article archive
April 2006
The last frontier
by Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz
With so much technological development in
all areas of life, we wonder as chiropractors if our spirit ‑‑ individually
and as a society ‑‑ has kept pace with this progress.
Sadly, as chiropractic warriors, we feel a void and a sinking
feeling in our guts that says this is not the case. We're
in a position to turn things around on a global level, but
only if we have the courage to deliver a message that's different
and foreign to a society rooted in disease and symptoms.
We must carry out our vision before the world gobbles up
the spirit of chiropractic.
Recently, I was placed first hand
in the nightmare that every parent dreads. Your child's been
injured and you must seek emergency medical help. In these
situations, you're thrust into a system where you're just
a number. We were outsiders to a system that celebrates illness.
Who's your pediatrician? We don't have one. Medications and
allergies? We don't participate. We got ugly, negative, incredulous
looks for being outsiders like we were degenerates or criminals.
Looking
around the waiting room, I noticed dozens of children suffering
from long standing illnesses. Every one of them had chronic
challenges that had not to this point been addressed. Asthma,
seizures, diabetes, mental retardation, behavior problems,
violence. Health and wellness were nowhere to be found. There
were even clowns trying to cheer children up saying it's ok
to be sick, admonishing them to come back and see them soon.
What a message to be sending to these children.
Not one of the
parents in the room had an idea of what health is. 90% of the
children waiting to be seen were non‑traumatic
in nature. Not one person's life had been touched by a family
chiropractor. When my daughter was injured, we called many
plastic surgeons all over Boston and heard the same message ‑‑ unless
you're interested in breast augmentation, reduction or liposuction,
we aren't interested in you. When we asked who we should
go to for reconstructive plastic surgery, nobody seemed to
know or even care. Where was the spirit in these people?
We
got to the hospital, where children are a priority, and were
told there was a plastic surgeon on call. We waited our three
hours and were then seen by a very young, awkward, emergency
room doctor with noticeably low personal power. He introduced
himself as Charlie and proceeded to examine my daughter.
He then started into her shot history. He was horrified that
she was not up to date with her immunizations. If fact, he
was amazed that she had even survived for all these years
without them. He was also very concerned about her not being
in the database for tracking and identifying children via
immunizations.
Finally, the plastic surgeon was consulted. She
entered the room and was clearly the queen of the ER. As cold
as Montana in February, she knew she was the only game in town
and wasn't interested in making an emotional connection with
anyone. She was clearly interested in doing her job and nothing
else. She was completing her residency and going on to bigger
and better things as in starting a private practice for breast
augmentation and liposuction. She boldly stated my daughter
had a 50% chance of being infected. I asked her with such
a belief in sickness, why bother with antibiotics? She insisted
that even with antibiotics it would still get infected. What
a negative way to view the world.
The purpose of sharing this
story with you is to inform you that the origin and foundation
of plastic surgery was for reconstructive care. Accidents,
burns, congenital disfigurements were their domain. Now, because
of economic enticement and social pressure, plastic surgeons
have given up their identity and philosophy to become what
society wants them to be: puppets of illusionary beauty, magicians
who mistake magic tricks for the spirit that resides within.
Would
it be an exaggeration to call family DCs the last real doctors
on earth? We are educators and communicators of a new concept
in health, not salespeople, physical therapists, spa owners
and marketers. Patients are literally dying to meet you. Yet,
many in our profession want to go the way of the osteopaths
and plastic surgeons to a cold, antiseptic, veneer of humanity
that is disguised as health but that is in reality a fiscal
process of self‑gain.
We can't overlay chiropractic with
a business plan. It doesn't work. We have the passion, courage
and desire to help humanity with chiropractic. We are not CPAs,
MDs, lawyers or plastic surgeons. We must fervently guard our
identity and not allow it to be sold, borrowed or taken from
us.
(The New Renaissance is a movement of passionate chiropractors
dedicated to changing the world. The leader in patient education
since 1977, the Mentor IV Coaching Program is a step‑by‑step
navigational guide that embodies the very essence of The
New Renaissance vision of healthier people creating a healthier
world. Without patient education, your patients won't "get
it." To learn more about The New Renaissance, contact
world headquarters at 800‑525‑3879.)