As the chiropractic profession faces the decade ahead, the establishment of a national standard of care will determine the shape of future relations with various branches of government and the third party payor, health care insurance agencies. Without it, it is doubtful that chiropractic can survive the ever-evolving complications and requirements of the primary health-care industries.
In recognition of the pressing need for one national standard of care, leaders representing the many factions of the chiropractic profession will gather at the First Chiropractic Summit at which they will primarily seek to draft a ratifiable document which can then be adopted by the profession as the official national standard of care.
It makes us proud to introduce another co-sponsor of the Chiropractic Summit. One of the great pioneers in the field of nutrition as well as chiropractic is Dr. Paul White, known to most in the profession as Nutri-West. Dr. White and his wife Marsha White, have a company with a remarkable history.
The Early Days
A remarkable man himself, Dr. White says he knew from the very beginning that he wanted to become a doctor. An early influence in his life was his grandmother, a devout herbalist who introduced natural healing and herbal folk remedies to her family. At one time his aunt was diagnosed as having poliomyolitis, then called infantile paralysis. Medical doctors offered a 50 percent chance of survival. Instead of administering the prescribed medications, Dr. White's grandmother removed the body casting (used to immobilize the patient) and prepared herbs, hot fomentations and utilized passive exercise. It is no surprise that with these beginnings in natural health care, Paul White became Paul White, D.C.
Early in his career, Dr. and Mrs. White found the need for certain nutritional formulas, but were too often frustrated to learn that they were not available. The logical solution was to start formulating them on their own. After awhile they found themselves giving advice to other nutrition companies. As his reputation as a consultant spread, Dr. White was approached by other doctors with their nutritional ideas and it soon became apparent that full-time nutritional manufacturing company was inevitable.
Nutri-West -- Building and Expanding
Over 28 years later, Nutri-West has one of the largest nutritional lines in the country. They currently manufacture over 400 different products which include amino acids, glandulars, enzymes, vitamins, minerals and herbals. With 105 employees throughout the world and a world-wide distribution network, it is no wonder that Dr. and Mrs. White are such highly regarded experts in their field by so many different kinds of health care professionals.
And Nutri-West is ever growing. Recent completion of their new building expands Nutri-West to over 30,000 square feet under roof. There is also new and modern equipment, like a state-of-the-art atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Nutri-West now manufactures their own chelated minerals. Dr. White says, "In the early days it used to take me seven months to get a research test batch produced -- if at all; now it takes me seven days."
With approximately 20 multi-disciplined doctors on their consulting staff, Nutri-West has the advantage of the diversity of their various viewpoints from which new ideas emerge. "We manufacture test batches for these doctors at our expense, which allows them to make evaluations for their clinical studies," says Dr. West. At Nutri-West only certified raw materials are used to insure the most favorable patient results possible.
Nutritional deficiency is a world-wide epidemic. Doctors are finding it increasingly difficult to find that patient who does not have some kind of nutritional need. This can be attributed to nutritionally depleted soil, insecticides, pesticides, preservative, refined sugar consumption, junk food and nutrition-robbing medications. Even with growing trends in fitness and nutrition, good nutritional intake remains a serious national problem.
Positive Public Relations for Nutri-West and Chiropractic
Nutri-West has been highly instrumental in positive public relations for the chiropractic profession. Nutri-West is the only nutrition manufacturing company that is 100 % owned and hands-on operated by a chiropractor. In their home state of Wyoming, they were recently awarded the Governor's Export Award. In addition, Nutri-West has been a sponsor for the Coor's Classic and more recently, the Coor's Light Cycling team. This has provided chiropractic with positive public relations at no cost to the profession or its members for the last six years. A new company was born as a result of this alliance, namely Nutri-Quest, which has developed and will provide nutrition solely for the cycling industry. They now manufacture ten new products for the Nutri-Quest line.
Dr. and Mrs. White are particularly excited to announce that Nutri-West was recently contacted by the 7-Eleven Cycling Team for which they were offered the position of being their team sponsor, entitling them to the use of the phrase, "Official Nutrition Supplier of the 7-Eleven Cycling Team" in their advertising. Nutri-West has decided to go with 7-Eleven, realizing that the added world-wide exposure will be a giant step up. And certainly not the least of their important contributions is their support and co-sponsorship of the first Chiropractic Summit.
Looking Forward
Dr. West and his family will go on searching out newer and better ways to bring better nutrition to the public. What motivates them to continously improve their products? Dr. White discussed a patient who came in with a shoulder problem. He said, "We did all the usual things; history, examination, X-rays. We found nothing unusual and embarked on a musculo-skeletal approach. After a week of manipulation and physical therapy we achieved only slight short-lived results. I remembered seeing on the history that this patient was on blood pressure medication. Blood pressure medication depletes the potassium in the body. We ran a potassium test and, low and behold, it was low. After only two days of potassium therapy, the pain in the shoulder was gone. The underlying and most important fact is that potassium is a very, very important electrolyte, necessary for proper heart function. Without it, the heart will go into fibrillation and arrest. This seemingly unimportant shoulder problem could conceivably have saved this patient's life. The question is, how many patients are out there with the same shoulder problem, with the same causal factors, and are going undetected?"
Dr. and Mrs. West say that there isn't a week that goes by without a call from a doctor who is working on a new nutritional approach. Every week we make at least one test batch to be used in a nutrition trial. They welcome these calls because they open the doors to new ideas, and new ideas ultimately mean further advancement for those health care disciplines that offer natural healing to their patients.
We thank Nutri-West for sharing their story with Dynamic Chiropractic. Be watching upcoming issues, where we will bring you similar stories of our profession's suppliers who are exemplary in their support of the advancement of chiropractic care.
