NASH MEMBER UPDATE - September 2006

The North American Society of Homeopaths is dedicated to promote, represent and serve as the voice of all professional homeopaths in North America. NASH aims to develop and uphold the highest level of excellence in homeopathic practice while enhancing the role of the homeopathic profession as an integral part of health care delivery.

Board of Directors

President: Manfred Mueller, CA,
Email: homeopathicassociates@earthlink.net

Vice president: Kate Birch, MN,
Email:  Katebhom@yahoo.com

Treasurer: Julie Mann, CA,
Email:  ma13nn@aol.com

Registrar: Laura Sholtz, ME,
Email:  laurasremedies@hotmail.com

Secretary: Carleen Johnson, ME,
Email:  cjohnson@uninets.net

Canadian Representative: Basil Ziv, Ont.,
Email:  basilziv@rogers.com

Administrator: Liz Bonfig, FL,
Email:  nashinfo@aol.com

This has been a busy year for us. At the beginning of the year we set upon a list of goals, to date we have embarked on the following projects:

• Review the By-Laws and rewrite sections to make them more succinct and applicable to the work we are doing; more work is needed before completion
• Added a new level of membership for schools and associations (more details below)
• Growth of the membership's registered membership has increased 10%
• Volume 12 of The American Homeopath is set for publication in November
• The 2006 Joint Conference with NCH, AIH, HANP, et al was a success and we are planning for 2007 in Denver
• Assemble student liaisons from schools across the continent to participate in an annual teleconference for the continued growth of homeopathy
• Participate further with health freedom and legislative activity
• Research and establish group liability insurance

We will continue to update you with more information as the work that is underway comes to fruition. We are always in need of volunteers. Please consider sharing a few hours of your time for a good cause!

Thank you for voting on this and for all of your comments. We hope to answer many of your questions. We developed this level of membership with the express interests in reaching the student population and bringing them into the homeopathic community, with the hopes of helping these students through their certification process and eventually reaching RSHom (NA) status. We are targeting schools that teach a core program aimed at classical homeopathic approaches.

Membership of a school with NASH will provide them with these benefits:

• Inclusion of the school in the NASH referral list for homeopathic schools to be listed on our website
• Resource to highly qualified teachers through our website listings for guest speakers, curriculum augmentation and mentorship of students
• Student representative position to NASH at semiannual phone meetings
• Annual Journal The American Homeopath, for their library
• 50% off back issues of the American Homeopath for their library
• 10% discount on advertising rates for their school in The American Homeopath
• Student access to NASH student rep position
• Student access to mentorship for clinical supervision through our registry

Dues for the school membership are $150, and the term of membership is based on the semester year. Rights at this level of membership do not include the ability to vote. Once a school is a member of NASH a student rep can be selected. Student reps will represent NASH to the student body of their school, will be able to dialog with the NASH board concerns and needs of their school population, can post local happenings in our update, and will have the opportunity to dialog with student reps from other schools via semi-annual NASH sponsored teleconferences. We leave the process of selecting the student rep to the school. Their term will be based on the school's renewal term with NASH. Student reps will serve as a vehicle between upcoming populations of graduates and NASH -- the professional body that will best serve them in their professional career. This includes the development of grassroots movements toward freedom to practice homeopathy, outreach into the community and more. Having a student rep from the school to NASH will actually help raise student membership levels and increase our revenue.

The program provides promotion for the schools involved through our NASH website, creates an avenue to access our registered members who teach and overall offers expanded networking possibilities. This project will provide a vehicle for NASH to reach the student population of homeopaths early in their career. It will also provide an avenue for students to become informed in the larger homeopathic community and with other students across the continent.

NASH thanks members Rhonda Majalca and Nish Patel who have volunteered to spearhead the project. If you would like to participate, please contact board member Kate Birch @ Katebhom@yahoo.com.

• If you are a student at a particular school and are interested in becoming a NASH rep to your school please contact us.
• If you are on the faculty of a school and are interested in having your school become a member of NASH, give us the contact information of your administrator.
• If you are a teacher and you have not listed your bio on our website, please contact Liz in the main office.

