Alternative Health Fair today
How can chiropractic help my headache? Can acupuncture help improve my stamina? How can massage help reduce stress?
Practitioners of these various alternative health disciplines will present their specialties today (Wednesday) at the Alternative Health Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Demonstrations and vendor displays will occupy the third floor ballroom of Smith Memorial Center. The fair is a cooperative project of the Portland State Student Health Service and Counseling and Psychological Services.
This is the second alternative health fair to be scheduled at PSU. The first occurred in 1999. Like the first, this is presented in response to student interest in alternative health specialties which are not directly offered by the health service or CAPS.
The demonstration programs will begin at 11 a.m. with a 15-minute presentation by Posture Power Chiropractic and close with a half hour by Common Ground Chiropractic starting at 1:30 p.m. There will be prize drawings every 15 minutes.The alternative fair is returning due to continued expressed interest of students in these remedies, said Ellen Lee, health service nurse.
“Portland State has a wide variety of students coming from many different cultural backgrounds,” Lee said. However, she said, “Just because the fair presents these specialties doesn’t mean we recommend all of them. The goal is to share information by bringing to the campus other types of health care.”
Since there may have been some misunderstandings about recommendations after the 1999 fair, the university has issued a disclaimer which states that the presence of a vendor does not imply endorsement, guarantee or recommendation of any particular alternate health care method.
“We are impressed with the overall interest in these alternatives,” Lee said. “We’re trying to meet the needs of the students by letting them know what’s out there in the community.”
Karin Waller, CAPS outreach assistant, said, “The demonstrations will mostly be practitioners demonstrating or explaining their tools of trade. For instance, the chiropractor may have a skeleton up there and show how proper spinal alignment can assist the body’s overall functioning. The Yoga Union will do a yoga demonstration and the Healing Through Dance club will do a dance demo.
The goal, she said is “stuff that will help people understand what they are all about.”
The demonstrations, which run 15 or 30 minutes, cover chiropractic, hypnosis, yoga, massage, Oriental medicine, healing through dance and reiki. Twenty-three vendors will present additional specialties, among them naturopathic medicine, affinity counseling, Thai massage, nutrition and supplements, biofeedback and psychotherapy, physical therapy, spiritual bodywork, infant care, women’s health, aromatherapy, organic produce, feng shui, mind-body medicine and midwife birthing.
Actually, Lee said, students do have access to some of these alternatives through their PSU health insurance policy. The insurance will pay specified amounts if a student consults a licensed chiropractor, for example. This also applies to other personal primary care providers not on the staff at the Student Health Service. The health service has an insurance booklet which can refer students to an insurance information telephone number.
Schedule:
11 a.m. – Posture Power Chiropractic
11:15 – Portland Hypnosis Center
11:30 – Yoga Union – Bikram yoga
12 noon – Thai massage
12:30 p.m. – Western States Chiropractic College
12:45 – Oregon College of Oriental Medicine
1 – Healing through dance
1:15 – Reiki and energy work
1:30 – Common Ground Chiropractic
