Business Q&A: St. Pete Community Acupuncture Offers the Qi to Good Health

Greg Jones of St. Petersburg was a pre-med student following a stint in the U.S. Army when he decided to pursue acupuncture as a profession.

Subsequent years of practice witnessed too many cases of patients who couldn't afford the treatment, so he chose to go on his own to make it accessible and affordable.

St. Pete Community Acupuncture ,in downtown St. Petersburg, is the realization of that dream.

Jones earned a degree in biology at Syracuse University, graduated from the Florida Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is licensed as an Acupuncture Physician in the state of Florida.

He operates his business in a small clinic on 18th Street, and in just two years has seen it grow by word of mouth, as more people see acupuncture as a way to restore balance and health.

Jones, who lives in St. Petersburg with his wife and young child, chose the location for convenience - close to downtown to the west - and is adamant about making acupuncture affordable to people without insurance.

He talked with Patch about his career and passion.

Q: What does acupuncture accomplish that other treatments may not?

A. There is energy that we call Qi (pronounced “chi”) that runs through the body. When everything is running in balance and unimpeded then we're healthy. When there's blockage of that energy flow or one of the organ systems is out of balance with another then we get symptoms of disease. Acupuncture helps restore balance and restore the flow of energy through the body.

Q: What is the most common misconception about acupuncture?

A. I guess the biggest misconception is everybody's afraid of the needles. In truth it's nothing like getting a shot. The acupuncture needles aren't like traditional needles from a western medical point of view. The other misconception is that acupuncture is extremely expensive and we're trying to change that. For most of its history acupuncture has been a peasant medicine and it's been valuable because it's been accessible to the public, whereas [western medicine] has made it more expensive and made it a commodity.

Q: How long is a treatment?

A. It's a process. I usually ask people to allow four treatments and we should then be noticing things going in the right direction. The average plan for an uncomplicated problem would be about six to twelve treatments. If we can get people relaxed and comfortable for a while everything else tends to fall into place.

Q: Who benefits the most?

A. People who are in a lot of pain and need to get back to work or just need to feel better. People who are going through a lot of stressful times and have things like digestive issues, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine headaches, things like that. I've also had a lot of allergy patients recently.

Q: What is your goal for the business?

A. To [eventually] be open 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week with more acupuncturists and really be the place to go for acupuncture. I want people to come here instead of taking medication, instead of self-medicating with alcohol or drugs, to come here and feel better.

Q: Can you describe the inspiration to open your own clinic?

A. The whole change in my paradigm shift came when I started seeing people that couldn't afford acupuncture. It's [typically] priced toward the upper-middle class and that's not where I'm from. I've been doing it a long time, and I know it works; it just needs to be accessible and that's what this clinic is about.