On the road with Modern Barefoot Doctors
A Travel Television Series with a Mission
“I shall only walk this way once, so let me do what good I shall do now, for I shall never walk this way again” Chinese proverb
Northeast Bangladesh 2005: “I was finally able to get to this remote clinic of MugaIpar. The sisters and I flew to Sylhet followed by a very bumpy three-hour car ride, then came the bamboo-ferry river crossing and finally the two-hour rickshaw journey. It was as if I had been transported back to the Middle Ages, with a few contemporary links to modernity. There is no health care, no education, and no social security. People live and die in total anonymity. If it weren’t for the dedicated Catholic nuns who live among these people, I don’t know what would happen to them. How did I, a non-Christian, find myself here, working as a medical acupuncturist at a Mission Clinic in a remote “back of beyond” area of great beauty and intense poverty? It was because a friend said 'Why don't you.. .?' (Excerpt from the journals of Dr. Sally Watkins MD, From Point to Point: on the Road with Modern Barefoot Doctors)
Siem Reap, Cambodia 2008: “A barefoot doctor was an ancient Chinese and then revived 20th century Maoist idea of a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner traveling from village to village treating local people in need of medical care. Barefoot because they were also farmers who toiled their fields shoeless. I have been thinking of this off and on as I also stand barefoot, with acupuncture needles in hand, on a one room-floating schoolhouse in the middle of a lake in Cambodia. By a chance meeting with the only school teacher in the area, myself, 2 acupuncture colleagues and volunteer Buddhist monks were invited to “come aboard” not knowing what was in store. Within minutes of our arrival the word got out and dozens of shabby and rundown canoes floated to us carrying people who haven’t seen any medical care in unknown years. The most touching moment was when a small boy with one arm came paddling up in what I could only describe was a big aluminum macaroni pot. His family couldn’t afford a boat so this would have to do to get around and go to school. He lost his arm to a landmine, a reminder of a not so distant time of war” (excerpt from journals of A.M. Giovanniello, MS.Ac., L.Ac., From Point to Point: On the Road with Modern Barefoot Doctors)
From Point to Point, a travel television series with a mission is as unique as the real life healthcare providers featured in the series. Based on the book of the same title, From Point to Point follows volunteer integrative medicine practitioners on medical missions in some of the most remote places on the planet. With the lack of expensive modern western medicine available to most rural and poor places in our world, our modern “barefoot doctors” are using simple but powerful Asian medicine knowledge as acupuncture and herbs with great success. Originating in Asia some 2,500 years ago, acupuncture and herbs are major components of the Traditional Asian Medical System and the most commonly used modality of healing in the world. These caring and compassionate individuals are sometimes the only source of medical treatment within hundreds of miles. Their mission is to contribute to the medical care options of disadvantaged peoples worldwide through the teaching and application of ancient and modern Asian medical knowledge. Sharing this knowledge with local medical practitioners, doctors, nurses, and medical assistants in developing countries, imparting basic theoretical and practical training in acupuncture to treat the most common illnesses faced by these medical practitioners. And once there, these incredible individuals treat patients along the way. Doing their best to bring immediate health restoration for these patients and put a system in place for their future needs.
In recent years the acupuncture community worldwide has come together to serve the communities of disaster victims in earthquake struck Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and South East Asia Tsunami relief. There are also ongoing acupuncture missions in Thailand, India, Nepal, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda and Guatemala to name a few.
From Point to Point tells their stories. The people they encounter, the medical professionals they teach, the lifelong relationships they forge and the grateful patients they treat. The stories are fascinating, poignant, emotional, sometimes amusing, sometimes tragic but ultimately hopeful.
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- From Point To Point
- Who are the potential worldwide viewers of From Point to Point? "We're witnessing the globalization of medicine." Says Dr. Mehmet Oz who represents the progressive merging of conventional and CAM (complementary and alternative medicine); of Western and Eastern medicine. Acupuncture has been around for 2,500 years in China. There are a billion people in another part of the world who use these therapies. Alternative medicine is the globalization of medicine.” The United States has more than 30,000 traditional Chinese acupuncturists and 400 companies specializing in the sale of Chinese herbal medicine. There are over 8,000 medical doctors who are medical acupuncturists. In 2004, the traditional Chinese medicine industry generated approximately US$11.1 billion. Acufinder.com a leading resource for Acupuncture with 6,000,000 hits monthly. A 2002 NIH survey found that about 8.2 million American adults have used acupuncture. The World Health organization has listed over 40 illnesses treatable by acupuncture. There are over 3,000,000 acupuncturists in the world. Volunteerism among potential viewers: 1,056,000 American volunteers served with organizations located overseas in 2007.
From Point to Point: What is the mission?
This is a television series that gives the armchair traveler the chance to journey with modern barefoot doctors on volunteer medical missions. They will learn about the volunteers, who they are, their personal stories, their heroes and influences, the reasons for their commitment to this work and their need to be of service for the greater good.
From Point to Point: the travel television series will also open an opportunity for the viewer to contribute financially to the mission they view. Each episode becomes a fundraiser for the presented local medical mission site. 90% of all contributions will directly benefit the ongoing mission. At the end of each episode, the viewer will be given information where they can contribute.
Another aspect of the series would give viewers who are interested in volunteerism/voluntourism the opportunity to join up with a forthcoming mission. There are many aspects of planning and executing a mission that do not require medical training. Many skills are needed for a mission to be successful. Our main healing modality is acupuncture and herbs, but if you want to volunteer your time, skills and your passion all are welcomed. The series website will describe numerous ways people can help.
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” Nelson Mandela
In the case of the missions documented on From Point To Point, we hope that the places we travel to may change for the better and that we ourselves have changed as well.
From Point to Point: the travel television series will also open an opportunity for the viewer to contribute financially to the mission they view. Each episode becomes a fundraiser for the presented local medical mission site. 90% of all contributions will directly benefit the ongoing mission. At the end of each episode, the viewer will be given information where they can contribute.
Another aspect of the series would give viewers who are interested in volunteerism/voluntourism the opportunity to join up with a forthcoming mission. There are many aspects of planning and executing a mission that do not require medical training. Many skills are needed for a mission to be successful. Our main healing modality is acupuncture and herbs, but if you want to volunteer your time, skills and your passion all are welcomed. The series website will describe numerous ways people can help.
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” Nelson Mandela
In the case of the missions documented on From Point To Point, we hope that the places we travel to may change for the better and that we ourselves have changed as well.