The NASH board is dedicated to revitalize NASH's presence in Canada and to help develop ways, in cooperation with our Canadian members, to promote the practice and professionalism of homeopathy in Canada and to develop a unified body of practitioners with a strong presence in the face of governmental regulation.

Recent independent studies of regulatory structures for CAM modalties are in harmony with what the original founders of NASH have found: the key to the protection of the profession and the provision of safe practices is voluntary self-regulation. This system assures both self-determination and consumer protection, However, this system depends on a stronger role of professional societies working with governments. We recommend you read the two reports by the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health and the House of Lords Report for more details information in this regard.

http://www.fih.org.uk/

http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/Pressreleases/houseoflordscam.htm

The most significant step for homeopaths to exercise control over their profession is for practitioners to join an established professional organization like NASH that has a system of voluntary self-regulation in place including:

educational and supervised clinical training requirements

certification process

standards and scope of practice

code of ethics

grievance procedures

accountable electoral and fiscal structure

We invite all Canadian homeopaths to participate in shaping the homeopathic profession and to join NASH.

The first part of the NASH plan is creating an opportunity for all Canadian homeopaths to fast-track into the "registered homeopath" level of membership via an incentive program to become first an associate member and then benefit from a first-class prep-program to help pass the CHC exam. We will be working with the CHC to facilitate the process of certification and to improve access for Canadian applicants to exam facilities. We also encourage Canadian professional associations and educational institutions to work with us, the CHC and the CHE to create unified educational standards in Canada. NASH will be contacting directly as many Canadian homeopaths as possible to encourage them to join.

The second part of our plan is to negotiate on behalf of the Canadian homeopathic profession and to work proactively with the provincial governments in setting up a two-tiered system: recognition of self-regulation based on NASH, the Prince of Wales Foundation's Report, etc., and a regulatory structure for statutory regulation of primary care homeopaths.

Correction to July Update Regarding the Canadian Situation:

Just a clarification of terms - The regulation of homeopathy reported on in the July update is the Ontario PROVINCIAL legislation. It is not Canadian federal legislation. Health is a provincial matter in Canada. "Health Canada" is a FEDERAL body that is concerned specifically with the medication side. So, access to homeopathic medicines is a federal, not a provincial concern. If this legislation is passed, it only will apply to practitioners in the province of Ontario and it only directly affects them. Of course, it may become a future model for other provinces, hence the interest outside of Ontario. Also, we had reported that it was a five-year project when in fact it was only a one-year project. Thank you Pat Deacon of the British Columbia Society of Homeopaths for this clarification and Karen Werhstein of the Canadian Society of Homeopaths

The American Homeopath Journal

We plan to publish a list of all current members in the 2006 journal. If for any reason you would NOT like your name published in the journal, please contact the membership office immediately to have your name removed from the list. Email Liz at nashinfo@aol.com. or call her in Florida at 954-749-9943.

Insurance

We have been working with an insurance company to get a group liability package. We will be meeting with the underwriters to establish a policy that will coincide with member renewals. We will need at least 80% of the membership to participate in this program. This policy will be available for registered members and associate members. The fees will be due Jan 31 along with the renewal fees then NASH would pay the insurance company directly. 2007 renewal forms will include a line for the insurance option. We do not have their exact figure for the policies but estimate the fees to be between $250-400 per year. This policy will be a liability, trip and fall policy only and will not be malpractice insurance. There may be some product liability included. We will inform you of all the possibilities in our next update in November so that you can budget for this.

NASH Website

Please go to our website at http://homeopathy.org and check out all of the developments. Recent enhancements include:

• Mission of NASH and goals
• Board member profiles
• Posting of current and prior NASH updates
• Bios for our Registered members*
• Teacher listing for our teacher members*
• Events calendar
• NASH Library

*If you have not already sent in you information, please do so. If you need to update or change anything, let us know. NASH thanks volunteer Ruth Pearson Smith for the changes.

