Dr. Riekeman Named Chancellor of Palmer System

Guy Riekeman, DC, president of Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, has been named the next chancellor of the Palmer Chiropractic University System. Dr. Riekeman, a unanimous selection by the Palmer Board of Trustees, will succeed current Chancellor Michael Crawford as of July 1, 2003.

Chancellor Crawford, who announced his retirement last October, said that "Dr. Riekeman is absolutely the best person to lead the Palmer Chiropractic University System and the entire chiropractic profession. ... He has a very strong sense of what it will require to bring this profession together, and a clear view of what chiropractic must become to fulfill its rightful role in the health care delivery system."

Dr. Riekeman welcomed the new opportunity, and emphasized his appointment will not change the focus or vision at Palmer. "The process by which I have been gradually entrusted with added responsibilities has given me a wonderful opportunity to get to know and help shape a team of capable administrators," noted Dr. Riekeman. "Obviously, no one person can provide total leadership and management of all the diverse Palmer entities and their initiatives. However, the University System has already developed and will continue to refine an organizational structure that can ably support the Board's focused vision."

April is National Backpack Safety Month, and according to the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations (COCSA), this year's program promises to be bigger and more effective than ever. A record number of state associations are sponsoring National Backpack Safety in 2003, and Office Depot, a major supplier of stationery products to schools, is promoting the program directly to school officials.

COCSA launched the National Backpack Safety Program last year "to educate students, parents and teachers about the health issues associated with heavy backpacks, and teach ways to carry backpacks correctly to prevent injury." The program targets students about to transition from elementary to middle or high school, where they will be required to carry more books and heavier loads throughout the day.

"Recent research reports that a majority of today's students are carrying more than the recommended weight levels and sustaining significant injury that may last a lifetime," commented COCSA President Kevin Donovan, DC. "It is imperative that doctors of chiropractic become involved with this growing epidemic. I am very excited that the chiropractic community has taken a leadership position and created national focus on the issue of backpack injury."

Backpack Safety Kits are available again this year for doctors of chiropractic wishing to educate themselves and their patients about the dangers of inappropriate backpack use. For more information about the National Backpack Safety Program, or to order a kit, call 800-310-7383 or visit the COCSA Web site: www.cocsa.org.

The past several months have proven eventful for the Michigan Chiropractic Association (MCA): On Dec. 30, 2002, an MCA-sponsored patient-protection bill was signed into law (See "Landmark Michigan Law Protects Chiropractors, Patients," DC, Mar. 10, 2003), and early in 2003, the association was awarded funding for a second year of its WorkSafe program.

WorkSafe, developed through a grant from Michigan's Department of Consumer and Industry Services, provides free workplace safety training to the state's manufacturing, road-construction and nursing-home companies. The program targets smaller companies (30-200 employees), which often lack the resources to provide training on spinal safety and proper ergonomics. In Fiscal Year 2001, over 1,200 employees received back-safety training from 45 MCA members. Thus far, $80,000 has been awarded for the program; the association can apply for renewal of the grant for up to five years.

The association is predicting a productive second year of the WorkSafe program. "We are extremely pleased with the response we have received from both the Department of Consumer and Industry Services and the companies our doctors have visited," said Joe Ross, MCA public relations director. Program Director Dr. Daniel Greene added, "There is a definite need for this type of program in the state. Through exceptional member participation, we have shown that the MCA is an organization that can step up to a challenge."

Three members of the Texas Chiropractic College (TCC) faculty have received notification that their research papers have been accepted for publication in the scientific literature. Drs. Kenneth Sorrels and David Potts, on faculty at TCC, were notified that their manuscript, "Quantitative Feedback vs. Standard Training for Cervical and Thoracic Manipulation," will appear in the March/April issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT), currently in press. The paper is one of two based on the doctors' collaboration with Dr. John Triano of the Texas Back Institute. The first manuscript, "Developing Skilled Performance of Lumbar Spinal Manipulation," appeared in the September 2002 issue of JMPT. Both papers are part of an ongoing series of studies investigating the influence of training, performance evaluation and implementation of biomechanical force loading during high-velocity, low-amplitude manipulation on the development of chiropractic technique.

Meanwhile, Dr. James Giordano, co-author of "Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Mainstream Public Health: A Role for Research in Fostering Integration," was notified that the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (JACM) will publish the manuscript in its June issue. The paper evaluates "models for the application of CAM practices within an integrative, multidisciplinary system of public health, and proposes paradigms for the utilization of basic and clinical research to afford pragmatic validation of efficacy."

Dr. Giordano also made news of another sort on Dec. 21, 2002, setting a world aviation record - his third overall. Dr. Giordano and co-pilot Steve Rayburn set a world speed record in category and class of single-piston engine aircraft, traveling at an average airspeed of 235 km/hr during a 2 hr., 9 min. flight from Beaumont, Texas, to Mobile, Ala. In April, the pilots will be honored for their accomplishment during the International Aviation Records Awards at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

For the first time in history, the Special Olympics will be held outside the United States. This year, the games will take place in Dublin, Ireland, June 20-29. While chiropractic has been a part of the Special Olympics in the U.S. for years, it has met with some resistance from organizers overseas. As a result, two doctors of chiropractic, Tony Accardi and Dave Cosgrave, have initiated a campaign to ensure chiropractic care is available to competitors at host towns throughout Ireland.

Drs. Cosgrave and Accardi are asking all DCs who currently care for Special Olympics athletes to submit a letter stating the athlete's name; that the athlete has been receiving chiropractic; and that the athlete desires chiropractic care be made available at the games.

Letters can be mailed to Dr. Accardi at 3 Station Road, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, or e-mailed to Dr. Cosgrave at cosgraved@endormail.com.