Dear Friends,

I’m pleased to report that the HeCares Foundation’s inaugural year was an astonishing success, thanks to your generous support. You’ve seen us through our launch and our steps toward our long-term goals, and for that I am truly grateful. Let me share with you, our charter contributors, what we have achieved this year.

At the start of 2019 the HeCares team kicked off a monthly Grand Rounds program that offered clinic observation and lectures on various medical topics. The Grand Rounds events drew patients, interns, acupuncturists, and other allied healthcare practitioners. The most popular topic was the HeCares brand of Urgent Care, by which we provide Traditional Chinese Medicine as an alternative or complement to conventional Urgent Care.

Based on audience feedback, we kickstarted a HeCares Urgent Care campaign to promote – to a wider audience – our complementary urgent care concept.  As a result, we saw rapidly-increasing patient calls for HeCares Urgent Care! To date, we’ve responded to over 100 calls for conditions including strokes, concussions, sports injuries, and yellow jacket stings. As needed, we see Urgent Care patients at our offices, at the patient’s home, as well. as at hospitals such as Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose and CPMC in San Francisco. The HeCares team has also been designated the onsite urgent care provider for the Bay Area Chinese Track & Field meet. Given the increasing recognition of our approach to urgent care, the US Patent Office approved “Hurgent Care” as a registered trademark in July 2019.  
Due to increasing word-of-mouth interest from healthcare providers and organizations, we are seeing patients referred by ER, urgent care, and family physicians. We are currently working with Sutter Health Urgent Care physicians to explore ways to integrate our services, by incorporating acupuncture as a component of Sutter Health urgent care services,as well as by exchanging physicians to provide integrative urgent care at both sites. I’m pleased by our progress here and see team building and expansion as our next big project.

I look to take the HeCares Foundation beyond the US as well. That adage, “it takes a village to raise a child” is so true, as I think back to my modest beginnings in China. Now that child is a doctor and it’s time for me to give back.  Twice each year I travel back to my village in Liaoning to provide medical care to hundreds of underserved villagers. Just as HeCares is doing here in the US, we are establishing relationships with local authorities and institutions in Liaoning and are planning to send our growing US team to serve far and beyond the Bay Area.

Moving into 2020

We’ve seen healthcare provider and patient interest and participation in our Grand Rounds grow enormously in 2019, to such an  extent that we’re collaborating with the community to accommodate a much larger audience for Grand Round lectures. Our first event in this expanded format was held at the Kona Kai Swim & Racquet Club facility, where over 50 people participated in our Prevention and Treatment of Sports Injuries lecture. We plan to continue offering educational events in our expanded format in 2020.

Here in the US and, indeed, around the world, we see the ever-growing demand for better healthcare as well as medical education. HeCares contributes to this demand by training more healthcare practitioners. Soon, we’ll need to expand our physical space to scale our vision to this worldwide need. I’ll keep you updated on this facet of the HeCares Foundation mission as it evolves into reality.

As you know, the mission of the HeCares Foundation is to expand and improve the training of aspiring Integrative Medicine practitioners. Organized as a state and federally-approved nonprofit organization, the HeCares Foundation envisions offering instructive and clinical training for acupuncturists, physicians, and other allied healthcare practitioners to promote cooperation among health care providers of various specialties to improve patient care. To achieve this goal we strive to strengthen our faculty and expand our teaching facility.

Launching the HeCares Foundation has been extremely gratifying: I can confidently say that we are well on our way to contributing to the need for complementary and integrative medicine. And, with your continued support, we will do so. I’m proud to report that we’ve raised $170,000 in our inaugural year from generous individuals like you as well as from corporate sponsors like Google, Apple and other Bay Area tech giants.  As some of you know, I participate in Spartan Races to fundraise for the HeCares Foundation; so far, this effort has raised hundreds of dollars. Plus, the HeCares Foundation has a wide social media presence on GoFundMe, Benevity, PayPal Giving Fund, Facebook’s Network for Good, among others.

As I wrap up my 2019 report, I thank each and every one of you for your generous support!  The HeCares Foundation exists because of you. We never could have gotten this far in our first year without your indispensable advice, tireless participation, and ongoing financial support.  THANK YOU!

I value your advice and suggestions. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there are any further details you wish to discuss concerning the HeCares Foundation and its mission. 
Wishing you all a very happy Holiday Season!

Respectfully,