese Medi- cine, from our experience. Our patients were monks and nuns from the surround- ing monasteries, and resi- dents of Myanmar. Some of the patients traveled by bus for 12 hours to receive one treatment, traveled back home and repeated the travel the next day! Our team was fortunate to have interpreta- tion provided by the doctors, and we soon learned com- mon words like “Mingalaba” for hello and “NaLa” for pain. Patients f avorably re- sponded to their treatments, usually showing 20-40 per- cent improvement after their first treatment, with no ad- verse side effects. Common conditions treated were mus- culoskeletal pain (chronic and acute), insomnia, diges- tive disorders, paralysis fol- lowing stroke and motorbike accidents, menstrual irregu- larities, headaches and mi- graines — conditions very similar to what we see in our clinics in the USA. (The stroke and hypertension rate is much higher in Myanmar however, while cancer rates are quite low.) ■ As Acupuncture is a rela- tively new treatment modali- ty in Traditional Myanmar Medicine, the response to this form of medicine is quite amazing. People were willing to travel long dis- tances, wait hours for treat- ment and experience rough travel to get to us. They were always gracious, kind, gener- ous with their smiles and gratitude for relieving them of their suffering and help- ing them to become healthi- er. We, in turn, were ener- gized, and overwhelmed by their kindnesses. Wachet Hospital hosted us during our stay with a sim- ple dormitory style room on the top floor of the hospital, hot showers and slow, inter- mittent but usable Internet. They fed us very well with traditional Myanmar meals, consisting of soup, rice, a va- riety of ve g etable and fish/meat dishes and fresh fruit. The spice combination between all of the dishes were delightful — savory and some spicy — garlic, cumin, turmeric, tomato, peppers and salt. Unfortunately, loads of salt and no weight loss! All of the food was locally grown, caught and prepared, originating from the delta area on the Irrawaddy River. See TRAVEL, Page B2 A MONTH IN MYANMAR exposed Hood River acupuncturist Susan Froehlich to all kinds of amazing experiences. Froehlich visited the country as volunteer with the Myanmar Acupuncture Project. While in the country she worked alongside traditional Myanmar doctors to treat patients at a free clinic and teach acupuncture and theories of Chinese medicine. Pictured are (top to bottom) a view of some of the hundreds of pagoda temples in the Old Bagan, Froehlich working with a patient while doctors look on, one of many delicious meals the group had during the trip and (right) the infectious smile of a monk as he paints let- tering on a monastery wall. Photos by Susan Froehlich B1
