i am definitely trying that potato thing.

Thanks for this front-line report. It brings back memories of my own visits to Planned Parenthood when I was in my late teens and early twenties. The women that worked there were amazing - supportive, informative, and professional. In fact, I'm heading to the Planned Parenthood website right now to make a donation.

Dang, girl. You hit it out of the park!

ABORTIONS

price tag: $5 - 10.
Paperwork: cash only
place: 4030 NE Halsey
1st Mondays from 1:30 - 5:20 am

Thank you for your work in the Portland area...I'm surprised that you seem to have such a broad grasp of the health care available here in only one month. Also, your piece on dental raises some flags. You seem to capture the true selfish individual perspective with an interesting twist. You neglect to mention the hundreds of people who had horrible dental pain and yet received free care
Nevertheless I'm sorry you didn't receive the desired care...maybe you could make it out to Westside Compassion on July 26th. We would love to see you there
---Director of Compassion Clinics in Portland

I'm certain that I've been lucky not to have needed any major surgery up to now. However, after living for nearly 10 years without proper insurance, I understand the uncertainty of daily endeavors without that kind of financial safety net. I applaud the the author for rooting around town for, what I'd consider, priceless info for many folks(especially young) in the same boat. I just finally got insurance and I may still use some of her advice.

This is an excellently written piece as well as informative !!! All good articles are supposed to be easy reading.

Excellent article. Excellent writing!

Well as someone who just got a well-paying job, I can tell you it's not impossible. But mentioning your "five years of barista experience" is truly laughable. Did you think you were coming to Portland with some unique skill that would instantly elevate you above the masses of people from all over the country who also come here for pretty people on bicycles and expect to find great-paying jobs with no practical experience??

Wallace Medical Concern 503-489-1760 treats the uninsured at no cost. You must make an appointment. They provide basic medical care excluding reproductuve health, mental health, and ongoing issues like diabetes or asthma. They are staffed by local volunteer providers (an LPN I saw mentioned volunteering.) If you have insurance please consider donating a few bucks, and if you are a health care provider, please consider volunteering.

Thanks, Sarah, for spreading the word about the community acupuncture revolution! Portland's other "communist acupuncture" clinics are listed here:
http://www.communityacupuncturenetwork.org/clinics#OR

cheap eye glasses can be found at this website:
http://www.zennioptical.com
all you have to have is your perscription then you can get glasses for like $8, seriously its amazing

Are you kidding me? You wasted the clinic's time and resources because you let you skinned knee get infected? Are all you college educated, midwestern transplants lacking in common sense? Ever heard of hydrogen peroxide? I don't have health insurance so I do what I can to prevent trips to the doctor. I only utilize the clinic when I am really, truly ill or injured.

Sarah, I'm sorry to hear about your bruise at Working Class Acupuncture.

I had a different experience with low-cost (or no cost) acupuncture in this town.

Two summers ago, I got nerve damage to the point of significant loss of circulation, muscle tone, and function in my right (dominant) hand. Nothing helped. Nerves take a LONG time to heal, and I did not have the money to pursue many medical options, since (oh yeah) I couldn't use my hand, so I couldn't work at 90% of the jobs out there, and 100% of the jobs I had experience in.

I went to the student acupuncture clinic at Outside In, and while it was occasionally true that I had to assert myself to get the kind of care I needed (everyone wanted to try their own herbal mixtures on me) my care was always overseen by VERY experienced certified acupuncturists (a master's degree), and 95% of my experiences were....wonderful.

I would go in with my hand numb, cold, and tingling, and leave with it feeling a lot more like a hand. Little by little, I regained function, feeling, and strength. I also got a stream of acupuncture providers who not only took good care of me but truly seemed to care about me....as well as about any of the other clients who came in, no matter who they were and what was wrong with them. Coming to Outside In for my twice a week appointments was the highlight of my week.

