WCA Partners With Make-A-Wish Foundation Children The World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) has chosen the Make-A-Wish Foundation as the beneficiary of its biannual Children’s Health Day International events held around the world. It will work closely with the nonprofit organization to promote the community events organized by DCs and grant the wishes of children who suffer from life-threatening medical conditions. “The Children’s Health Day International events will bring the chiropractic message to a huge percentage of the population—people who care about the health and wellness of their children and families,” says Terry A. Rondberg, DC, WCA president. “We wanted to make sure these events also provided significant financial support to a universally respected charitable organization whose mission was compatible with chiropractic.” The WCA selected the Make-A-Wish Foundation because of its outstanding record of generosity and compassion, having granted more than 127,000 wishes since its inception in 1980. The WCA launched the Children’s Health Day International program last year to disseminate information about chiropractic and other health and wellness approaches to families with children. The event addresses issues such as vaccinations, back pack safety, drugs, asthma, smoking, childhood obesity, chiropractic and subluxation correction; and includes fund-raising activities and door-prize raffles. For more information about the next Children’s Health Day International event, visit the World Chiropractic Alliance Web site, www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/children. All donations raised will go to local chapters of the foundation.

Chiropractic Student Loan Program Approved
Complete details of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) chiropractic student loan repayment program, which will allocate up to $2 million in total loan repayment contracts to qualified participants, have been published in the Federal Register.

Chiropractors who qualify for the program will serve at organized health care sites that have been designated primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) for a 2-year period. Chiropractors must serve at HPSAs that have at least one NHSC clinician on staff who will be fulfilling an NHSC service commitment through a scholarship or loan-repayment program.

To be considered for the program, an applicant must be a US citizen or national, possess a current unrestricted license to practice as a chiropractor in the state in which they intend to practice, have graduated from a fully accredited 4-year college, have passed the entire National Board of Chiropractic Examiners licensing application, and be negotiating for secure employment at an eligible community site.

The NHSC estimates that each chiropractor will receive an average of $50,000 in loan repayments.

Interested chiropractors can obtain an application by contacting the NHSC at (800) 638-0824 or by visiting www.nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov.  

Applications must be postmarked or delivered to the NHSC no later than June 17.

Study Reveals Chiropractic in Children is Important
A study of 650 children published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research has found that vertebral subluxations are associated with a variety of children’s health complaints, including colic, bed-wetting, scoliosis, and spinal degeneration.

According to Ogi Ressel, DC, vertebral subluxations can occur early in life, even during the birth process. The body adapts to the subluxations, and the abnormal functions become the norm, leading to spinal distortions, spinal degeneration, and a generalized state of unwellness seen in children.

The study, the largest one of children under chiropractic care ever conducted, was performed by Ressel and Robert Rudy, DC, who compiled the data during a 5-year period. The children were examined and cared for by six doctors of the Patient First Chiropractic & Wellness Centre in Burlington, Ontario.

Ressel says vertebral subluxations are the seeds of future disease processes and should be corrected as soon as possible.

The researchers urge all parents to have their children checked by a chiropractor for the presence of vertebral subluxations before the damage progresses.

AVAC and MORE Unite To further its leadership as the premier, award-winning facility for sports, health, and wellness services, the Almaden Valley Athletic Club (AVAC), San Jose, Calif, has partnered with Mark Eastland, DC, co-founder and director of MORE Chiropractic and Rehabilitation, and his associate, Erin L. Thompson, DC, HBSc, to offer in-house sports-injury evaluation, chiropractic rehabilitative care, injury prevention, athletic training, and education services to its members and community. “The new partnership between AVAC and MORE Chiropractic and Rehabilitation is indicative of our vision to offer services that add quality to our members’ lives,” says Joe Shank, AVAC owner. “By hosting MORE on-site, AVAC continues to set the standard with a facility that offers comprehensive services for total health, fitness, and wellness under one roof.” The clinic’s primary goal is to assist each patient in the achievement of mobility, stability, strength, and function. Eastland and MORE clinicians combine the disciplines of manual therapy, sports chiropractic, and athletic training for the aggressive treatment of musculoskeletal injuries while putting great importance on injury prevention. “It’s a natural fit, having an athletic treatment facility in a workout setting,” says Eastland. “Early treatment, integrated with chiropractic care for the nonprofessional athlete, is the ideal.”

Chiropractor Lends a Helping Hand
Pete Sulack, DC, of Exodus Chiropractic in Knoxville, TN, has purchased an orphanage called the Exodus Children’s Home, in Farragut, India, which is for children who have been abandoned by their parents or who were orphaned because of the tsunami disaster.

Sulack is coordinating the effort through Manna Ministries, an India-based Christian ministry founded by Ernest and Rachel Komanapalli, from whom he purchased the orphanage.

“The ministry already had 5,000 children in its care, and then after the tsunami hit, they took an extra 8,000,” says Sulack, whose orphanage currently houses 100 children. “Knowing that the ministry had taken on another 8,000, taking on 100 extra children seems small. The money is not there yet, but God will take care of it.”

Sulack has asked his patients and colleagues to sponsor a child at the rate of $30 a month. He hopes to raise $9,300, which will help buy mattresses, beds, and cooking utensils. It will also help renovate their current structure.

“Thirty dollars a month goes a long way and provides food, clothing, shelter, and schooling,” Sulack says.

Sulack plans to set up additional centers and churches for impoverished children and widows in South America and Africa.

New Law Means Good and Bad News for Chiropractors
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law SB 899, a bill that dramatically reshapes the workers’ compensation system in California and includes some victories and concerns for the chiropractic profession.
The bill, passed by the Assembly 77-3 and the Senate 33-3, keeps Sections 139.2 and 3209.3 of the Labor Code intact, allowing chiropractors to continue to serve as qualified medical evaluators and includes them as “physicians” within the workers’ compensation system.

In addition to retaining physician status, chiropractors will be a part of the system’s new “medical provider networks” panel.

According to SB 899, “The number of physicians in the medical provider network shall be sufficient to enable treatment for injuries or conditions to be provided in a timely manner, and the network shall include an adequate number and type of physicians ... to treat common injuries experienced by injured workers.”

“The new reforms dramatically limit an injured worker’s treatment options by making employers and insurers the gatekeepers for care,” says Douglas Wilson, DC, California Chiropractic Association (CCA) president. “The new provider networks outlined in the proposal must include access to all qualified providers, including doctors of chiropractic.”

Not all of the amendments and additions in SB 899 represent good news for chiropractic. The bill does not require chiropractors to be included as part of a medical provider network.

Workers injured on or after January 1, 2004, will still be limited to a maximum of 24 chiropractic visits per industrial injury. In addition, the new legislation involves a process known as independent medical review (IMR), which would examine disputed treatments after an injured worker has been examined by three different physicians.

“It looks like this IMR will be done by medical doctors, which means that medical doctors will be the ones to decide when chiropractic treatment is necessary,” says John Beuler, DC, who practices in Crestline, Calif. “We’ve fought this before and been successful in other types of health care, because we don’t feel one specialty should be allowed to judge another.”

Although SB 899 represents some positive changes in the workers’ compensation system, according to the CCA and other organizations, much of the language is ambiguous and future legislation will be needed to address unforseen problems by new regulations.