Volume 14 Issue 1
Happy New Year!
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Rat
1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972,
1984, 1996, 2008, 2030 People born in the Year of the Rat are noted for their
charm and attraction for the opposite sex. They work hard to achieve their
goals, acquire possessions, and are likely to be perfectionists. They are
basically thrifty with money. Rat people are easily angered and love to
gossip. Their ambitions are big, and they are usually very successful.
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The CMAAC Head Office and the CMAAC Board of
Directors would like to extend our best wishes to you and your family for a
prosperous New Year! May
the year 2008 bring happiness, success and health to all!
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CMAAC British Columbia sends
a heartfelt Season's Greetings to Professor Cheung, CMAAC Board Members, Fellow
Chapter Presidents and all members at large. 2007 was marked with three
significant events that signify the continuing growth and ongoing strengthening
of our profession. In September, a
delegation representing the State Administration of Traditional Chinese
Medicine (SATCM) paid a historic visit to Vancouver. The group, headed
by SATCM Deputy Director General Dr. Yu Wenming, met
with the College of TCM Practitioners and Acupuncturists of
BC to exchange ideas on the regulation of the profession and to conduct an
initial study on a Memorandum of Understanding between the organizations. On October 9 the Provincial Government made
the announcement that Acupuncture will be made more accessible to more British
Columbians through changes to the Medical Services Plan (MSP) starting in April
2008. The inclusion of Acupuncture in the MSP is a significant development and
in his announcement, BC Minister of Health George Abbott noted that
"...acupuncture treatments prevent illness and manage existing health
problems...” The patient will be covered under
the plan for treatments provided by registered practitioners for a
diagnosed condition, for a maximum of 10 visits. This is a significant moment
for the profession and for society as there have been many requests and
questions by citizens regarding easier access to TCM healing modes. A big step
has been taken and there will be more to come.
In the same month, the College also made application to Federal
Court seeking an injunction against the Council of Natural Medicine College of
Canada over their use of the designations R.Ac. And
D.T.C.M., titles that are conferred on qualified registrants under law in
BC. The titles are reflective of the training and expertise of the
registrant who has satisfied the requirements of licensure and must be
protected to ensure the safety of society at large. The events noted above are robust
indicators of a strong profession that has made and will continue to
make great progress. With strong visionaries such as Professor Cheung and a
strongly unified group like the CMAAC keeping the faith in our profession
and constantly holding to the aim of educating the public, the profession will
continue to upkeep its valued and historic legacy. Thanks to Professor Cheung and to everyone
with the CMAAC for your unwavering vision and faith. Best Wishes to all in 2008. Success, Longevity and Peace to everyone!
Chinese medicine
practitioners’ status in Hong Kong is becoming more
recognized by the public, soon all registered practitioners will be authorized
to issue sick certificates to patients.
However, for those Chinese medicine practitioners with “Listed” status, the authority insists that they must pass the
Registered Chinese medicine practitioners examination to obtain such
authorization. Currently, there are a
total of 5532 registered Chinese medicine practitioners and 2849 “Listed” Chinese medicine
practitioners. In addition, there are
still small numbers of non-registered Chinese medicine practitioners practicing
illegally in Hong
Kong,
some of whom claim that no one in the authority is qualified to examine their
experience and qualifications.
Considering the risk involved, it is a surprise that some patients are
still interested to visit these illegally practicing practitioners. On behalf of the association, three health
talks were held in the Catholic community’s aging
group. Taking this opportunity, we would
like to wish all members in Canada a Happy New Year.
Since
the New Year is approaching fast, on behalf of the Manitoba Chapter, we will take
this opportunity to summarize our progress in the past year. Under the help of
the Head Office, and the effort of all members of our Chapter, we have done
massive work in the following areas. (1) We diligently worked hard to bring honour to Traditional Medicine and Acupuncture. In the past
few years, in various local areas, our members utilized many different kinds of
opportunities to positively publicize our profound Chinese medicine
pharmacology and theory to local citizens.
After numerous lectures and meetings, more citizens have come to a
better understanding of our medicine. As
a result, the public has shown greater interest in Chinese Medicine and
Acupuncture, herbs, Chinese massage, and physical therapy. Our province has
built a strong foundation for future legislation and further development of
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. (2) By communicating with local
authorities we are better prepared for the Chinese medicine and Acupuncture
legislation. Our Chapter has contacted
local health organizations and introduced our activities, and sought their
advice on the development of our profession.
