ABOUT US
Our
Philosophy | What We Do | Mobile Holistic Health Care Project
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Holistic Healthcare Community Outreach & Support | Volunteers |
Volunteer Highlight | Donors
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Directors
Herban Health is an East Palo Alto based non profit corporation offering
holistic health care to local residents. Holistic healthcare works to make good
health through supporting the whole person: physical, mental and spiritual. We
at Herban Health have been providing holistic healthcare in the extended East
Palo Alto community since 2004, by working directly in community based
organizations in order to reach people in their own environments. Our goal is
to help people with limited resources help themselves to live in a more
balanced and healthy way.
We have been providing the following services, based in the ancient healing
arts. We regularly increase the services that we offer based on what community
members need and want matched to the service providers with whom we work. We
offer our services freely and by donation only:
- Acupuncture clinics
- Yoga classes
- Meditation
- Nutrition
- Education classes

Our Philosophy
Herban Health consists of believers and practitioners of the ancient healing
arts whose goal is to use the wisdom of those arts, along side of the science
of healing, to provide support to those people who are struggling in the
margins of our societies.
We come from the belief that:
- People themselves understand best
their own circumstances and we honor and strive to support those who want
to heal themselves.
- Inequality of access to resources
is ingrained in our healthcare system which affects the entire fabric of
our society.
The ancient healing arts are based on the principle that individuals need
the tools to lead a balanced life: physically, mentally and spiritually. And
while society’s health disparity must be struggled against on a system wide
basis, there is great healing that can be done on an individual and group basis
with the right tools.
We can and must as practitioners of the healing arts share the gift of that
wisdom with those who are struggling to survive in a world surrounded by forces
beyond their immediate control but who have the will to persevere, such as the
homeless, people in recovery from drugs and alcohol, people who are vulnerable
due to racism, ethnocentrism, chronic healthcare problems, sexism, homophobia
and violence.
In addition to working to provide institutional access to holistic healthcare
services, we can and must find ways to serve those individuals who want to
improve the quality of their lives even though they have so few resources, and
we at Herban Health are seeking all the ways that we can do that.
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What We Do
Herban Health has two main categories of activities: the East Palo Alto
Mobile Holistic Health Center (EPAMHHC) and the Holistic Healthcare Community
Outreach and Support Project. (HHCOSP)
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EPA MHHC
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The purpose of the East Palo Alto Mobile Holistic Health Center (EPA MHHC)
is to provide holistic health care to communities with limited access to
healthcare in a manner that is convenient to community members and is
responsive to their needs. This form of holistic healthcare can then serve as
a model for other communities.
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HHCOSP
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The purpose of the Holistic Healthcare Community Outreach and Support
Project. (HHCOSP) is:
- to promote the access of
holistic healthcare to communities with limited access to healthcare
through creating and building on exisiting models;
- to develop partnerships with
community based organizations who are providing healthcare in these
communities in order to link organizations and individuals who practice
the many forms of holistic healthcare;
- to provide technical assistance
for community based organizations which have an interest in integrating
holistic healthcare into their services; and
- to develop ways to increase the
number of people of color and medically underserved people entering the
holistic healthcare field.
One of the ways that we are furthering this purpose is to create a Bay Area Healthcare Consortium, where community based organizations that are serving medically underserved people can be linked to holistic healthcare providers willing to donate their services. We are organizing a pilot project that will elaborate on our model of working within community based organizations. We will initially take a designated number of clients in a community based organization, and offer a course of from 2 to ten weeks of holistic healthcare services to enhance the goal of the community based organization as well as further Herban Health’s goal of providing holistic healthcare to those with limited resources in a manner that increases their own involvement in their healthcare. The goal of the pilot project is to
- Provide services where they are needed.
- Develop systems in order to facilitate the matching of needs with resources
- Document and critique the results of this project in order to expand its use.
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Volunteers
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Volunteers are what make Herban Health strong. Please help us celebrate
our volunteers with this month's Volunteer Highlight!
