The New Urban Acupuncture Project: A look at the new urban canopy project
By Mike Phelan | ESPN.com Staff | December 3, 2017 12:50pm PST The first urban acupuncture project to open in the U.S. began in Los Angeles on Tuesday and will run until Dec. 10, according to the Los Angeles City Council’s planning commission.
The new urban acupuncture is an attempt to make acupuncture accessible to people who have physical disabilities and people with mental health problems.
The new urban Acupuncture will be funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, which will cover all of the costs of the project, including training for practitioners, an array of equipment and materials, and a site.
The acupuncture center is a pilot program run by Los Angeles-based Acupuncture Medical Center, which is in its second year of operations.
The Acupuncture Center also is affiliated with the California Health and Human Services Department.
The Acupuncture Department has a goal of offering acupuncture to 50,000 people with disabilities, which it expects will increase to 150,000 by 2020.
The project will also serve as a catalyst for people with physical disabilities to seek out and use acupuncture in the community, said Sarah Cogswell, chief executive officer of AcupunctureMedical Center.
The city is in the midst of a $4.5 billion plan to improve public health and reduce the nation’s obesity rates, according a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released earlier this month.
The report said the city’s plan would reduce obesity by 8.9 percent in 2020 and 8.6 percent by 2030.
The $4 billion is part of a federal initiative called the Healthy People 2020 plan, which includes funding for the city to set up community-based acupuncture programs, the study said.
The plan also is aimed at helping reduce the cost of acupuncture, which was estimated to cost the city $13.6 million in 2015.
The City Council will vote on the Acupuncture City Plan on Tuesday, Dec. 7.