In order to be in alignment with international and North American health
care trends, the provincial government has allowed for greater focus on
Traditional Medicine and Acupuncture; furthermore, it will have a big influence
in the legislation of our profession. (3) We continued to expand communications
with local medical service health insurance organizations and strengthened the
medical services. In order to facilitate
the demands of going to see a doctor, and to promote the development of Chinese
Medicine and Acupuncture, we have made a tremendous effort and obtained great
respect from local citizens. More and
more members of our Chapter are receiving insurance coverage of their practice,
which greatly increases convenience and financial support for clients. Meanwhile, our profession has expanded in
clinical management, practice, scope and scale. (4) Raising the standards for
recruiting new members to our Chapter, and establishing a process of examining
and assessing them will further advance the reputation of our practice. This will simultaneously help new members
understand and be familiar with the local government’s
health policies, while improving their specialized areas and skills. These
efforts and many others continue to further enhance our high standards. (5) We strengthened the
inter-working relation, and increased communication with Western
medicine doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists, and as a result, more
local doctors and clients now better understand Traditional Medicine and
Acupuncture treatment. This phenomenon
has helped the exchange of technologies and clarified misunderstandings,
creating a better environment for the further enhancement of our
profession. In the next year, we will
continue our efforts toward the objectives and goals we have set. We will work to continue to make new contributions
to the development of Traditional Medicine and Acupuncture.
2007 has been a busy and exciting year regarding the
growth of our profession in Newfoundland. A springtime meeting with our Health
Minister Mr. Ross Wiseman was productive, resulting in a promise for
legislation during the 2008 year. We
hope our political progress for the profession in Newfoundland
maintains this hard won momentum. As you
know from previous reports, 2005 saw the establishment of the three-year
Acupuncture program in our province.
November of 2007 witnessed the graduation of the first twelve. We have just accepted twelve new members into
our association. What a great new
energy! We are fully confident that our
new graduates will propel the profession to new heights. For a number of years now we have been
striving to secure that our members will meet the highest professional
standards preparatory to legislation. We
have enforced the Alberta
model in order to reach this goal. Our
arrangements with Alberta
for the examination process to be put in place have been completed. At the end of summer 2007 the first
standardized Provincial Acupuncture Safety Course was conducted by visiting
professionals from Alberta. In December of 2007 a further review of this
and a point’s location boot camp were conducted. We feel our practitioners in the field and
students alike have had a review and skills update second to none. In February of 2008 Heather Cameron, the
Registrar for the profession in Alberta
and Dr. David Chu, president of the Acupuncture
examination committee of Alberta,
will carry out an examination preparation.
In May of 2008 the first provincial examination will be conducted under
the auspices of visiting professionals from Alberta. Our province thus enters into a reciprocity
agreement with Alberta,
Quebec
and British Columbia,
affording our members a wonderful job mobility environment and great
support. This process now in place will
assure the preparedness of our professionals for “protecting
the public” the very foundation of legislation. It will also see the beginning of new
adventures and continuing networking with institutions such as The Workplace
Health and Safety Commission.
We are very proud of this arrangement and to be part
of any initiative to establish National standards for Traditional Chinese
Medicine & Acupuncture in Canada. In light of the Canada Labour
Mobility Agreement pending for 2009, which will affect all professions, we feel
that this to be a most positive step, one that we hope every province will
take. Through such processes, Traditional Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture
can be practiced and received under a canopy of assurance, acknowledgement and
acceptance and enjoy the respect this profession has toiled for and earned over
thousands of years. We extend many
thanks to Professor Cheung who has since our Chapter beginnings in 2003, has
always taken time from his busy Ontario
agenda to be part of our Newfoundland
process. We see CMAAC as integral to our
progress. Prof. Cheung, we recognize
your hard work countrywide and we thank you all for always being there to
support us. Health, happiness &
prosperity to all in 2008
NOVA SCOTIA CHAPTER
By
Dr. Diana Tong Li, chapter president
First of all, I would like
to congratulate the Province of 0ntario for their legislative success
pertaining to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. For years our colleagues in Ontario have strived for
successful legislation and as a result of considerable work, time and energy,
especially under the guidance of Professor Cheung, the association has made
great progress. Moreover, the Nova Scotia chapter will be able,
under the head quarter’s instructions, in the near
future to strive to achieve this goal also!
The Canadian Acupuncture and Natural Medical College proudly sponsored
training classes along with our Nova Scotia chapter, and invited
renowned Chinese and US teachers of Chinese
Medicine and Acupuncture to come and teach.
