A riot is the language of the unheard’: ML
“MOTHERS, THE NEWBORN AND CHILDREN REPRESENT THE WELL-BEING OF A SOCIETY AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR THE FUTURE. THEIR HEALTH NEEDS CANNOT BE LEFT UNMET WITHOUT HARMING THE WHOLE OF SOCIETY.”
Lee Jong-wook, former Director-General, World Health Organization, Make Every Mother and Child Count, Geneva, April 2005
To our cherished community
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
This has been a very hard week. Wrapped inside difficult months.
I feel gutted by the events of the past week. I was barely through processing intense anger towards Central Park Karen. My feelings of disbelief about Breonna Taylor- murdered in her home
and then- George Floyd.
I created Six Fishes Neighborhood acupuncture with the mindful intention of creating a diverse and inclusive practice for people of all colors, gender identities, economic brackets and diaspora of people and immigrants in Philadelphia. We the treat rich and poor. Black, brown, and white. Two of the practitioners speak Spanish and one speaks Polish.
To our black and brown friends, you have a healing space here. The white practitioners are aware that we cannot fully grasp the depth of your pain in these devise times, but we are here to listen and hold space for you. We are here to help sooth your spirit.
Part of the mission of Six Fishes is community engagement. The practitioners and I have had a series of reflective discussions around how to give. In normal times of crisis (normal?), we would open the practice to offer free acupuncture for trauma relief. Now, during the COVID pandemic, we find that we cannot implement this without compromising the safety and sanitation standards that we’ve put in place.
Instead, we’re opting to give to organizations. And with a lot of struggling on where to focus our resources, we felt, as a group, that donations would be meaningful. Choosing was also difficult. Community Bail Fund? Black Lives Matter? In the end, I wanted to focus accessibility to health care. And I wanted to keep it local to Philly.
Racism is a disease. Black American’s are dying at 3 times the rate of white people. More than any demographic. This is based on a lack of access to health care , lack of financial resources as well as preexisting conditions and much more. Here’s a report on The Color of CORONAVIRUS: COVID-19 DEATHS by Race and Ethnicity in the US.
Aviva Romm, MD, shared a powerful report published by Amnesty International: Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in America.
Black women have nearly 4 times the mortality rates than white women. Black women have fewer choices if they opt for a natural birth.
Through the month of June, 100% of the profits from our supplement sales on FULL SCRIPT will be donated to The Maternity Care Coalition https://maternitycarecoalition.org/ which is a local organization dedicated to providing services focusing particularly on neighborhoods with high rates of poverty, infant mortality and health disparities.
Everyone automatically receives 15% off. You’ll find a link on the SHOP page of Six Fishes website.
There are other organizations that also need support. I’ll be choosing one monthly and I’m open to your suggestions.
I also want to remind you that we are proud providers for Health Partners Plans. Health Partners is Medicaid insurance that covers 20 treatments with only a $5 co-pay. If you currently have Medicaid insurance, I encourage you to see if Health Partners is a good fit for you. It’s an honor to provide lower income communities with acupuncture.
