PRACTIONERS WELCOME NEW LEGISLATION; WILL CREATE REGULATORY COLLEGE RESPONSIBLE FOR SETTING STANDARDS
Woodstock Sentinel-Review
Thu 15 Dec 2005
Page: 4
Section: News
Byline: BY HEATHER RIVERS-HARRON, HEALTH REPORTER
Dateline: Woodstock
Source:
Woodstock resident Mary Routenberg toiled for four years and endured 4,600 hours of study to become recognized as a certified doctor of Chinese medicine.
She's happy new legislation may soon stop those lacking the proper credentials from practicing Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
"We've been waiting over 20 years (for the new legislation)," Routenberg said. "It's about time. It's been a real battle."
The new legislation, introduced last week by the province, will create a self-governing regulatory college responsible for setting standards of practice and entry requirements for the profession. It will restrict titles a practitioner can use, including the title of doctor, and will restrict those who can practice acupuncture to members of regulated health profession.
Prof. Cedric Cheung, a London doctor of Chinese medicine and president of the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Association of Canada, has been instrumental in lobbying for changes to legislation so that Chinese medicine will become properly regulated.
Without a regulatory body in place, "many harms can come to Ontarians," he said.
Cheung, who is also vice-president of the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies, said inexperienced acupuncturists can mistakenly puncture arteries, organs and lungs during treatment and improper sterilization of needles can result in the transmission of hepatitis and even AIDS.
"Death can follow if it's not done properly," he said.
Routenberg, a registered nurse who trained under Cheung, has been a certified practitioner of Chinese medicine for six years but started out a skeptic.
"I was not a believer in any form of alternative medicine," she said.
Ten years, ago a neck injury she incurred while lifting weights changed her mind. At the urging of her father-in-law she turned to Chinese medicine to help heal her injury and a combination of acupuncture and herbs proved instrumental in her recovery.
When Routenberg decided to move forward with her career in healing she had to make a choice between choosing to become a nurse practitioner or to become a doctor of Chinese medicine. But when she made her choice, Routenberg said she found herself facing criticism.
"Most reactions were negative," she said, crediting her family for their support of her new career.
Routenberg said Chinese medicine uses a variety of techniques to address a wide range of health problems.
"It concentrates on lifestyle, diet, mental and emotional conditions; acupuncture is only one part," she said.
Besides acupuncture, Routenberg will offer or burn herbs as treatment and perform tuina, a type of Chinese massage that manipulates a person's energy.
Routenberg said a lot of people currently practice Chinese medicine and acupuncture with weekend training or limited training.
"It's not enough," she said. "No one should be doing acupuncture without a four-year Chinese medicine course. You need to know the philosophy of Chinese medicine."
She relates horror stories of patients being forgotten and abandoned with needles left in and organs being pierced by accident.
"You have to know anatomy," she said. "It's the angle you insert the needle."
Chinese medicine is a 5000-year-old tradition, whose fundamental philosophy assesses the patient as whole rather than just the specific problem. It can be used to treat almost every ailment, even mental and emotional problems. She said recovery after being treated by Chinese medicine is a gradual process, with several sessions necessary.
"It's not a quick fix," she said. "It takes quite a while to get better."
Routenberg hopes one day Chinese medicine will be covered by OHIP and become more widely available so "not only those that can afford it, can get it." One day she also hopes for more schools to teach the art and universities adding it to their course list.
But she points out that just because she has become a proponent of alternative medicine, doesn't mean she's against Western medicine.
"It's a wonderful medicine but it should be used (in conjunction) with western medicine," Routenberg said, pointing out she is unable to perform surgery. "If you can use both it's the optimum treatment for people."
If the legislation is passed, Ontario will be the second province to regulate traditional Chinese medicine and the fourth to regulate acupuncture.
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