Your visit to a typical health care facility often begins with automated appointment setting, or worse, a frazzled receptionist. The experience moves on to hour-long waits in appropriately named "waiting rooms." Finally, you may end with that medicine-on-an-assembly-line feeling. Never mind that your employer and/or you are paying a 1000 bucks or so per month to be treated this way. Then there is the issue of doctors covering up the symptoms rather than rooting out the cause.
Eric Baumgartner is the father of three preschoolers and the third generation of doctors, following the footsteps of both Dad and Grand Dad. He's dressed like a 21st century shaman and doesn't give you the impression of a revolutionary. But he fully intends to change how medicine is delivered, and he's drawn his own line in the sand. How much more radical can it be than this: "We want our clients to look forward to going to their health care provider. The entire experience from start to finish should be pleasant and actually result in changes in your health."
The warm and comfortable facilities of Urban Remedy couldn't be any more different from a normal doctor's office if the designer had specifically wanted it to be the Yin to traditional medical practices' Yang. Your first impression as you walk in the door is that you are in your best friend's living room/kitchen nook. There's the eight luxurious lounge chairs, the fireplace, the balcony overlooking Abbott Kinney Blvd, and the entire environment says, "take off your shoes and relax."
Baumgartner explains: "We practice acupuncture here based on the way it is practiced in the cultures that developed it. The intent is to provide a relaxed place where neighbors can come and get healing and balance in a communal setting. Eastern cultures recognize that there is energy in community that will aid in the healing process."
Much like the synergy of a good yoga class, Community Acupuncture treatments leave you feeling connected, rejuvenated, inspired, and deeply supported. "We are integrating the way eastern medicine is practiced and adapting it to meet the needs of western culture."
This particular medical revolution started in Portland about six years ago. Acupuncturists there, utilizing the community concept still in practice in Asia, developed a model for making medicine more effective and, at the same time, more affordable. Baumgartner continues: "We took their model of providing treatment at about the same cost as the copay for a doctor's visit, and gave the process a few Southern California twists. For one thing, our facility is designed with the West Side customer in mind."
The third part of the revolutionary plan was the way the patient pays. "We charge on a sliding scale from $25-$50 a visit. And the patient decides how much to pay, not us. For those with substantial hardship situations, we will even try to work out something for less. We want anyone who needs care, whether because they are in pain, depressed, or dealing with digestive issues, insomnia, addictions, or just out of sorts, to not allow financial issues to get in the way of their seeking help."
Urban Remedy will also see clients on a private basis by appointment. The community room is open every day, but times vary based on the availability of practitioners who help at the center. You can easily check the hours that Urban Remedy is open by visiting their website at www.UrbanRemedy.org or calling 310-396-8928.
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