Health

14 HEALTH • Fall 2016 W hen Kathy Tamilio-Awed was 15 years old, her mother was diagnosed with mul- tiple sclerosis, an illness that left her in a lot of pain. She was prescribed vicodin and percocet to help with the discomfort, but that led to a crippling pill addiction and a whole host of new health problems. As she watched her mother suffer, Tamilio-Awed started to consider that there might be differ- ent, more effective ways to treat her pain. With MCPHS purchase, acupuncture moves towards medical mainstream \\ By Laura Finaldi ACUPUNCTURE ARRIVES Emily Konstan is the owner of Down to Earth Acupuncture in Worcester, and a graduate of the New England School of Acupuncture. The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences bought the acupuncture school and opened it in downtown Worcester this fall. "Seeing that as a young person really bothered me," Tamilio-Awed said. "I thought, 'there's got to be a better way to help people who are sick than to just give them pills.'" Originally set on attending medical school, she changed course after a friend introduced her to acu- puncture. She ditched her MCAT test date for orien- tation at the New England School of Acupuncture and today, 27 years after graduation, operates her own practice, Acupuncture Associates of Worcester. While acupuncture still hasn't totally assimilated into the medical mainstream, practitioners said, it is increasingly becoming recognized by insurers, doc- tors, dentists and health care systems as a useful way to treat pain and many other ailments. New school Some insurers, including MassHealth, have added acupuncture to their list of covered proce- dures. Hospitals are increasingly adding acupunc- ture and other complementary medical services in-house for their patients. And last year, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences announced it purchased the New England School of Acupuncture and planned to move the school to downtown Worcester. With its move downtown, MCPHS will bring 120 jobs and 200 students to downtown Worcester, the school said earlier this year. At the time, the school was scheduled to complete renovations at 19 Norwich St. in downtown Worcester by July and be up and running come September, according to an announcement from the school. Michael Ratty, a spokesman for the school, confirmed everything is on schedule. Further details were not available, as MCPHS declined to be interviewed for this story. Emily Konstan, the owner of Down to Earth Acupuncture in Worcester, is a graduate of the school now owned by MCPHS. The purchase of the school is a signal that acupuncture may be inching a bit closer towards the mainstream, Konstan said. "Clearly they are accepting it as a legitimate form of medicine if they're willing to include it in their program," Konstan said. Interest grows The most recent data from the National Health "If a mainstream school is taking a chance on an acupuncture program, they must see some potential." P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y

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