Further points of contact

As a follow-up to our Points of Contact feature back in the summer, this time we reached out to several overseas members in countries where the lockdown has been lighter. Here's a flavour of how it's been for three of them.

Lockdown… what lockdown?

Michael Maynard

Overseas Member: Sweden In March, as other countries – including our Nordic neighbours – came to a standstill, Sweden decided to buck the lockdown trend and adopt a light-touch approach towards the coronavirus pandemic. The main thrust of the Swedish government’s strategy was voluntary cooperation and individual responsibility, relying on the high level of trust placed in public authorities here. There were recommendations and guidelines rather than strict rules.

We were asked rather than ordered to practise social distancing, wash our hands, avoid non-essential travel and work from home. Schools remained open for pupils under the age of 16 and public gatherings of up to 50 people were allowed. The government stated that the aim of its approach was the same as in other countries, ie slow down the spread of the virus and flatten the curve so that health services were not overwhelmed. It was just that its route for getting there was different. ‘Herd immunity’ was rarely mentioned and was regarded as a by-product rather than a goal of the Swedish strategy.

But what did all this mean on the ground? The advice provided by both the Swedish Acupuncture Association (Svenska Akupunkturförbundet) and the Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) was fairly basic, ie for the sick, vulnerable and elderly to stay at home and anyone with a respiratory infection should not come for treatment. There were no guidelines on how to treat patients when social distancing was not possible, other than being extra vigilant about hygiene.

I realised that I would have to decide for myself whether or not to continue practising. I decided that I would remain open for patients who felt they needed treatment. As it turned out, my regular – mainly elderly – patients dutifully cancelled their appointments one by one, because the government’s advice for the over 70s had been to selfisolate. Then for the next three months I had no patients at all, not even a single enquiry.

As there had been no official blanket lockdown, the government did not offer any one-off cash handouts. Some measures were introduced – such as a salary compensation scheme for furloughed employees and easier access to loans plus delayed tax and VAT payments for larger companies – but this was not much help to me as a sole trader. Fortunately, I have another income stream from translation and editing work so that kept me afloat during this lean period.

Patients returned in the summer and business finally started to pick up again in the early autumn. However, a recent increase in the number of cases has resulted in more local restrictions, including not mixing with other households. There are still no clear guidelines on how to practise and the wearing of face masks is not officially recommended outside hospitals.

I’ve decided that I will continue to offer treatments until I’m officially told to stop practising.

Health is wealth

Yvette Masure

Overseas Member: Portugal ‘Find the opportunity in adversity’ – so said Lao Tsu. During this year’s intermittent Covid-19 lockdowns, some by necessity have stayed isolated, or indeed, some have chosen to do so. I am one of those. Located in southern Portugal, as we have not had such lengthy lockdowns, I have had that choice more than most in the UK and Europe. I have chosen to embrace this opportunity.

One patient said to me, when I did not embrace her as she left and on saying goodbye, ‘Yvette, are you scared?’ I did not feel the fear, to say yes. I found myself saying, ‘It is wise to be cautions, and share love in our eyes and hearts, for now.’ But on reconsidering later, I thought yes, I am scared.

Being one of the five emotions, I believe that fear has its place, in a balanced measure and along with the other four. I will also say I think stress is more of a killer than Covid-19.

It’s winter and kidney qi time in the water element – fears can grow. We could rebalance this with the fire element, and heart qi and the emotions of joy, and gratitude for life and living and the abundance we do have, rather than the losses we may fear. But how?

Personally, I find I have used the time this lockdown has given me to develop my self-healing techniques and therapies – so practising more of what I preach in my clinics: qigong, mindfulness meditation, calligraphy, various art forms, and healthy eating coupled with exercise, thoughtful reading… then even laughter therapy when things got tough with travel restrictions and family separation. And dancing to my favourite music, I found long lost nostalgic time-lapsed musical memories extremely invigorating and uplifting.

All these aspects of our shared lives that we usually take for granted can still be extremely satisfying, even alone. We can be alone but not lonely. Even meditation is a fullness, not a lonely empty act – it’s all about our perspective on things. There are good and bad days – as night and day, yin and yang. It’s a natural cycle that keeps changing, if we allow ourselves to just be present and flow with it. The changes naturally come, in the flow.

