Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture (TCM&A) is celebrating over 12 years as a regulated health profession in Ontario. Over the past decade, TCM and Acupuncture have grown to become part of Canada’s mainstream healing arts and medicine.
In fact, TCM&A are recognized as integral to healthcare across North America and around the world, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to acknowledge the importance of our disciplines and encourage greater adoption of them in community health care.
Fully trained and registered TCM&A practitioners can diagnose illness and injury and prescribe treatments, making our disciplines well suited to roles in primary health care, long term care and mental health and addictions.
Studies overwhelmingly show that care provided by TCM&A professionals reduces the number of hospital/ medical visits, improves recovery time, and is particularly effective in pain management, reducing the need for pharmaceuticals that are often expensive and potentially addictive.
TCM&A is also highly effective in improving mobility, providing relief from depression and anxiety, managing side effects of medications, non-pharmaceutical management of insomnia and pain, as well as treatments for other ailments that affect seniors in disproportionate numbers.
TCM&A can also play an important role for patients awaiting elective surgeries. These patients often face long wait times during which their pain and discomfort persist, negatively impacting their quality of life and functional ability. Integrating TCM&A in this pre-surgical period can help manage pain, reduce stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and support overall wellbeing, ensuring patients remain more stable and resilient while awaiting their procedures.
Greater reliance on TCM&A relieves pressure on our clinics and hospitals and provides more options for patients, building the case for TCM&A to be fully integrated into long term care services. Attached is an entry into the Compendium of Roles in Team Based Primary Care recently written by a National Team of TCM&A Associations.
Our ask of the Ministry of Long Term Care and the Government of Ontario is support for the broader integration of TCM&A, delivered by registered professionals into Ontario’s health institutions, including long term care facilities.
Currently there are more than 2,800 Registered Acupuncturists (R.Ac.’s) and Registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners (R.TCMP.’s) in Ontario managing more than 600,000 patient visits annually. TCM&A practitioners are prepared to work with Ontario’s Ministries of Health, Long Term Care, Mental Health and Additions and Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility to improve levels of patient care, generate better health outcomes and enhance overall health and wellness.
For more information, please contact:
Katrina Dollano, Vice-President, TCMO: katrian.dollano@tcmo.ca
Heather Kenny, President, TCMO: heather.kenny@tcmo.ca