Report on American Public Health Association's Annual Meeting

The 128th annual meeting and exposition of the American Public Health Association (APHA) was held in Boston, Massachusetts November 12-16, 2000. This year's theme was "eliminating health disparities." The meeting attracted over 12,000 attendees, including public health workers, providers, administrators, educators, policymakers and research scientists.

This year's Chiropractic Health Care (CHC) section presentations drew three times as many people as in previous years, with a diverse crowd from several health professions. The presentations were by a mix of chiropractic teaching faculty, practicing chiropractors, researchers, and others with an interest or background in public health. Some of the presentations were made by non-DCs, those who had completed studies involving chiropractic or had an interest in the profession.

The CHC section has become, in spite of its small size, an active and outspoken section with growing influence in the American Public Health Association. The rise in attendance and diversity in our section is the result of the section's program chair, and the high profile of our immediate past chair, Mitchell Haas, MS,DC. Dr. Haas recently chaired the APHA Intersectional Council and sat ex officio on the executive board.

The CHC section presented an exciting series of scientific presentations on the themes of chiropractic in a changing health care environment; chiropractic health care; issues in chiropractic education; and chiropractic research. The section's program included the following topics, presented in four 90-minute sessions:

Chiropractic Issues in a Changing Health Care Environment

• Attitudes of Students of Health Professions Students toward Interprofessional Cooperation and Collaboration - Lori Byrd

 

• Put Me In, Coach! Chiropractic Progress in Arkansas Public Health - Karen Konarski-Hart,DC

 

• Chiropractic Education in the Changing Health Care Environment - Irene N. Paulavicius,MA

 

• Developing a System to Integrate Prevention and Health Promotion into a Chiropractic Clinical Research Program - Cheryl Hawk,DC,PhD

 

• Measuring Prevention and Health Promotion Behaviors of Patients Enrolled in Chiropractic Research Studies - Cynthia R. Long,PhD

Chiropractic Health Care

• Economic Effectiveness Of Medical And Chiropractic Care: Results From The Oregon Low-Back Pain Study - Mitchell Haas,DC

 

• Health Care Utilization In A Population Selecting Chiropractic Treatment - Stanley Chin,MA

 

• Why Do Persons Visit Chiropractors? Univariate Analysis of the MEPS Database - Edward Bartlett,PhD

 

• Survey of Demographics, Research Activities, Training Needs, Departmental Support, and Career Intentions of Junior Academic Chiropractors - Chutima Phongphua,MD,DC

Issues in Chiropractic Education

• A Practice-Oriented Approach To Teaching Health Promotion to Chiropractic Students - Bart Green,DC

 

• Service-Learning in Chiropractic: Description of Patients at an Outreach Teaching Clinic Serving Native Americans - Monica Smith,DC,PhD

 

• Establishing a Chiropractic Graduate Program in Brazil - John Stites,DC

 

• Incorporating Health Promotion and Prevention into Geriatrics Training - Lisa Killinger,DC

 

• Public Health in the Chiropractic Educational Curriculum - Michael Perillo,DC,MPH

Chiropractic Research

• Chiropractic vs. Conservative Medical Care for Chronic Low Back Pain: What Does It Take to Conduct a Clinical Trial? - Maruti Ram Gudavalli

 

• Recruiting and Retaining Chiropractors in a Practice-Based Research Program - Karen Boulanger,BA

 

• Development and Implementation of a Chiropractic Clinical Research Program - Elaine Morschhauser,DC

 

• Responsiveness of Two Condition Specific Health Related Quality of Life Outcome Measures Among Low Back Pain Patients Attending a Chiropractic College's off Campus Health Centers: A Prospective Pilot Project - Michael Perillo,DC,MPH

Elections

The CHC section also conducted two business meetings and a section leadership meeting. Here are chiropractic's newly-elected doctors to lead the APHA Chiropractic Health Care section:

Christine Goertz,DC,PhD - chair for 2001

David Kirkland,DC,MSH - section council

Mitchell Haas,MS,DC - section council

Karen Konarski-Hart,DC - section council

Bill Meeker,DC,MPH - governing council

Kurt Hegetschweiler,DC - governing council

Monica Smith,DC,PhD - secretary

Lisa Killinger,DC - chair-elect

They join these continuing section officers:

Rand Baird,DC,MPH - section council

Robert Jusino,DC,MPH - section council

Margaret Seron,DC - section council

John Pammer Jr.,DC,DACBR, immediate past-chair, volunteered to serve as the section's action board representative.

Dr. Cheryl Hawk agreed to serve as membership committee chair for the upcoming year, and Lori Byrd will join Dr. Monica Smith to co-chair the continuing education committee. The following doctors will continue as committee chairs:

Awards - Michael Perillo,DC,MPH

Newsletter - Thomas Carpenter,DC

Publicity - Elaine Morschhauser,DC

Nominations - Fred Colley,PhD,MPH

Program - Roni Evans,DC and Ellen Bokina,DC,MPH (co-chairs)

Resolutions - Kurt Hegetschweiler,DC

Section Manual - Mitchell Haas, MS,DC

Chiropractic continuing education credit was requested for over 100 program sessions at the 2000 annual meeting. Thirty-five states approved up to 16.5 hours of CE for chiropractors in the following areas:

• chiropractic

 

• environmental health

 

• community health planning and policy development

 

• injury control and emergency health services

 

• food and nutrition

 

• gerontological health

 

• epidemiology and occupational epidemiology

 

• public health education and health promotion

 

• maternal health care

 

• mental health

 

• occupational health and safety

 

• alternative or complementary health practices

 

• medical care

 

• disability

 

• population health statistics
• minority populations health

States that approved chiropractic CE credits for attending APHA 2000: AK, AZ, CO, CT, DE,* GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, ME, MD,* MA, MI, MN, MS, MT,* NH, NY, ND, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY.

1. (CA, NE, NC, and PA denied chiropractic CE for APHA2000.)

    

2. *Approved only select sessions.

The CHC section was established in 1995, the 25th section of APHA. The CHC mission is to enhance public health through the application of chiropractic knowledge to the community by conservative care, disease prevention and health promotion. Some of the section's objectives are:

• to promote interdisciplinary communication and cooperation between chiropractic and other health professions regarding public health;

 

• to disseminate chiropractic research pertinent to public health through educational sessions at the annual meeting; and

 

• to enhance participation by chiropractic physicians and chiropractic institutions in public health.

The leaders of the Chiropractic Health Care section welcome all chiropractors and chiropractic educators to join us as members of the most visible public health organization in the U.S. To learn more about the benefits of membership in APHA, including CE availability for next year's annual meeting, visit www.apha.org.

Chiropractic Health Care Section Call for Abstracts - 129^th Annual Meeting - Atlanta 2001

The Chiropractic Health Care section invites abstracts representing the results of scientific research in all areas related to chiropractic health care. Topics related to the theme of the 129th APHA Annual Meeting in Atlanta 2001, "One World - Global Health" will receive highest priority.