Near an Oakland homeless camp, the opportunity to try acupuncture and reiki massage

Moreno was among more than 60 people who attended the inaugural “Heal the Hood” event in Oakland on Saturday morning. Organized by the Freedom Community Clinic, which brings holistic remedies to black, brown and indigenous communities in the Bay Area, the three-hour affair took place near a homeless encampment on the corner of Eighth Alameda street and avenue. Attendees visited the booths where they sampled free offerings from a variety of professional volunteers, including food packages, hygiene kits, work clothes and hair care.

Many also took advantage of the traditional and ancestral healing options on display.

Nico Ghan, 32, one of the volunteer acupuncturists, said he treated around 15 people that morning according to the traditional Chinese practice of strategically pricking the skin with needles to relieve pain or treat other conditions. Two tables away, reiki masseuses used gentle movements of the hands, sometimes without physical touch, to relieve tension and correct a person’s energy flow.

Dawn Surratt, a nurse practitioner who administered blood pressure tests, distributed first aid kits and counseled people on wound care, said the volunteers felt motivated to be there.

“People come forward to help because they care about them,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

The goal of the Freedom Community Clinic is to integrate Eastern and Western medicine for a “whole body” approach to health, said founder Bernadette “Bernie” Lim.

Lim said she was inspired to pursue a different kind of medical career after her immigrant mother agreed to irreversible surgery without really understanding what it was, due to the language barrier between her and the patient. medical staff. A fourth-year medical student at UC San Francisco, Lim, 27, said she plans to run the clinic full-time after graduating from medical school instead of getting a hospital residency.

“The immense support we have received, the belief that people have in us to fill a void in the health care system, strengthens what I want to do,” Lim said.

Lim’s organization, formed two years ago, has run free pop-up community clinics like Saturday’s and opened its first health center in Oakland in September. The seven-person operation offers physiotherapy, counseling, acupuncture and reiki massage services on a free or tapering basis.

One of the goals of Saturday’s event was to alleviate toxic stress in a community that is more likely to suffer from it and less likely to be able to afford it, said Lim and others. .

Stress is a constant in most people’s lives, said Lisa Fortuna, chief of psychiatry at San Francisco General Hospital and UCSF. While some stress can motivate people to take beneficial action, chronic stress can leave the adrenaline system perpetually elevated, causing cellular deterioration and damaging the structure of the brain.

“It’s an inflammatory toxic condition in our body that can cause physiological disturbances,” Fortuna said of stress. “Natural or alternative medicine, body movements and massages, acupuncture, all of these things can work physiologically on the body to reduce the impact of stress. “

Homelessness has been associated with poorer mental health outcomes, according to a report from the Psychiatric Times, a medical specialty publication. It also comes with a lot of psychological triggers, Fortuna said.

“When people experience enormous discrimination, or food and housing insecurity, or constant threats of physical violence, where their well-being and livelihoods are always at risk, these are all major stressors that uplift the adrenaline system, ”said Fortuna.

Sabrina Valdez-Rios, an aspiring nurse who works part-time at the Freedom Community Clinic and hosted Saturday’s event, said it was important to recalibrate “touch” as a positive experience for residents without- shelter who experience higher rates of trauma, including domestic violence, than the general population.

“There are competing mental health issues at the same time, so when a homeless person accepts a massage from someone they’ve never met, that’s a big step for them,” he said. she declared.

While not here to offer energy massage or acupuncture treatment, Jamie Carter has offered her time and her own version of a healing touch. The hairstylist at Naza Beauty in San Francisco offered 30-minute braiding sessions.

“When I wasn’t housed I remember taking great care of my hair,” said Carter, 32. “Your hair is your power not only to make you feel good, but also to directly affect the way people see you.”

Shwanika Narayan is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter / Instagram: @shwanika