The White House Commission for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM Commission) convened at the National Institutes of Health Neuroscience Building in Bethesda, Maryland on December 7, 2001, hearing testimony from Fabrizio Mancini,DC, president of Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas, Texas, and Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic President Jerry Hardee,EdD, among others.
Dr. Mancini's topic was "The Role Chiropractors Can Fill As Primary Care Physicians in Medically Underserved Areas, Based on Our Training in the Subluxation-Based Model."
Dr. Hardee was scheduled to speak on coordinating and centralizing federal CAM. (Editor's note: At press time, the title and further details of Dr. Hardee's testimony were not available.)
Dr. Veronica Guiterrez, of Arlington, Virginia, the commission's sole chiropractor, said her goals for the commission were to present the "ACC Chiropractic Paradigm"1 wherever chiropractic was included in federal policy, and to address student loan forgiveness.
"It is time that chiropractic gets recognized at the same level as other portal-of-entry professions, such as medicine and osteopathy," Dr. Mancini asserted. "The effectiveness of chiropractic care has been demonstrated by many studies, and it is time that proper status is given to this profession," he added.
At meeting's end, commission member Don Warren,DDS, thanked Dr. Mancini for his presentation. Dr. Warren shared with the commission and Dr. Mancini that his son David would graduate from Parker College of Chiropractic the following week, and that his other son had just been accepted to Parker.
The CAM Commission was established by President Bill Clinton in March of 2000 to report research on CAM practices and products; deliver public access to CAM services; disseminate reliable information on CAM to health care providers and the general public; and discuss appropriate licensing, education and training of CAM health care practitioners. The commission completes its duties on March 2002.
- For an explanation and visual representation of the "ACC Chiropractic Paradigm," go to www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/05/09.html