It was especially exciting to host Dr. Huang Li and Dr. Huang Shih who
flew in to Halifax to lecture, from the
US Auricular Medicine International Research and Training Centre. Dr. Huang Li and Dr. Huang Shih have
participated in this teaching for the last three years. The lectures had outstanding
results and each student obtained a graduation certificate proving that they
comprehensively have grasped the auricular medicine diagnosis and the method of
treatment. The institute also has the students go to China and carry on the
practice in provincially established Chinese medicine hospitals. The students received high praise, as a
result of their specialized training and solid basic theoretical
knowledge. In the past year, our
province has seen an increase in newly immigrated Chinese Medicine and
Acupuncture practitioners. It is
estimated that by 2009, our provincial chapter will double its number of
qualified Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture members. An increase in membership will be
advantageous to launching legislation for Traditional Medicine and Acupuncture
in our province.
Finally, we thank once
more the association’s president and wish our fellow
colleagues a healthy, happy new year!
Ottawa Liaison Office
By Dr
George Cao
Ottawa is far away from the
Head Office; therefore, most members could not participate in activities held
by the Head Office; and the news was relatively unenlightening. This November
of 2007, the Head Office arranged for us to listen to Transitional College of
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Registrar Ms. Emily Cheung’s lecture about the legislation matters in Brockville. Due to the critical
timing and everyone’s vital interest, nearly all of the
Ottawa members, as well as
the other association’s members attended the lecture. We were extremely thankful to the Head Office’s concern to our matters, and would also like to thank Dr.
Joanne Pritchard-Sobhani for providing such a
wonderful meeting place. This gathering gave everyone the opportunity to speak
freely about the progress and success of the organization over the past year
and allowed all participants to realize the honour
they have brought to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. Moreover, this has expanded the influence of
Chinese Medicine in society. For example,
Dr. Guo Zhao Qi successively had ten papers published in the
Chinese Ministry of Culture Chief Editor's books and periodicals, and was
recognized as a distinguished expert in Traditional Chinese Medicine and
Acupuncture. As a result of the Chinese medicine legislation progress, many new
phenomena and synthesizes appeared, mainly in the following three aspects: (1)
An unprecedented enhancement of the public’s trust in
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, i.e. Dr.Hu Zhao Di ’s patients, due to her medical
skills reputation, and curative treatments, even came for treatment from
overseas. (2) More individuals are seeking Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture
treatment (3) Insurance companies have become more accepting of Chinese
Medicine and Acupuncture, to the extent that they now also accept our medical
insurance claims. In summary, Chinese
Medicine and Acupuncture is obtaining the position in society that it deserves.
We believe we what we experiencing today, are the results of the association
president, Professor Chueng, and other committee
members’ 25 years of persistence to overcome one
difficulty on top of another and laboriously work to obtain positive
change. In this, our Ottawa members express their
heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Cheung and the rest of the committee members.
Quebec Chapter
By Dr Gasan
Askerow, Chapter President
Due to the particular
situation in the province of Quebec, the chapter’s activities are at the stage of “wait and see”. I wish all members of CMAAC a Happy, Healthy,
Peaceful, and Prosperous New Year.
On behalf of
Saskatchewan Chapter, and myself I would like to extend our gratitude to Professor
Cedric Cheung and CMAAC head office for continued support to the professional
regulation in Ontario. Saskatchewan Chapter
has kept very close contact and observation with its evolvements for many
years, we are proud of this achievement. We’d like to
express many thanks to President Cheung and to many others who persevered and endeavoured. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture
has become a very desirable profession for many Canadians today, it is no
longer a profession for Chinese immigrates or their dependency. We have a
growing number of members in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture
practitioners and Acupuncture practitioners in the Saskatchewan Chapter, many
of whom have been trained in Canada by Chinese immigrants,
their dependency, or their disciples.
However, we must not forget it was the Chinese immigrants who brought
our heritage to this country and carry out the traditional practice and the
teachings with pride and dignity. Many older generations’
Chinese immigrants went through great difficulties to strive for the survival
of our traditions and heritages. It has remained enacted through continued
effort of many generations; today’s success has not
come easily. We have all benefited from their hard work and kindness, and enjoy
being in today’s position as a respected profession. I’d like to pay my respect and tribute to all our forefathers,
older generation Chinese immigrates, and all the TCM teachers who practiced and
taught Traditional Chinese Medicine to benefit Canadians. It is a very positive
fact that some young Canadians are very much attracted by the long history of
Chinese Culture and Tradition. They have chosen TCM to be their career, but
also followed the traditional practice and its ethics ,
creating avery authentic practice of Traditional
Chinese Medicine. I am personally very pleased to see that many people, not
limited by the Chinese people, have carried our Chinese tradition forward. My
Best Wishes to all teachers and colleagues for a very successful New Year 2008!
Dr Nathalie Xian Yi Yan gave a presentation lecture based on her research “The essentials of
San Jiao”; her lecture was very well received at
the conference. Dr. Yan
was also invited by the conference to preside over the presentations. CMAAC is very proud of her achievement.
NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
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