Dear Doctor:
This past weekend was the Palmer College homecoming known as Lyceum. Though my dear partner and history buff Dr. Bob Hoffman refers to it as “Chiropractic Jurassic Park,” I thought that this particular event honored the tradition with a more modern and revolutionary flavor, due largely to the efforts of Dr. Guy Riekeman, Chancellor and President of Palmer Chiropractic University Systems.
Lyceum is truly a world event that transcends time, with attendees from the far corners of the globe and from five, six and seven decades ago. It is rewarding to see the relationship so many have with Palmer — we should all support our schools with such fervency. As a matter of fact, the high point of Lyceum for me was a session featuring four of the college presidents, each taking ten minutes to address the topics of unity, leadership and the role of the schools in the future of the profession.
The speakers were Dr. Gerry Clum from Life College West, Dr. Jerry Hardee from Sherman College, Dr. Carl Cleveland III from the Cleveland Colleges, and of course Dr. Riekeman from Palmer. This was a no-nonsense discussion from some of chiropractic’s most articulate spokespeople — as each presented, I felt a sense of confidence that these student were in good hands. Their passion, their grasp of the issues, their willingness to serve, their strength and determination to propel chiropractic into the new millennium with the finest, best-trained practitioners possible, was inspiring and reassuring. Any of these distinguished scholars could represent us magnificently in any situation.
While I perceive these doctors to be among the cream of our educators, all of the schools have agreed on a bold step toward professional unity and consistency with the ratification of a document known as the ACC Paradigm, which defines terms and clearly identifies the correction of subluxation as central to our work, with or without ancillary procedures. More chiropractors should familiarize themselves with its contents, and encourage all of their school administrators and organizations to use it more readily as a code of standards, since it is in place for that very reason.
This Lyceum also provided a forum for our political leaders to advance their negotiations on professional unity. Drs. Daryl Wills, CJ Mertz and Terry Rondberg, Presidents of the ACA, ICA and WCA respectively, participated in meaningful public and private debate, which led to greater understanding and the promise of continued dialogue, necessary for the ultimate resolution of our professional differences. It’s hard to calibrate the outcome, but it certainly seemed like there was the best attitude and least friction I can remember.
Mega-events like Lyceum, Parker and our Masters Circle SuperConference reconnect us with our purpose and remind us to keep working toward positioning chiropractic in our communities. People deserve to have a choice to include chiropractic in their lifestyles, and with the blossoming leadership that I saw demonstrated this weekend, the future seems brighter than ever. As Bob says, there’s never been a better time to be a chiropractor!
Dennis Perman DC, for The Masters Circle
PS Our new third quarter seminar rocked in Chicago — hurry up and register for Oakland or New Jersey to find out how to “Break the 80/20 Barrier” — learn the strategies and perspectives of master chiropractors who have cracked the code to ultrasuccess in practice. Our guest speaker is Bruce Lipton PhD, a renowned research scientist who has become an outspoken supporter of chiropractic. This program is at the cutting edge — to find out more, or to register for one of these outstanding programs, please call 800-451-4514
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