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Global Outreach Program

Pacific Rim College is committed to supporting the spread of sustainable holistic health practices. The Global Outreach Program (GOP) allows PRC students to complete clinical training in a variety of medical centres around the world - gaining valuable experience while helping others - and also provides support to clinics and groups through fundraising efforts, public exposure and the donation of medical supplies. GOP externships exist in Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Uganda and other clinics and partnerships are being developed elsewhere. Acceptance to externship programs may be competitively based, and students must meet selection criteria unique to each program. Click on the links below to learn more about current outreach opportunities and ongoing and upcoming fundraising events.

Our Comittment

Each year PRC raises thousands of dollars for GOP clinics and, through needle drives, donates tens of thousands of acupuncture needles to free acupuncture clinics around the world. Additionally, PRC students and faculty logged more than 500 volunteer hours at GOP clinics in 2008 and more than 400 hours in the first 3 months of 2009.

To help increase the support for GOP clinics and other sustainable health initiatives, in the fall of 2008 PRC launched E.C.H.O. - the Environmental and Community Health Organization - a registered non-profit organization.

GOP Clinical Opportunities

PanAfrican Acupuncture Project
The PanAfrican Acupuncture Project (PAAP) is a pioneering initiative based in East Africa that provides acupuncture training to local health care workers. Since 2003 PAAP has trained more than 150 health care workers to employ simple yet effective acupuncture techniques in the treatment of endemic conditions such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, malnutrition and tuberculosis. Those health care workers have in turn used their new skills to help thousands of Africans. more>>

Jambiani Wellness Centre, Zanzibar
The Jambiani Wellness Centre is a multidisciplinary medical clinic that the Hands Across Borders Society opened in late 2002 to provide free health care to the villagers of Jambiani, Zanzibar. Since its inception the Wellness Centre has been host to over 40 volunteer practitioners from around the world, who have collectively treated more than 4000 villagers. more>>

The Jambiani Wellness Centre is currently seeking qualified acupuncturists to volunteer in February, March 2010 and June 2010. Interested candidates should contact jobs@pacificrimcollege.ca.

Vajra Varahi Healthcare, Nepal
Vajra Varahi Healthcare is a small charitable healthcare organisation based in Chapagaon, a village just outside Kathmandu in Nepal. The centre, which has been open since 2008, is situated next to Vajra Varahi Buddhist monastery and provides affordable healthcare in the traditions of Tibetan, Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The centre regularly hosts dental/medical/optical camps in the countryside and intends to conduct research on the efficacy of different indigenous therapies. more>>

Acupuncture Relief Project
The Acupuncture Relief Project (ARP) is a free community acupuncture clinic that travels to countries that have been impacted by poverty, conflict or disaster. The Project gives practitioners an opportunity to gain valuable field experience while making a positive impact on foreign communities. During the 2008 project, ARP was able to provide over 5000 acupuncture treatments and had remarkable results in treating chronic pain, GI disorders and paralysis. ARP practitioner will be returning to Nepal in 2010 to work a the Vajra Varahi Healthcare centre. more>>

Anton Jayasuriya Memorial Clinic, Sri Lanka
The Anton Jayasuriya Memorial Clinic is located in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka, and has been known as the world's busiest acupuncture clinic. For nearly three decades the clinic operated under the directorship of the late Sir Anton Jayasuriya, a world renowned physician, healer and teacher. Sir Anton treated over 3 million people free of charge at his clinic and educated more than 30,000 students. Since his passing in April 2005, the clinic has been successfully operating under the leadership of the Medicina Alternativa Organization and its team of experienced physicians and practitioners. As many as 300 patients are treated per day free of charge at the Anton Jayasuriya Memorial Clinic, providing students with limitless opportunity to gain hands on experience in acupuncture while providing help where it is most needed. more>>

Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, Zanzibar
Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, translated "One Coconut Hospital", is located on the picturesque coast of Zanzibar in the capital city of Stone Town. It is a government-run hospital serving the population of Zanzibar, which presently stands at approximately 1 million people. The hospital contains 400 beds and consists of a variety of specialty departments, including paediatrics, surgery, internal medicine, acupuncture, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, trauma and maternity. The hospital is fairly well-staffed with doctors, nurses, mid-wives, nursing students and a number of foreign medical students. more>>

Noteworthy Initiatives

Flying Needle Project, South Africa
The Flying Needle Project (FNP) was founded to provide complimentary alternative healthcare to the under-served HIV/AIDS infected population of South Africa. In 2009 FNP will open a free clinic in South Africa to help accomplish this ambitious goal. FNP will eventually invite acupuncturists from South Africa, the United States, Canada and the rest the world to offer services and participate in clinics. Currently there are no national or non-governmental organizations offering alternative health services to low income HIV infected populations in South Africa.

Barefoot Acupuncturists, India
Barefoot Acupuncturists is an association that was born in the slums of Bombay and the mountains of Kashmir in 2007. It is an independent, non-religious and non-political organization with aims to provide health care to underprivileged people through the use of acupuncture and local traditional medicine and to provide acupuncture training to their medical staff so that local dispensaries may become autonomous.

Moxafrica
Moxafrica is a charitable organisation set up in 2008 in the UK to investigate the use of moxibustion therapy for the treatment of tuberculosis. Moxa is a herbal preparation made from the leaves of the mugwort plant (Artemisia spp.). The brief smouldering of tiny pieces of moxa against the skin is called direct moxibustion and has been used in oriental medicine for centuries, both in conjunction with acupuncture treatment and on its own Therapeutically it is known to have positive effects on blood circulation and to enhance the immune system.

^{Photos from a 2008 GOP trip to East Africa.}