Healthspan Blog

Often as you get older or due to medical conditions, it can become harder to navigate staircases. This can greatly hinder your ability to fully enjoy and utilize your home. When it has become impossible or just unsafe to travel up and down the stairs it is no longer necessary to think about buying a new home or just not using part of your home.  Stair lifts can help you to regain your freedom and independence.

There are many different types of stairlifts. For most people the seated stair lift offers the best way to regain their freedom. A seated stair lift offers a 180 degree swivel seat with liftable armrests that allow the user to easily enter and exit the stair lift. A quality stair lift will also have a seat belt for added safety.

The installation of these products is generally simple and can be done in a few hours with common household tools. However, in instances where your staircase is unusually narrow or if you have a spiral staircase you should consider having the stair lift professionally installed. For heavy duty stairlifts intended for commercial use some states, like WA and CT, now have local code requirements when installing these devices.

A few weeks ago we talked about how to increase professional referrals to your practice. Developing this referral source is essentially a networking exercise, but the point of the post was to provide a framework in which to do it without feeling weird, creepy, or uncomfortable.

I know there are a lot of alternative and complementary practitioners who are involved with networking groups like BNI. While I don’t generally promote those groups a great deal, I read a fantastic tidbit from Ivan Misener, the founder and CEO of BNI, in a piece on Entrepreneur.com:

3. Word-of-mouth is more about farming than it is about hunting.

Building your business through word-of-mouth is about cultivating relationships with people who get to know you and trust you. People do business with people they have confidence in. One of the most important things I’ve learned in the past two decades is this: It’s not what you know, or who you know, it’s how well you know them that counts. [emphasis mine]

It’s a great metaphor for the development of your professional referral base. The approach we recommend - of slowly gathering background and connections before you approach someone - is aboutchoosing to farm relationships. Nurture them gradually in the form of inquiry, research and contemplation. Plant them, water them, and watch them grow, but don’t harvest them until they’re ready.

And whatever you do, don’t hunt them. That’s what everyone else is doing because they haven’t yet realized that you can only eat prey once, but you can harvest a garden forever.

Related posts:

1. New Patient Referrals: The 5 P’s

Nowadays our life is getting more and more tense. People live under constant stress of various problems, such as social, ecological, economic and etc. We constantly suffer from noise and dust in big cities, diseases and instability. To overcome all difficulties we should take care of our physical and mental health.To achieve this aim it’s better to keep to a balanced diet and take prescribed supplements from a vitamin store. To my mind there is no ideal diet for all people in general because our food needs differ according to age, sex and occupation. For instance, Women’s Health Magazine claims that the ideal diet contains different types of foods in such quantities and proportions that the need for calories, minerals, vitamins and other nutrients is adequately met in our bodies and provides them with energy for all life processes and for the growth, repair and maintenance of cells and tissues.

Fluid intake in the form of water based drinks is also essential for good health. Water is essential for the correct functioning of kidneys and bowels. The famous medical specialist Jacob Bogatin thinks that at least 6-8 glasses of plain water should be drunk each day, more in hot weather.

According to Women’s Diagnostic Center in Philadelphia: there are also various factors that need to be kept in mind while you are working out the ideal diet for yourself. They are: natural qualities of each food, places and climate where the food is grown prepared and consumed. You should not forget about the presence of artificial flavors, chemicals and preservatives.

In conclusion I’d like to say that following a well-balanced diet regularly and staying at your ideal weight are crucial factors in maintaining your emotional and physical well-being.

Unless you have been living under a rock you have probably heard of the newest and loudest calls for more action against steriod abuse. Roger Clemens and a host of others have went before a Senate committee and it seems there are quite a few sparkling lies flying around. Anabolic steroids have many legititmate medical uses and you can indeed buy steriods everywhere but they have been plastered everywhere because of it’s abuse by proffesional athelets.

It is interesting to note that a couple of years ago when Governor, movie star former professional bodybuilder and all-around celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger admited to using steroids and said he has no regrets. “I have no regrets about it,” said Schwarzenegger, “because at that time, it was something new that came on the market, and we went to the doctor and did it under doctors’ supervision.” The bottom line is do your research and don’t abuse them.

Here are our favorite acupuncture-specific online resources for practice growth and management, in no particular order. Have we missed any? Let us know in the comments.

Acupuncture Business School

• Workshops, coaching, teleconferences, books, distance learning…ABS just about has it all. In the words of founder Andy Rosenfarb: “ABS is a developing resource for L.Ac.’s who want to better their situation in clinical practice. We want to provide real methods that work, rather than just a lot of fancy marketing talk. There are quite a few practitioners who are doing well and ABS was created to start to get these acupuncturists out of the woodwork and share what they are doing and what’s working for them. ” That sounds pretty darn fine to me.

Insights for Acupuncturists

• Lisa Hanfileti is a working acupuncturist who’s not only dedicated to helping other practitioners, she’s plenty nice too. Her site has a lot to offer, particularly for practitioners interested in passive income, and using the internet to market their practice. She’s also got a great list of online resources.

Community Acupuncture Network

• Community Acupuncture Network (CAN) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to make acupuncture more affordable and accessible. The members are lively and active. You might also do yourself a favor and check out founder Lisa Rohleder’s book The Remedy, and her fantastic (and free) little ebook Love Your Microbusiness.

Build Your Dream Practice

• Kevin Doherty offers coaching, and a couple of great books. The first is Build Your Dream Practice, a beautifully put together ebook on practice management, filled with some great wisdom and advice. Kevin’s latest project, allows to co-author your own customized version of How to Thrive in the Modern World: A Layperson’s Guide to Chinese Medicine, for educating your patients and prospects. You can see samples of both books on the site.

Acupuncture Clinic Marketing

• Burton Kent’s blog is relatively new, but his new book Never Market Again has got some great business advice, and is on sale until Feb 14th at 50% off.

The Acupuncture Marketing Blog

• Bonnie’s blog is a great source of insight into marketing ideas and online resources circulating through the internet. There’s well over a year’s worth of blog posts - lots to keep you busy for a while.

Acupuncture Media Works

• Acupuncture Media Works is best known for their broad range of promotional print and office materials - everything from business cards and brochures, to charts and displays. What gets them on this list, though, is the remarkable quantity of stuff available in the “Tips/Free Stuff” section - a huge array of letters, forms, info sheets and more, all free for the taking.

Acufinder

• Acufinder acupuncture referral services has a solid list of practice management articles in their Learning Center.

The Acupreneur

• Dr. Eric Schneider provides some free articles on the site, but a quick signup will also get you a free copy of the ebook 52 Integrity Based Ways to Fill Your Acupuncture Practice. The book’s nicely arranged, and there are some real gems in the 52.

Other Resources:

• The forums at gancao.net
• The forums at TCM Student
  
• The TCM Practice Survival Guide on YouTube

Any Suggestions?

I know there are lots of resources out there - if you’ve got a favorite that we’ve missed, do tell. Don’t be shy!

Related posts:

1. Acupuncture Practice Growth Resources
2. Acupuncture Marketing Blog Roundup
3. Affordable Acupuncture - Charge Less, Earn More?
4. More Acupuncture Pricing Debate
5. CAM Information Resources