Dear Doctor:
I’ve just returned from the ACA National Chiropractic Legislative Conference in Washington DC -- I was honored to be asked to present on the topic of professional unity, and I jumped at the opportunity.
You see, unity for me is not a political process, it’s an energic one. I work toward a unified vibration throughout chiropractic, which should in no way be mistaken for a desire for homogeneity – the opposite, if anything! I love the diversity and creativity of our beloved profession, and the myriad approaches each chiropractor has available in any given patient scenario.
No, unity for me is a unity of outcome, to converge around key principles we have in common – the awareness of the spine and nerve system’s role in body function – the movement toward things natural, to really do no harm, not just to pay lip service to it – and the enhancement of the chiropractor’s image, so we can be recognized for the significant contribution we make, and attract the brightest young minds possible. Who cares if you use hot packs or not? It’s the principle, the quest to educate health care consumers about subluxation, and the impact that improving spinal health and correcting nerve interference would have on our quality of life and on future generations.
To my delight, the chiropractors at this conference, the top ranking officials and delegates in the ACA, seemed to want the same things that most chiropractors I meet and work with want – they want the terminology of chiropractic maintained, they want wellness relationships with their patients, and they strongly want to safeguard the uniqueness of chiropractic in the health care delivery system. If you doubt this, read the vision statement of the ACA – if more chiropractors knew what they stood for, they’d feel more compelled to participate.
Make no mistake – these leaders are extremely competent, and very professional at what they do. I was impressed with not only their effectiveness, but also their passion for preserving the foundations of chiropractic, something many chiropractors are concerned about.
And I’m not the only one who noticed – Speaker of the House Dennis Hassert and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson made sure to stop by, among other major players – in fact, the ACA was listed as the nineteenth most powerful lobby in the country, and those ahead on the list were entities like the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance companies, the food, medical and hospital lobbies, all playing in the vicinity of a trillion dollars – and then us, with no products to get rich off, no corporate backing, just the grass roots insistence of common citizens who want to be well.
My overall assessment is this – committed public servants like the doctors I met in Washington could use the awesome potential of the individual chiropractors who have so far held back their support to make a bigger, faster difference. Whether you favor merger or coalition, it’s time for all chiropractors to join a national organization and encourage the leadership of that organization to find ways to work with the others toward the common good. The opportunities are great – I saw them with my own eyes. But it takes money, and even more so, cooperation and shared responsibility, to get the job done and provide chiropractic for all the people. Please, do your part, and we can make it happen.
Dennis Perman DC, for The Masters Circle PS Last chance to register for The Masters Circle seminar in NJ, March 12-13 -- improve your leadership, your marketing, your patient education and your confrontational tolerance! For more information or to register, please call 800-451-4514 or go to themasterscircle.com. See you there
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