Charlotte Maxwell Complimentary Clinic

Charlotte Maxwell Complimentary Clinic

5349 College Avenue
Oakland, California 94618

(510) 601-7660
e-mail: shoshie@ccnet.com

We are a group of health care practitioners and friends of women with cancer who have joined together to make complementary fonns of care available to women who ordinarily couldn't afford to pay for them and might not know about them. Complementary therapies such as acupuncture, herbs, homeopathy, visualization, hypnotherapy, massage and others MAY help:

We treat people not diseases

The Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic (CMCC) is named in memory of Charlotte Maxwell who died of ovarian cancer in 1988. Charlotte was committed to the idea of making complementary medicine available to people who would not normally have access to it. In the Bay Area alone there are over 40,000 women living with cancer. Cancer can be emotionally, physically, and financially devastating. Even if someone has health insurance, often it does not cover alternative care. We are a group of women volunteers who have diverse skills and experiences. We are community organizers; we are health care workers and health care advocates; we are lesbians and straight women. We are unified in our goal of offering complementary health care to women with cancer who are underserved.

We do not believe women cause their own cancer.

We do not know the cause of cancer but believe there are many factors involved, such as poverty, racism, and environmental poisons.

We will do everything we can to prevent a woman from blaming herself for her cancer.

We believe our function is to support women in their own treatment choices.

We are committed to being open, non-judgmental and caring.

We are respectful of differences, especially in regard to class, race, culture, body size, sexual preference and spiritual beliefs.

We provide services for low income and poor women. Our services are designed to work along side those of a primary care physician.

Overview of Services

ACUPUNCTURE is the insertion of very fine sterile needles at specific points of the body; we will be using disposable, pre-sterilized, stainless steel needles. Acupuncture should be fairly'P painless; most people relax or fall asleep during treatments. Acupuncture work: by balancing the body's own energy. If there are blockages in the body's flow of energy, this can cause pain.

Acupuncture can help the energy more smoothly and therefore help relieve pain. If there is notenough energy somewhere, acupuncture can help increase the flow of energy to that area which helps the organ system work better. Often people using acupuncture will also take Chinese herbs, although both acupuncture and herbs may be used separately.

HOMEOPATHY has been used since the 1800's. Homeopathic medicine stimulates a person's own healing processes. we take a detailed history looking for symptoms that are specific to you - Physical, emotional and mental. We will then give you a homeopathic remedy that helps your body eliminate these symptoms and be stronger.

The MASSAGE we offer is light touch massage, acupressure and reflexology. All are done very lightly and gently. Massage can help you relax and improve your energy level. By increasing blood circulation, massage enables the body to receive more nourishment and improve its functioning.

VISUALIZATION is another powerful healing tool. A person has incredible abilities to help heal themselves. We will lead you through a total body relaxation and help you picture your immune system improving so that you can more effectively fight cancer.

Studies have shown that one of the things visualization can do is increase a person's white blood cell count, which helps your body fight diseases.

HYPNOTHERAPY uses deep relaxation techniques. The process is client controlled, non-threatening and assists one to be able to release stress and emotional trauma, control pain, change attitudes, reprogram old patterns and experience behavior change. If you are coming for acupuncture, you will have a 1 hour appointment weekly.

After every 12 week course of treatment, we will reevaluate whether to continue treatments. If you can't come you need to let us know in advance. If you miss 2 appointments we may stop treating you unless the appointments were missed because you were too sick to come. You will work with a team of 4 acupuncturists. Some may prescribe herbs which we will provide at low or no cost. Massage will be offered weekly and Pisualiration and hypnotherapy will be offered twice a month. If you are doing homeopathy you need only come monthly.

Can I bring other people with me? Yes.
There is often so much information that it is hard to remember everything. Some people like to bring a friend to take notes or to remember to ask questions. If you are getting a massage or acupuncture you'll want quiet to relax into the treatment. Our goal is to teach you techniques that you can use at home to help you feel better and help ease the stress of having cancer. We will try to always provide childcare. Please let us know in advance if you will need it.

We are open to your comments, your praise and your criticism. We hope this will be a healing space for all of us. We have a part-time paid coordinator. The rest of us are volunteers. Please come use our services and feel free to call. If you call during clinic time on Saturdays from 10am to 2 pm, someone can talk with you directly.


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