So something I had found elusive most of my working life was given to me – time. And like many, I have found it is priceless. And yes, we do now pay the financial price. However, for some 25 years of practice my motto and logo has always been ‘health is wealth’, and this pandemic has proved my point.

Life is a river, and Daoism a way of life and living. Not a religion or even a philosophy. Wisdom is born through reflecting on the natural order of things, and nature’s way. To be aware or ultimately in tune with that, we do need to slow down and find the space within time. In ourselves. That’s what I found anyway, when I had time to find some space.

As Lao Tsu commented, ‘When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be’. These reflective times allow us to see the difference between knowledge and wisdom, to develop that which needs to grow.

As for my patients and clients, I was able t o continue with my fertility patients, under the protective triage cover and BAcC safety guidelines (thank you again, BAcC). But treatment of facial revitalisation (FRA) clients had to stop, unfortunately. Unfortunate because people come for acupuncture, even FRA, for many reasons, often not for the ones they think. And they can benefit wholeheartedly. I find that even FRA can be all embracing, with both body and facial points. And it brings a larger diversity of clients, allowing for preventive treatment rather than the ‘last hope’ scenario we are often challenged with.

Of course, we cannot do anything without mentioning love, heartfelt from our second brain, and the joy of new life. The children, in a nutshell. Let us be wise and do what enables them to live well, as we already have.

That long pause

Bridget Hunter

Overseas Member: New Zealand In March, the lockdown in New Zealand came hard and fast. We had very little time to prepare as we went from level 2, briefly into level 3 for something like 48 hours, and then slam – level 4 complete lockdown took our breath away. The silence was incredible. A part of me felt very relieved to have this massive, compulsory pause for what was initially planned to be four weeks.

The weekend before I had been celebrating my daughter’s third birthday and we spent time with friends at the WOMAD festival. A blue-skied, warm, late summer weekend full of world music, dance, food and freedom. There were tiny changes in the air, like encouraging hand washing and not attending if feeling unwell. But we felt a million miles from what was about to happen.

When I left my clinic on the Tuesday afternoon, I was intending to be back the following morning. That all changed overnight and by Thursday we were completely shut down nationwide. It happened so fast, that the nation seemed to go into collective shock. We had no time to prepare and make sure friends and family were ready for such a situation

As the news sunk in, I spent a lot of time on the telephone and writing messages to those patients that would be feeling anxious or vulnerable. I had many women about to go into labour, disabled patients that come weekly to stay pain free and independent, and elderly who had no family in their bubble.

Over the next few weeks, there was a fair amount of debate over what might be deemed ‘essential services’, and ‘telehealth’ became a much used word in conversation. I work with a group of osteopaths, physiotherapists, massage therapists and Pilates instructors. We started having Zoom meetings. It was interesting to compare notes on how the different regulation boards, the Ministry of Health and ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) were taking action (or inaction) over the care of patients.

Our lockdown was extended from four to six weeks at level 4, then a further two weeks at level 3. We were not able to open until level 2. By then, we were very keen to get back to the clinic. It felt unusual going back with all the changes to practice in place. I recall feeling it was a little like the twilight zone. Patients were sent screening forms, followed by a telephone call to confirm they were well. They were asked to remain outside in their cars until just moments before their appointment. We had 15 minutes between all patients so that rooms could be cleaned. Contactless payment was encouraged. We no longer had complimentary water and fruit in reception. And the magazines were also removed. We all had fabric and disposable masks on hand, but only used them if our patients asked us to, or we felt they might be vulnerable. I have not worn a mask yet.

About four weeks after returning to work, we moved to level 1 and have remained there ever since. Only the Auckland region moved back to level 3, briefly and just for long enough to perhaps encourage the nation to take things seriously.

Initially we had been worried about whether patients would still come for less essential treatments, but that did not last long. I was soon booked out several weeks in advance with a waiting list. It seemed that more people than ever wanted to address all kinds of health concerns, and also just to take care of themselves and their families. That long pause gave us all the space to still our minds and think about what – and who – was really important to us.

Today, several months down the track, the lockdown does seem quite some time ago. New Zealand is Covid-free and we are all hoping it remains so. I am grateful for the way our prime minister has handled the situation. Our tiny nation cannot afford to go through lockdown again. Many businesses have closed. We miss tourism, and hospitality has been hit very hard. The true impact is yet to be felt as we continue to rebuild and adapt to the situation at large.