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Spirit Immunizations
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| Health care is a constant anxiety for many of us. It is an especially critical problem if you have no job, no home and no help. San Francisco has one of the largest homeless populations in the country, and members of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church saw the need and launched an ambitious health program. It prescribes acceptance, respect and love. | |||
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Sometimes you have to trudge through hell to find a taste of heaven. That’s how Carol Pochy sees it. She visits Glide Memorial United Methodist Church’s free health clinic about once a week. To get there, she walks through one of San Francisco’s toughest neighborhoods.
Carol Pochy / Client, Glide Health Clinic: “It’s a lot of low-income, homeless, a lot of drug transactions going on, prostitution. It’s not the best part of the city. I can smell urine, feces, people sleeping on the street.”
Pochy started coming here for free primary care about a year ago. Formerly homeless and recovering from addictions to crack, heroin and alcohol, she saw a flier for Glide’s complementary healing program. Free acupuncture treatments caught her eye.
Carol Pochy: “I initially went in there for cravings and the stress – detoxification – because I was getting clean and sober.”
Today’s acupuncture treatment is aimed at improving her digestion, helping her get more sleep and toning down stress.
Carol Pochy: “I lie there and get to relax, and almost fall asleep. And then I leave here and I have this energy. I mean I really started feeling it work for me.”
Tim Agar / Co-Managing Director, Glide Health Clinic: “The complementary care, I think, becomes especially helpful in dealing with the recovery population because it allows people to manage their stress. It allows people to be in touch with their breathing.”
Glide also offers an array of other free alternative services, from shiatsu massage to breathing and relaxation therapy.
Janice Mirikitani / Glide Memorial United Methodist Church: “What we are trying to say is that there are many approaches to healing; there are many avenues to healing. And I think one starts with the premise that the individual is a whole being.”
Carol Pochy says Glide’s alternative approach to healing is helping her take better care of herself. A free and priceless gift, found in a neighborhood that truly needs it.
Spirit Immunizations – Tag:
The church’s holistic approach to health care includes services beyond medical visits. Workers help patients navigate the hassles of daily life and find housing.