The West Virginia Department of Health Facilities (DHF) is pleased to announce an incoming acupuncture pilot program at William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital that will help ease patients through the detoxification process, while relieving anxiety, stress, paranoia, aggression, and other behaviors.
Sharpe Hospital Unit Manager Theresa Hoskins, MSN-RN, will lead the pilot program, which initially will be available to patients on her unit only. Hoskins became an AcuDetox Therapist in 2019 and will follow program guidelines outlined by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA).
Acupuncture services will be available to patients who are open to receiving the therapy and could benefit from it. A former visitation room that is no longer in use on Hoskins’ unit will be decorated and furnished to accommodate the sessions, which are expected to last 45 minutes each. The initial series of sessions will occur over a three-day period, according to Hoskins.
“Studies have shown us that inserting five acupuncture needles into each ear once a day for three days can reduce relapse by 45 percent,” Hoskins says. “And if patients decide to continue with therapy after that, studies say their chances of relapse can reduce even further by 85 percent.”
William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital plans to begin offering these therapy services to patients by August 1, 2024, and will do so once a month for six months, following that first series of sessions. Upon completion, the program’s success will be evaluated by analyzing patients’ behaviors and conducting a post-pharmaceutical survey to see if medication regimens have lessened as a result of the acupuncture therapy. Further implementation of the acupuncture therapy program at Sharpe Hospital will be determined following this evaluation.
“Every single person deserves the right to lead a good life,” Hoskins added, “If applying this acupuncture can aid them in surviving and thriving, I don’t think that anything could be better than that.”
Hoskins’ unit currently houses 14 patients, half of whom she says could benefit from acupuncture therapy.
Sharpe Hospital operates all therapy services through a bundled rate included in patients’ treatment plan of care. No additional revenue sources are required to fund the pilot program.