THE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE aDVISORY bOARD Victoria Coleman-Kay, DC eDITORIAL Connie J. D’Astolfo, DC, MSc (Candidate) Pierre DesLauriers, DC Kevin Finn, DC Karin Hammerich, DC, MHST(L)(cand) James P. Laws, DC, FCCSS(Hon) David Leprich, DC Frank Mangoni, DC Patrick Milroy, BA, MA, DC Peter Moore, DC Renae Rogers, DC James Thompson, DC Greg Uchacz, DC, FCCSS(C) Jessica Wong (CMCC student) Emily Roback B.Sc, DC mEMBERS OF THE eDITORIAL aDVISORY bOARD OF cANADIAN cHIROPRACTOR mAGAZINE dO NOT NECESSARILY SHARE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE MAGAZINE NOR ARE THEY REPONSIBLE FOR INFORMATION APPEARING IN THE PUBLICATION. Our time in the Dominican was well spent! We worked at a school in a small town called Villa Milla and a community health centre in Santo Domingo. We treated everyone who made the trip to our locations, from babies to individuals who “stopped counting their birthdays once they reached 100. ” In the end we saw more than 1,200 patients. As within any practice, we saw patients with low back pain, neck pain, headaches and upper thoracic pain. Yet we also en- countered a number of unusual cases such as the seven- or eight- year-old student who dislocated his radial head fooling around in class that morning, the patient who dislocated his humeral head 15 years prior and had never had it reduced – whose only com- plaint was upper back pain – and the woman who limped in with a visible fracture of her tibia, but was turned away at the hospital as the doctor told her it was not fractured. Then, there was the young fellow who was exhibiting symptoms of Amyotrophic Lat- eral Sclerosis and was sent to the hospital for further evaluation. What was most apparent, from this mission, was that nothing we saw was beyond the realm of our education and training. The training at CMCC is second to none, and, therefore, our group was well equipped to treat, refer out when necessary, and provide simple rehab exercises and/or education to each patient. THE FRIENDSHIP EXPERIENCE However, the trip was not all work and that is what made it so special. Every morning, prior to going to the clinic, we all worked out, whether it was a morning run, a yoga class by the water or a circuit class. We were also lucky enough to have our translators, Jenny and Nelson, turn into tour guides at the end of the day and give us a true Dominican experience. They were able to show us the local fl avour, including the city centre and all its history, great Dominican restaurants, the local bars – while teaching us the lat- est salsa steps – and the best buys at the local markets. In addi- tion, Dr. Lopez and his family opened up their home to us and provided us with great hospitality, great food and fantastic com- pany. The Lopez family told us that any time any of us wanted to come back, they would love to have us! THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE With each passing day, everyone was more and more excited about the experience they were having. For the students, it was truly a great kick-start to their careers! It was as if they were start- ing their own practices. Gone were the days of getting “permis- sion to treat” or “presenting the case” or determining which learn- ing objective they needed to look up. In a sense, they were, now, practising chiropractors. For all of us, students and seasoned clinicians, we had gone to a country where the people have very little understanding of chiropractic, and therefore no biases, and we were able to see fi rst-hand the infl uence of our treatment. In many cases, people told us that they did not wake up with a headache today (as they had every day for the last fi ve years) or that they had better range of motion in their neck than they had had in 12 years. The ap- preciation, from these patients, is something we will not forget. Many patients blessed us, wrote us notes of thanks or gave us a small token of appreciation. They wanted to let us know that we were important in their lives and that our touch made a differ- ence. This trip was a chance to give back, to help many and to 30 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | JULY/AUGUST 2009 www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor July/August 2009: Page 30
