the point of care to alternative healing

“Why and what’s in acupuncture? Isn’t it painful? I had a fear of needle.” – these were just the few liners that most of us sigh because when we hear pain that’s synonymous to illness.

Like most of us, I cling to my so-called tolerable zone even if I can hardly resist the pain. This holds true for years since I consider pain as part of my existence. It is as natural as donning my clothes. Though people refuse and even wanted to excuse talking about this subject because they know how hard to embrace reality that if pain ruins our entire system – doom follows. Thus, most of us wanted to sort all possible alternatives, no matter what it takes because we all wanted to live longer.

‘Acupuncture,’ as an alternative healing is neither new nor unfamiliar to me. I am aware of this way back the early 1990s when my colleagues observed how I suffer the pain of asthma attack. When I met my husband (who is an advocate of natural healing) – he keeps on persuading me to try acupuncture. I was so skeptical on the outcome of this – thus, live with my tolerable zone and just excuse that I am really that afraid of needle.

So I had undergone both treatments. Anti-pyretic and anti-histamine - the quick-relief medicines to stop the symptoms and the long-term control medicines to prevent symptoms, thus, my handbag is always equipped with all these stuff – (because without this, my daily itinerary shouldn’t be complete).

When I suffered the worst attack so far on March of 2007 at the height of a very important training on extension delivery systems among extension workers at Bacong, Negros Oriental. I felt like my world stop – I am fighting between survival and defeat – my inhalers and nebulizers didn’t work out anymore – it’s truly unbearable.

Afraid of going home to Bohol, I decided to stay at my sister-in-law in Dumaguete and called my husband about the situation. Having went through the kind of medications that I am used to – the attack never subsides rather it makes my mobility and breath even shorter and harder. When they decided to bring me to an acupuncture practitioner in the person of Dr. Rico Tabaloc, I never had the qualms instead submit myself with a sole prayer – that I will be healed.

The very first needle punctured was a sigh of relief (as if my whole system was working – I was like a deflated balloon – releasing all the air inside me – unlocking all those strangled veins – my very pale appearance slowly smothered with color and yes, I was healed. If I just tried this oriental medicine way back then – I shouldn’t have suffered this far.

Declared myself an adherent to acupuncture – I give time hopping to the neighboring island of Dumaguete just to have a session with Dr. Tabaloc. Considering the distance – I wasn’t able to go back to him until one appointment was canceled due to his immediate appointment in Cebu City where our schedule didn’t met.

But, my hope didn’t stop after that. Strolling along the second level of Bohol Quality Mall, my husband and I able to notice one small clinic nestled on the very corner of the ladder with a sign “Medica Bohol” – now, Point of Care Acupuncture Clinic. We read the piece of paper posted on the side of the wall and we found out that the clinic offered acupuncture on an appointment basis.

With so much bliss, we text the number and inquire everything from clinic hours to payment per session. Then, that’s the beginning of the wholistic healing. Dr. Jefferson Huan Ong, prescribed me to have a straight eight-session acupuncture for my asthma and allergies. By and by, I feel the different vigor and the power of healing – that’s the reason why I keep on coming to his clinic to somehow achieve my balance.

Dr. Jefferson Huan Ong is a medical doctor who is responsible for bringing traditional healing through acupuncture in our province. He graduated his Doctor of Medicine from Cebu Doctors' University in 2003. He served as the company physician of the Bohol Quality Corporation after passing the medical board examination in 2005.

With his passion to serve – he seek medical options that he could offer to his patients aside from the generic brand names of medicines he prescribed. Plus, he is so aware that most of the patients prefer to seek medical advices to doctors who are specialist rather than those who are general practitioners; and most of all, nearly everyone of us consider only visiting a doctor if “pain is already unbearable” –

Dr. Jeff narrated that the idea of practicing acupuncture just popped up into his head when he was doing some search for a specialty. Through watching acupuncture videos showed in his class during his premed helped lay some good foundations and a positive influence (besides his being Chinese). Thus, he went to his grandfather’s hometown in Quan Zhou, China to formally trained and got his acupuncture specialization at the Quan Zhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital from June to September 2006.

At 30, Dr. Jeff, planned to make Point of Care Acupuncture Clinic a world class alternative healthcare facility, and Bohol is the perfect staging ground for this because there is a great deal of shortage of medical workforce to handle the healthcare needs of the population. Bohol also lacks a well-equipped medical center to cater to the growing number of expats and tourists.

At many times, our hospitals have been stretched to their limits when handling bigger scale emergencies and epidemics which will be more and more likely as the island becomes more industrialized and populated. Offering patients a different way to handle their disease burden under a time-proven system of medicine will theoretically alleviate the understandable shortcomings of accepted inadequacies of some modern treatments. Overall, it is a new option for the healthcare industry to improve patient care.

On the industry arena, offering an excellent alternative healthcare facility will help us tap the medical tourism influx happening in nearby Cebu, expanding our variety of attractions for tourists. There is also the cultural tolerance for the traditional Filipino medicine here in Bohol.

“As physicians we all aim for the best health for the people under our care. With this in mind, we are willing to give them all the options available without bias, only holding on to our oath to do no harm. I know that in the brotherhood of healthcare professionals, we share this aspiration for our community,” Dr. Jeff stressed.

Moreover, he disclosed that he intend to integrate, research and promote Traditional Filipino Medicine in the clinic because in acupuncture – “people are treated as a whole.”

Many chronicles are espoused about acupuncture in print and the World Wide Web. It views that the purpose of acupuncture therapy is to promote health and lessen pain and suffering. The method by which this is accomplished, though it may seem strange and mysterious to many, has been time tested over thousands of years and continues to be validated today. The World Health Organization considers this as one of the very first alternative modalities in the early 80’s.

The standpoint from which an acupuncturist views health and sickness hinges on concepts of "vital energy," "energetic balance" and "energetic imbalance." Just as the Western medical doctor monitors the blood flowing through blood vessels and the messages traveling via the nervous system, the acupuncturist assesses the flow and distribution of this "vital energy" within its pathways, known as "meridians and channels".

The acupuncturist is able to influence health and sickness by stimulating certain areas along these "meridians". Traditionally fine, slender needles stimulated these areas or “acupoints”. Acupuncture is just one form of therapy used within the lucid system of healing known as Oriental Medicine.

Oriental Medicine includes herbology, chiropractic, physical therapy, dietetics and special exercises (such as Tai Chi and Qi Gong), and is a complete medical system unto itself and is not another branch of modern Western medicine. Acupuncture evolved from principles and philosophies unique to Oriental thinking and Oriental Medicine, and is most effectively applied when done in accordance with those principles.

My lifetime advocacy on alternative healing is unquestionable, thus I inked this article so the public will know that Bohol is endowed with such an opportunity. With him, I was able to reach out to my biological father, my mother-in-law down to my office mate and other friends and contemporaries, to sort this medication and experience such a wonder.

Thus, acupuncture is indeed a point a care. If you wish to experience this kind of healing, visit Dr. Jefferson H. Ong’s Clinic at the Upper Ground Floor, BQ Mall, CPG Avenue, Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

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