Approximately five days after Hurricane Katrina hit the South, I was invited to go to Mississippi with a team of doctors from Yale and the Hospital of St. Raphael in New Haven, Conn.
I joined a team that was comprised of a cardiologist, a pulmonologist, a doctor of internal medicine, a pediatrician, an orthopedic surgeon, and a plastic surgeon. A shipping and supplies expert accompanied us.
After arriving in Gulfport, Miss., we were stationed at Gulfport Memorial Hospital. We had taken approximately $50,000 worth of medical supplies and medicine along with us, which had been donated by St. Raphael's and private physicians for this mercy mission. I came armed with a small portable chiropractic table. Later, we hooked up with three ENTs
from Missouri; like us, they were there hoping to give medical help where it was needed. We were able to acquire an ambulance and a box truck, which we drove approximately 170 miles per day, traveling from one Red Cross shelter to another, providing all types of medical care.
It was both a personal privilege and a great chiropractic experience for me. Half of my time was spent assisting the doctors I was with; the other half of the time, I was treating patients, including local residents, Red Cross volunteers and hospital workers. The amount of musculoskeletal injuries was vast. Many people who had lost their homes were sore from sleeping on floors. The volunteers and hospital workers who had been working without relief were also in need of my
services. It was remarkable - whenever I took out the chiropractic table, a line would form. It was a great feeling to have an opportunity to give to people who at this point had so little. Working alongside such a diverse medical team with all their support was an added experience that I never would have known if not for this situation.
If you're ever given the opportunity to volunteer in this capacity, I strongly recommend that you take time out of your life to give back. It is a life-changing experience from which you gain as much as you give.
Financial pressure, enrollment declines and institutional challenges are emerging at several U.S. chiropractic colleges. Life Chiropractic College West's and Life University's struggles may be the most talked about but appear to be part of a larger story. And with recent USDE requirements threatening to hamstring federal student financing for DC degree programs, chiropractic education is facing questions for which it has no immediate answers.
Musculoskeletal pain in perimenopause and menopause reflects a broader physiologic shift rather than an isolated structural problem. Declining estrogen, increased inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and nervous system dysregulation collectively alter tissue quality, pain perception, and recovery capacity. Recognizing this interconnected model enables clinicians to move beyond symptom management and toward more effective, systems-based care that improves long-term outcomes for midlife women.
As the world remembers Dolly Parton following her death Aug. 25 at age 80, there is a little-known connection to the chiropractic profession worth revisiting: Dolly publicly acknowledged using chiropractic care and another famous entertainer even recalled meeting her at a chiropractor's office.
