POCA is a co-op?
What does that mean?
Yes! Although Seminole Heights Community Acupuncture is a locally-owned small business, it has always been a member clinic of POCA (People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture). As a matter of fact, we wouldn’t exist without POCA! Gururas opened her first community acupuncture clinic in 2007 in southeastern Massachusetts. Then in 2013, we opened SHCA. Without the help and support from other POCA members, it would have taken us a lot longer and we would have had to recreate many of the work systems that other POCA clinics regularly use — like the self-pay station, a tool that helps us keep our prices low by involving you in the process of getting care!
Having a cooperative behind us means when we needed to come back home to Florida, we were able to find other POCA members to take over the clinic in Massachusetts. And we had POCA clinic members here in Florida we could learn from as well. Many of the patients Gururas treated back in Massachusetts are still coming for acupuncture at the clinic she started, and many of the staff are still working at the clinic too! (Check out that clinic: it’s MetroWest Community Acupuncture.) POCA clinic owners provide loads of information, encouragement, feedback, and tons of resources. And now, as we prepare to celebrate Seminole Heights Community Acupuncture’s 3rd anniversary, we continue to gain from POCA members’ pooled experience and can contribute by sharing our experience to acupuncturists just getting started! We could not do this without our larger community and POCA co-op members!
Why are patients members?
And why should I join?
POCA evolved out of a very sincere sense of solidarity with patients and the belief that acupuncture should be available to everyone. You as a patient at a POCA clinic are keeping acupuncture available for the people being treated next to you. As a low cost, high volume business model, we rely on your help as a patient to keep our clinics going. When you bring a friend or tell a coworker about the clinic, you are already doing the main thing that patients do to support community acupuncture. When you come in for care you help create the experience and deepen everyone’s treatments by just being here. And as grassroots movements do, you have a trickle up effect. Our co-op needs your support and solidarity!
Joining the co-op helps us as an organization support clinics: through online resources, education, conferences, and the POCA Tech acupuncture school. We are, as members, working together to spread the availability and affordability of acupuncture to more Americans like you, and are even helping to make sure that more people can pursue a viable education and career in acupuncture.
Already a member? Check online to see if it’s time to renew. Just go online to your POCA member profile by logging into to the POCA website check by clicking here!
For more information, ask us at the front desk!
POCA members can volunteer!
Once you join POCA, you can volunteer for a POCA clinic. What do volunteers do? Everything from weeding around the clinic building to passing out flyers in the neighborhood. Our staff, POCA volunteers, and patients are what create the community feel at the clinic. Each of us contributes to the clinic vibe everyone feels when they come in.
If you’re interested in volunteering, leave a message on your Self Pay Form next time you come in. We’ll call you back. Join us!
But do I have to do work to be a member?
(I don’t really have time for that!)
No. Unless you want to. Membership more than pays for itself. You can join for $25 for a yearly membership. As a member you will receive one free treatment a year, and 3 free treatment cards to share with friends or family at any POCA clinic. So basically, we’re paying you! And there’s even more benefits to be had!
Honoring these commitments at our clinics on behalf of POCA is a way that clinics and patients work together to support our Co-op. If you would like to, your membership *does* allow you to volunteer at a POCA clinic. Or, if you wish, you can share your talents with POCA on a larger level (you’ll want to access the POCA website to see exactly what’s going on and needed). So whether you view your membership as a small donation to the co-op, or a way to really get more involved, we very much appreciate your help!
Membership: How do I sign up!?
Click on POCA’s logo here or follow this link to join. You can safely pay online. Once you join, you’ll receive your member packet shortly in the mail… and all of your acupuncture in October will be $10!!!
Thank you as always for allowing us to do what we love in a way that fills our hearts with gratitude, and for being a real part of our clinic and community.
Don’t have a credit card or having problems signing up? Let us know and we’ll help you sign up!
