All Together Now?

Why is it that no matter what the issue, the chiropractic profession can't sing the same song?

Why is it when some DC or organization has a "better idea," it has to be executed independently?

What philosophical tenet is so important, that it is worth sacrificing the welfare of chiropractic?

These may seem like the usual questions that we each ask, but in the face of impending health care reform, they become more relevant. Consider the questions that legislators, other health care professionals, and the public must be asking:

• How can chiropractors call themselves primary care providers based upon their limited exposure?

   

• Who is the true voice for the profession?

   

• Are there different types of chiropractors? If so, how can we tell one kind from another?

   

• Have our strengths become our weaknesses? Is great diversity the very nature of being an alternative to the medical model? If we can't define ourselves, how can anyone else? (And why should they bother?)

There are some who look for a leader to raise the profession from its current state of frustration. Many DCs have lost faith in their associations. Too often, the hopes and promises that sustain an individual DC are misplaced and subsequently left in pieces.

This is the time when the character of our profession is being tested. Will we move forward to meet today's challenges? Or will most of us sit, griping and mumbling, hiding from the future?

By now, you are probably ready to turn the page -- but don't. This is the current situation for many DCs in our profession. It isn't pretty, but it can't be ignored.

There won't be a chiropractic Moses to lead this profession to the promised land (of primary care and prosperity). Whatever happens next, happens because dedicated men and women like you make it happen.

So what are we going to do now? Please consider these three suggestions:

1. Stop the Divisions -- The last thing this profession needs is another organization. Refuse to join and support new organizations no matter how attractive they make their causes seem. Encourage them instead to join an existing association, become vocal and make those associations more responsive to the needs at hand.

    

2. Get Vocal! -- If you aren't a member of any organization, you don't have a voice. Demand that the organization you join develop a coalition with other associations in your state or nationwide. If they can't seem to come together for the common good of the profession, join those that can.

    

3. Participate -- Yes, the future can look a little frightening. But it won't improve by itself. If chiropractors want to be the ones to deliver chiropractic care to the world, we will have to fight for it. The weapons of this war are money and letters. The soldiers are you and your patients, all 34 million of them.

Our forefathers (my father and grandfather) sacrificed much to make chiropractic the third largest health care profession the world. They took on the AMA, endured jail time, and never gave up. Giving a little money and spending some time organizing your patients is very little by comparison.

When tomorrow's DCs ask you, "What was you role during the Great Health Care Confrontation in the mid 1990s?", you won't want to be apologizing for what you didn't do. Our patients and tomorrow's DCs are counting on us, not to mention our children.

This is for the future of chiropractic, let's be proud of what we are doing to bring it triumphantly into the 21st century.

DMP Jr., BS, HCD(hc)