Bobby Doscher, DC, shares her experiences caring for children and spreading the chiropractic message with the annual Oklahaven Children’s Center’s Have-A-Heart fund-raiser

Bobby Doscher, DC, fulfills her life’s mission by helping severly sick children at Oklahaven. For her tireless efforts, she was named the World Chiropractic Alliance 2004 Humanitarian of the Year.

Oklahaven began in 1962—a vision of six chiropractors—to meet the needs of chronically ill children, many of whom were paralyzed and in braces and wheelchairs but found health through chiropractic. The founders relied on the generosity of other colleagues, friends, and those in the private sector who shared their understanding of a natural, drug-free lifestyle for children.

Oklahaven, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, has continued to operate through private donations and without federal, state, or United Way funds for more than 40 years.

Over the years, thousands of children have achieved health from a variety of conditions, including cerebral palsy, asthma, genetic disorders, and learning disabilities ranging from mild sensory dysfunction to autism. All have shown an improved quality of life after treatment at Oklahaven. We see children from all over the world, and I have traveled to Jordan, Poland, Austria, Guatemala, and Mexico to treat children.

In addition to treating neurologically dis-organized and hurt children, Oklahaven reaches out nationally and internationally through journal articles, lectures, and seminars on the premise and effectiveness of chiropractic for children. It also supports an active Parent Support Group that works in the community to educate families on the importance of a natural lifestyle.

We are seeing a greater number of children on the dis-organization spectrum under the label of mild dyslexia, OCD, ADD, ADHA, PDD, bipolarism, CHARGE, Down’s, Apert’s, cerebral palsy, Asberger’s (mild autism) to profound autism, and many more.

One of my favorite patients is a 5-year-old boy who suffers from autism. He has been adjusted and coached through a neuro-reeducation program in a team effort to organize his sensory function. The reward is discovering the sweet boy his mother knew was locked inside.

At his first appointment, the patient did not make eye contact, said nothing, flapped his hands constantly, and narrowly missed walking into walls. He never responded to loud sounds, barely followed one-step commands, even with repetition, and his whole body had constant tremors. He walked with slow deliberate steps as though he could neither see nor feel the floor under his feet.

His mother described her child’s condition after his first adjustment, “His attitude is better, he is not as frustrated or angry. He is not tired all the time and stays awake longer. He stays at tasks longer, walks straighter, has a much better attention span, and his movements aren’t as jerky.”

During the past year, he has accomplished a therapy program at home and now recognizes several hundred words and a dozen couplets. He has learned to crawl, a vital developmental mobility milestone he missed as an infant. His balance and visual convergence are so improved that he is beginning to run. The patient’s language, understanding, coordination, strength, overall health, and especially his vision are improving. He can use his hands together to open drawers, jar lids, begin to dress, and undress as well as feed himself more neatly.

Best of all, he is more confident. Every day he participates more fully in life with his family. He bounds into the Children’s Center happy and giggling, for 2- or 3-day visits every month (he lives in Texas). After hugging all of us, he is ready for a few days of adjustments and hard work.

Chiropractors across the country refer their most challenging patients to us. With the networking support, families like Jake’s can have faith that their children will have meaningful futures.

Have-A-Heart
I first encountered chiropractic when I was told I needed a second knee surgery after being hurt from working as a national women’s official in field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball. Someone suggested chiropractic instead and after my adjustments, there was no need for surgery. I have always had weak legs and wore leg braces for the first year of my life to correct my severe pigeon toes.

After becoming helped by chiropractic, I decided to dedicate my life to the profession. After graduating from Palmer Chiropractic College, Davenport, Iowa, I felt that the story and philosophy of chiropractic should be told through our children. In 1977 while attending a conference in Oklahoma, I ran into Melvin Clark, DC, one of the founding members, who invited me to run the the center. In 1979 I become CEO.

A vision of mine was to tell the story through the children each Valentine’s week. It first started with Darren Bell, DC, from New York, who called and asked if he could show Oklahaven’s video and sell hearts in his local mall to educate families on the power of chiropractic and children.

Also, after I lectured at Cleveland College of Chiropractic, Los Angeles, then-student Angie Welikala, DC, took it to the colleges through the Student ICA. The program became known as Have-A-Heart and our way of celebrating Valentine's week and educating the general public on chiropractic and the return of health in the severely hurt child.

During the week of Valentine’s Day, chiropractors show Oklahaven’s 13-minute video or DVD depicting the benefits of chiropractic for children to patients in their offices. When they donate to the center, their name is put on hearts and displayed in the clinics. Chiropractors then collect the donations, keep a log of names and the amount, and send it the final report detailing their success. Oklahaven then thanks the participating donors.

This gives chiropractors the opportunity to increase awareness of children and chiropractic within their practices while at the same time supporting our internationally recognized nonprofit organization. Have-A-Heart enables the Oklahaven to continue to restore health to more children. Your participation will enable more children to be helped through the chiropractic lifestyle and bring more awareness of chiropractic for severely hurt and damaged children.

Approximately 500 chiropractic offices participate every year. Please join us this year to help the children and spread the chiropractic message. Thank you for supporting the children and Oklahaven Children’s Chiropractic Center. CP

Bobby Doscher, DC, and Oklahaven Children’s Chiropractic Center can be contacted at: (405) 948-8807; oklahave@flash.net;   www.chiropractic4kids.com.