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Volunteer
Highlight:
Meike Peters
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Meike Peters is a guild certified Feldenkrais practitioner. Feldenkrais® consists of our work on how we learn through exploration. The method employs focus and attention on movement and is gentle, non-invasive, nurturing, and considers the whole person. It has helped many of our patients over the last couple of years. Meike is a graduate of Notre Dame de Namur University and has worked for many years in the business world, but she also finds time to give volunteer hours for our clinic. We appreciate her very much and look forward to some of the classes that she will be teaching.
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Donors
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Herban Health would like to thank all of donors, small and large. Without
them we would be unable to do our work, and therefore we extend to them our heartfelt
thanks and gratitude.
Specifically, to have resources to pay for supplies, for teachers for our classes, for translation services, and for the various costs that organizations normally incur such as insurance and electronic communication, we have received grants and individual donations from the following: Philanthropic Ventures, the Lisa and Matthew Sonsini Family Fund, Microsoft, VMWare, and individual donors who have donated from $1.00 to $500. We also receive many in kind donations which helps us keep our expenses low, such as space for our clinics and classes. We are grateful to Free at Last, Ravenswood Family health Center, and the Ecumenical Hunger Program in particular. Patients often bring us alcohol swabs, or cotton or other types of supplies to help our clinics.
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Board of Directors
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Patricia Foster
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Ms. Foster is a former East Palo Alto City Council member, and currently acts
as the Executive Director of the organization Girls to Women. She
has over 22 years' experience as a resident and a community empowerment
advocate in East Palo Alto. Before founding Girls Two Women late last year,
Pat led a profound revitalization of the Girls' Club of the Mid-Peninsula,
developed other after-school programs for at-risk youth, counseled juvenile
offenders, connected service agencies with volunteers, taught basic English
and math skills to low-income adults from immigrant and disadvantaged
backgrounds, and facilitated community development and economic empowerment
strategies.
As a woman of color and an immigrant herself, Ms. Foster's familiarity with
the vulnerabilities and strengths characterizing families among marginalized
constituencies goes beyond the professional level to the personal.
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Ruben Abrica
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Mr. Abrica is currently serving as an East Palo Alto City Council member.
He is also an Instructor at De Anza Community College in the
Intercultural/ International Studies Division and serves as adjunct faculty
in the Teacher Preparation Department of The National Hispanic University.
His professional work in education includes working in educational
research, supervising tutor-counselors for Upward Bound, teaching ESL and
adult education, working as a consultant for the California Department of
Education, and serving as a Spanish Language Trainer for Peace Corps.
Mr Abrica received his M.A. in Education from Stanford University and did
graduate work in Linguistics at UC San Diego. He has lived in East Palo Alto
for 30 years and has been involved in a variety of community endeavors. He
currently serves as Mayor of the city of East Palo Alto. During the 1990's he
served on the Board of Trustees of the Ravenswood School District. Mr. Abrica
was also involved in the incorporation movement and served on the first East
Palo Alto City Council in the 1980's. He is a founding member of the
Ravenswood AYSO Soccer League for boys and girls, the Comité Latino and the
East Palo Alto Council of Tenants.
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Dyanne Ladine
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Ms. Ladine has worked for over forty years for economic and social
justice, by partnering with and being on the Boards of many community based
organizations, organizing with others several community based organizations
such as Lettuce Work Women's Cooperative, EPACAN DO, and Herban Health, all
in East Palo Alto CA. Additionally, she has taught at Notre Dame de Namur
University for over twenty years and has degrees in law, business, religion
and Oriental medicine.
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Lillian Barden
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Lillian Barden, PhD, currently serves as Professor Emeritus in the School
of Business and Management at Notre Dame de Namur University. She has
extensive experience in management and finance with both for profit and
non-profit organizations. Former Chair of the Intensive Business program at
NDNU, Lillian remains active in consulting work with non-profits in San Mateo
County. Prior to her work at Notre Dame de Namur University, Lillian taught
project management at St. Mary’s College in Moraga for several years.
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