FYI on Teacher Listings and Bios

The bio and teacher listings are directed at different markets. The Bio page would be what one would want to represent to the public, credentials and practice information for a person that may want to come and see you as a client. They may not be interested in the teacher aspect of your bio or would not have the need to know about that if they are a consumer of homeopathy. This page would include areas of practice, other modalities, years in practice, populations and/or conditions you treat, etc.

The teacher listing however is a different category. Here you can specifically describe your attributes as a teacher and the subject areas that you specialize in. Here you are marketing homeopathic schools, study groups, universities looking for guest speakers, students looking to be supervised, etc. The information you present here would reflect this. Here NASH is fulfilling its purpose in promoting our members. This project is developing and is an offering to our members to help them promote all aspects of their ability in homeopathy.

If we are in the need of a mass education program on how to give Influenzinum in the case of the bird flu, we would know who to call upon and so would anyone else who would be looking at our site. The potential for this page is yet untapped, but if more hospitals introduce first aid or if universities are thinking of expanding their health and wellness curriculums, they would know where to find the right people for the venue they are planning.

The teacher section of our website is also in conjunction with our school and student liaison project which we have just initiated. It is a grassroots effort making us a stronger profession and building the strength of NASH. As we initiate more dialog between students, schools, NASH and the homeopathic community at large, we will gain momentum enabling homeopathy to become an integral part of health care delivery.

Registered Membership Benefit

We are delighted to let you know that our friends at Washington Homeopathic Products have extended to our RSHom (NA) members a 20% discount in recognition of your commitment to the homeopathic profession.

Associate Membership

Our most recent work has been to develop more incentive for uncertified homeopaths to join NASH at the associate membership level, then to develop incentives to expedite the certification process so that associate members become Registered members. Benefits and reasons to join at the associate level include:

• More members belonging to a professional association brings strength in the community and the profession
• Access to conference information
• The American Homeopath Journal
• Access to our registered members for supervision and mentoring
• Access to information, guidance and support for legislative activity protecting the right to practice

Development of Funding

Currently there is $22,500 in our legal defense fund available to our registered membership on a case by case basis for legal defense in case of prosecution of practicing medicine without a license. By the end of the year we will pay an additional $5,000 toward the outstanding balance of the loan. In two years we project to have $50,000 in the fund. We will be developing procedures and policies regarding the disbursement of this money should the need arise.

NASH is discussing creating a Legislative Activity Fund separate from the Legal Defense Fund. Funds in this account may be applied to legislative activity that would make it legal for homeopathic practitioners to practice. This new level of funding would be applied to those state organizations that require legal consult for the development of legislation providing an avenue for the legal practice of homeopathy. More discussion on this is necessary to flush out the details. Your comments are welcome and encouraged.

Health Freedom Activity in Connecticut

There is a small group of homeopaths seeking to organize a political action group to mobilize a health freedom movement in Connecticut. Please contact Craig Repasz at crepasz@hotmail.com if you are able and willing to help.

Registered Member Upkeep

In the past there has been some misunderstanding of the use of the RSHom (NA) title; below are the guidelines outlined in our Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice documents.

Appendix B: Standards of Practice Guidelines

Registered Membership Upkeep

If you move you are responsible for advising the office so your membership does not inadvertently lapse. If your registered membership does lapse there will be a re-instatement fee of $250. During the time your membership is lapsed you are not entitled to use the designation RSHom (NA) in any of your promotional materials including letterheads, business cards and leaflets.

As you know there will be an amnesty period for lapsed members to rejoin NASH this January without paying the re-instatement fee. We are doing our best to ensure that use of the RSHom (NA) title is by those who represent the profession with integrity.

World Homeopathy Awareness Week

NASH needs a volunteer to serve as a representative for the WHAW Committee. If you have an interest in the world awareness of homeopathy, please consider working on this great cause. Responsibilities may include attending monthly teleconferences, responding to communications, supporting WHAW with ideas and materials, and orting WHAW within NASH. Contact Liz for more details.