SKYE stephenson

There are so many wonderful places and institutions in our area to treasure. Exactly what we treasure can and does vary from person to person. Sojourns Community Health Clinic is one of the places that I treasure.

Sojourns is located in Westminster, Vermont. This non-profit clinic offers integrated health care with the focus upon wellness: physical mental, emotional and spiritual. It was established in 2000 by the late Dr. Linda Haltinner.  She envisioned Sojourns to be a model for a different kind of healthcare – one focused on the individual and their ultimate well-being.

Sojourns offers a variety of health care offerings and healing modalities in one place, under one roof. Every year, more than 4,000 people in the region use their services. I am one of them.

I am not quite sure how I first learned of Sojourns. I believe it was shortly after I moved to this area to work at the School for International Training. Someone at work mentioned the new Clinic to me, and my ears perked up. Soon I was being treated by April, who promptly became my primary care provider.

I could hardly believe my good luck! Not only could I be treated by an amazing woman with both nursing and acupuncture training – but my health insurance was covering it!

The fact that my health insurance covered my visits made a world of difference for me.

It can be financially challenging for some of us who prefer alternative health care as our first line of support. The truth is that our current health care and insurance system pays out primarily for sickness, not for wellness. If I had prescriptions (i.e. drugs) – they would be covered by my insurance. But my vitamins are not. Neither are visits to many types of healers – including acupuncture, homeopathy, herbalists, etc.

Over the years, my appreciation of Sojourns has matured and grown – like a fine wine that deepens and ripens with age. I will not bore you with examples of times when the folks at Sojourns came to my rescue, health-wise with precise diagnosis and outstanding recommendations for health improvement. These usually involved, at least in part, herbs, vitamins, and (sometimes) temporary changes to my diet. To date, they have always worked for me.

When I changed jobs, I was so pleased that I could still keep April at Sojourns as my primary care point person. Then about ten years ago, I found out that my health insurance provider at the time (whose name I will not disclose here) was going to drop Sojourns from their approved provider list.

Just a year earlier, they had done something similar with acupuncture providers. For a short stint, the insurance company had said they would cover acupuncture treatment. And for several visits, the acupuncture person I went to only charged me a co-pay – saying the rest would be covered by insurance. But – it turns out – it never was. The insurance company put up so many roadblocks and refusal to the acupuncture submissions, that eventually many practicing acupuncture providers in our area lost thousands of dollars. The man I went to was one.

Now it seemed the insurance companies were going after Sojourns. Several of us at my job who went to Sojourns rallied forth. We petitioned to our employer and the insurance company that Sojourns remain an option for us.

I was rather involved in this process back then. The insurance company told me that the folks at Sojourns, “Just didn’t understand how to fill out the reimbursement forms.” The folks at Sojourns responded that they did know how and fill out the forms correctly – but the insurance company just kept rejecting their reimbursement submissions for spurious reasons.

Gratefully, that possible crisis passed. And all went well (insurance wise) for some years.

Now, it seems, Sojourns is once again having some challenges around health insurance reimbursements. In the March 22-28 Shopper News, an article on the front page tells how Sojourns is seeking to raise $50,000 “towards an operating deficit due to insufficient reimbursement rates.”

Sojourns is such a treasure for so many of us in this area. The quality of my life, and others I know, would be diminished if Sojourns was no longer open to treat us. I for one will make a donation. I hope this article helps spread the word.

Published in The Monadnock Shopper News April 2023.