A Chiropractic Story - written in 1997

There was an eleven year old boy in swimming trunks in the back of a Scout International truck traveling to Devil's Lake in Michigan. His Mom and Dad, Older brother and his wife and his younger brother all heard a high pitched screech of tires as the car behind them tried to past on a hill. The car slammed into the left rear bumper of the Scout and proceeded to push it sideways up the hill and causing it to roll over three times coming to a rest upside down. There was immediate screaming of first names with hopes of answers. The mom did not answer.

There was blood coming from the chest of the eleven year old as he realized that he could see the bottom half and legs of his Mom sticking through the broken side window from inside an upside down Scout. He also noticed a suitcase had wedged in the back which prevented crushing of his mother's chest. The smell of gas was everywhere.

Ambulances came and took everyone to the hospital. Miraculously no one was killed. Everyone had cuts and scraps. The young boy's mother was hurt the most from the head injury where her head smashed through the side window with gasoline pouring into her eyes and ears from the ruputured tank above. Headaches and severe vertigo continued for weeks until a friend suggested that she see her chiropractor. He found subluxations in cervical spine. The whole family started under chiropractic care. That lady was my Mom and I was the eleven year old and I witnessed the incredible return to normal health of my Mom.

I chiseled my name in a favorite stone bridge beside my house that summer in 1965. I remember spending a lot of time at that bridge in the country thinking about the future and what life could possibly be like as a chiropractor. I decided then that I would become the best chiropractor that I could. This summer my son Kyle is eleven years old. In two weeks he will carve his name in the bridge beside mine. I am going to tell him the story about me when I was eleven and all the things that I thought of while chiseling my name in the bridge. My eyes begin to tear up just thinking about it now.

What does Chiropractic mean to me? It caused an eleven year old boy to commit to a profession that changed the life of his Mother. Chiropractic is important enough to pass on to future generations. It is to me the profession that makes the most sense in all of health care today.
I believe that I was fortunate early on to know what I would do when I chose my life's work. I also believe that good things can always happen from tragedies ...if we look for the answers. Chiropractic is a profession of answers. It seems to me that as more research is completed it continued to show that chiropractic care can be helpful for all of the conditions the we see improve in our offices everyday.

This is a very satisfying time for me in practice to see the great acceptance of chiropractic. I do not see a decrease in people's want for the natural health care that chiropractic provides. We, as chiropractors, just have to continue to understand the trends of the way people can receive care from our offices. Chiropractic is importance enough for me to learn new avenues (managed care) that can promote the continued increased utilization of chiropractic care. I am willing to do whatever it takes within the ethical and moral framework I have chosen to live my life to tell the truth about chiropractic care.

Chiropractic is a profession that naturally right just like Dr. Jim Parker has always said. I believe that is the first level of health care that should be considered for a great deal of what people go to the medical profession for. However, chiropractic is so radically right that is has taken time for people to see the common sense in it.

Chiropractic allows me to perform a specialized unique service that has the potential to totally change someone's life for the better for the rest of their life with no side effects, and it does not require 10 million dollars a day in marketing to get people to use our service. What it requires is me being willing to tell people the truth in large crowds or one on one.

Chiropractic means that I have a service that is so good that people are willing to come to my office and be seen at a schedule that is convenient for both the patient and for me.

This was written in the summer of 1997 for a presentation to the High Country Knights of the Chiropractic Round Table.