Fortunately, my hand was well on its way to healing by the time (unfortunately) Outside In's funding got cut, so they had to begin charging $25 minimum per session, which priced me out. They HATED asking for that amount of money, too - the cashier apologized about five times for the price increase. I think they got some funding back, but if I have anything to say about it, I'd like to shout it from the rooftops that students can give AMAZING acupuncture, and that every day many of them quietly release people from pain or, in my case, help them regain the use of their bodies and their ability to keep a roof over their heads. There are no short-term disability benefits available to most of us, so many are vulnerable to anything that yanks the ability to earn just one or two paychecks away.

THANK YOU OUTSIDE IN!!!!!!!!

Sarah, I'm sorry to hear about your bruise at Working Class Acupuncture.

I had a different experience with low-cost (or no cost) acupuncture in this town.

Two summers ago, I got nerve damage to the point of significant loss of circulation, muscle tone, and function in my right (dominant) hand. Nothing helped. Nerves take a LONG time to heal, and I did not have the money to pursue many medical options, since (oh yeah) I couldn't use my hand, so I couldn't work at 90% of the jobs out there, and 100% of the jobs I had experience in.

I went to the student acupuncture clinic at Outside In, and while it was occasionally true that I had to assert myself to get the kind of care I needed (everyone wanted to try their own herbal mixtures on me) my care was always overseen by VERY experienced certified acupuncturists (a master's degree), and 95% of my experiences were....wonderful.

I would go in with my hand numb, cold, and tingling, and leave with it feeling a lot more like a hand. Little by little, I regained function, feeling, and strength. I also got a stream of acupuncture providers who not only took good care of me but truly seemed to care about me....as well as about any of the other clients who came in, no matter who they were and what was wrong with them. Coming to Outside In for my twice a week appointments was the highlight of my week.

Fortunately, my hand was well on its way to healing by the time (unfortunately) Outside In's funding got cut, so they had to begin charging $25 minimum per session, which priced me out. They HATED asking for that amount of money, too - the cashier apologized about five times for the price increase. I think they got some funding back, but if I have anything to say about it, I'd like to shout it from the rooftops that students can give AMAZING acupuncture, and that every day many of them quietly release people from pain or, in my case, help them regain the use of their bodies and their ability to keep a roof over their heads. There are no short-term disability benefits available to most of us, so many are vulnerable to anything that yanks the ability to earn just one or two paychecks away.

THANK YOU OUTSIDE IN!!!!!!!!

It should be noted that the "potato thing" was recommended by OI's naturopathic staff and students from the National College of Natural Medicine, who also run a variety of other low-cost community clinics around town. They can be found at www.ncnm.edu or www.coalitionclinics.org/ncnm.html.

Wow! I love that you embarked on this mission to hunt down all of these things! And I secretly wish I had a scraped knee so I could try the potato thing........ I'd say thank goodness England has free health care, but I don't qualify for it on my work visa... so............. ~amy

Wow! I love that you embarked on this mission to hunt down all of these things! And I secretly wish I had a scraped knee so I could try the potato thing........ I'd say thank goodness England has free health care, but I don't qualify for it on my work visa... so............. ~amy

Kudos to the unpaid intern!
I have to agree, in my many years w/ my own spotty health insurance, the one thing that is the hardest to get on the cheap is dental, and that makes me sad. Probably because when I was under my parents insurance umbrella, I had a lot of wonderful things done (braces, porcelain cap, whitening, surgery -- I had some problems!), I'd like to continue to take care of that investment. With my recently acquired (and short-lived) dental insurance, I got the first cleaning I'd had in over three years and some fillings just a few months ago. Now, in going to grad school, while I'm required to purchase student health care if I can't provide my own, dental services will have to take a backseat again. Bah!

And for the commenter who said it is written at a six grade reading level: ever notice about 80 - 90 % of your paper (and most across the country) is written at that level? It's pretty much how you write a newspaper article, because literacy is another part of our country that isn't really provided to everyone. So instead of making newspapers only available to the elite and literate, they write simply and concisely so the info is disseminated as it should be.

There are actually several low cost, community-style acupuncture clinics in Portland. Working Class Acupuncture was the first, but now there are several around town. This article, http://www.livepdx.com/Articles/Portland-Health-Beauty/?launch_pg=AritclePage&launch_sel=1010996&title=Pinpoint+Healing%3A+Community+Acupuncture+in+Portland
has all the info.