Acupuncture program brings solace for patients in hospice

The Boston Globe: Joan Woods is finally getting some relief.

In her Winthrop living room, she is silent in her pink, comfy chair. Just moments before, Daria Casinelli, a licensed acupuncturist, inserted 14 needles in Woods’ wrists, feet, and ears to help reduce the pain she feels in her feet and stomach, and to allow the 80-year-old former nurse to breathe easier.

After a few minutes, Woods opens her eyes, smiles, and sighs. “It’s hard to explain what peace this gives me," she says.

For the last four years, Woods has battled cancer with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. A few months ago, doctors told her that the cancer had spread to her lungs. That’s when she decided to stop traditional treatment and enter hospice. In March, the doctors gave her six months to live, so she contacted All Care Hospice, based in Lynn. After explaining her symptoms and diagnosis, the hospice asked if she would be interested in a new program offering treatment from licensed acupuncturists.

Woods, who does not like to take pain medication, had previously seen an acupuncturist to treat her migraines and herniated discs, and remembered the experience as pleasant and calming. “When it was offered to me, I jumped at the chance," she says.

The program — which marks the first time a Massachusetts hospice has offered acupuncture to patients — began in April, after Dr. Lewis Hays, All Care’s medical director, met with officials from a local acupuncture school. As part of its postgraduate program, the school agreed to recruit working acupuncturists to treat hospice patients. Both organizations agreed that the free program had mutual benefits: The acupuncturists earn postgraduate credits and the patients are exposed to a treatment that doesn’t require drugs and can often bring immediate, temporary relief.

“It’s an idea whose time has come, absolutely," says Hays, who believes that acupuncture is effective in treating symptoms that many in hospice face, such as pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, nausea, and vomiting.

While acupuncture has been used for thousands of years in China and neighboring countries to treat pain and other symptoms, it is considered a complementary treatment in the United States, is rarely used in hospitals, and is not covered by most health insurance plans. For acupuncturists like Casinelli, the program already has been a learning experience. In addition to treating hospice patients weekly, she also is part of an interdisciplinary team — including a doctor, nurse, social worker, chaplain, and home health aide — that discusses how to best care for the patient