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How can I find a qualified complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) practitioner? |
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A: |
See our Resource Guide, Choosing a Practitioner. |
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| 2. |
Q: |
Do you have information on alternative and complementary therapies for a specific type of cancer? |
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See our Cancer Resource Guide. |
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| 3. |
Q: |
Can you provide information on alternative therapies for my specific health issue? |
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A: |
The Foundation supplies resource guides for a number of specific problems, e.g., AD(H)D, Autism, Auto-Immune Diseases, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Aging, Managing Pain, and Women's Health. Many of the guides contain linked cross-references to our Resource Guides for CAM modalities pertinent to the particular health issue, e.g. acupuncture or mind/body therapies. Some CAM information for mental health issues can be found in the Molecules of Emotion appendix and the Mind/Body Medicine resource guide; for additional mental health information see the Safe Harbor site. For all other health issues, see the General Resource Guide. |
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| 4. |
Q: |
Are there herbal alternatives to taking drugs for particular health problems? |
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A: |
You can search for information on herbs using HerbMed the herbal database developed and maintained by the Foundation, or see our Herb Resource Guide. |
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| 5. |
Q: |
Where can I find education and training programs, schools, or career advice in alternative medicine or therapeutic fields? |
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You can look under any of our Resource Guides for specific modalities: Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Energy Work, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Manual Therapies, Mind/Body, Naturopathy, Tibetan Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine. You can also go to the educational resources on the Rosenthal Center/Columbia University website, Natural Healers, or University of Pittsburg. |
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| 6. |
Q: |
I'm a practitioner or studying to become one. How can I learn about licensure? |
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You can look under any of our Resource Guides for specific modalities: Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Energy Work, Herbal Medicine, Manual Therapies, Mind/Body, Tibetan Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine. Or see Choosing a Practitioner for general professional information. University of Pittsburg has helpful resources on licensure. |
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| 7. |
Q: |
Is there any funding for alternative or integrative medicine treatment? |
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A: |
The Foundation is a public charity, not a privately endowed organization, and does not have grant-making authority. There are charitable organizations which arrange and/or provide medical transport: The Air Charity Network; Mercy Medical Airlift; National Patient Travel Center. |
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| 8. |
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Is there any funding for alternative or integrative medicine research or clinics? |
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The Foundation is a public charity, not a privately endowed organization, and does not have grant-making authority. A few directories are listed below. There are more - search the web using keywords, "grant-making foundations".
Foundations On-Line
A directory of charitable grantmakers
GrantsNet
For training in sciences and undergraduate science education
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Research & Grants and Funding Opportunities.
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| 9. |
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Do you offer scholarships or funding for education or graduate research in alternative medicine fields? |
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The Foundation is not affiliated with any alternative medicine schools and does not have a scholarship program. We suggest contacting the schools you are interested in to find out if they offer any scholarships or financial aid.
The National College of Natural Medicine has a web page on general scholarship and financial aid information, including some natural medicine programs.
GrantsNet
For training in sciences and undergraduate science education
There are many more scholarship and grant web sites, check the major search engines.
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| 10. |
Q: |
Do you have information on insurance for complementary/alternative medicine treatment? |
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A: |
Increasingly, health insurance companies are starting to offer coverage for certain alternative treatments, but this can vary by region.
You can purchase insurance specifically for CAM through Alternative Health Benefit Services, (818)226-9829; fax: (818)226-9820. Otherwise, you need to make individual inquiries with the company or with the practitioner of your choice.
NCCAM has insurance information.
See also 12 common questions about insurance and CAM answered.
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| 11. |
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Where can I find calendars of complementary/alternative medicine conferences and events or post my own event? |
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The Alternative Medicine Foundation does not maintain a general calendar of events on our main web site but we do link to calendars on other sites on our Events page. |
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| 12. |
Q: |
I am doing research on CAM for an article or term paper - can you provide figures, data or statistics? |
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A: |
It can be difficult to find current information of this type, especially under broad categories. The data is often several years old, or particular to a certain modality, say, acupuncture, or health issue such as cancer. See the NCCAM web site for the latest survey of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) use. See also the Natural Healers "Trends in Alternative Medicine" or the Career Statistics page. |
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| 13. |
Q: |
We have supplements/herbal products or whole herbs to offer. Is the Foundation interested in marketing these products through your web site, or can you help us get a new product on the market? |
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The Foundation is a non-profit information and education organization and must maintain impartiality. Therefore we do not buy, sell or promote any alternative health products, and do not accept banner ads or any other form of advertising on our web site. Commercial companies which support or sponsor AMFI projects are listed on our Sponsors page. See also question 14 below. |
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| 14. |
Q: |
Do you have information on industry or marketing aspects of alternative medicine or supplement products? |
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We provide impartial information and research resources on the integration of alternative and conventional medicine for consumers and health/science professionals, and do not systematically track the natural products and supplements industry or market. The following organizations/sites will lead you to commercial information:
American Herbal Products Association
Herb Research Foundation
Natural Products Industry Center
Consumer Healthcare Products Association
Herb Growing and Marketing Network
International Herb Association
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| 15. |
Q: |
Will AMFI/HerbMed/TibetMed exchange links with our company/ organization/ clinic? |
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A: |
You are welcome to link to our site(s), but in order to maintain impartiality as a non-profit organization, we cannot automatically reciprocate links with any web site or enter into any arrangements for trading links. When compiling our resources we judge individual web sites on their suitability and relevance and link or not accordingly.
Promotional and commercial web sites are not included in our listings unless they provide significant impartial information resources relating to complementary/ alternative medicine (CAM).
We adhere to the Health on the Net Foundation's HONcode standards for offering reliable health information to the public. See our operating principles.
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