COVER ADVOCACY Easing their burden World Spine Care’s vision of providing access to spinal care for the world’s poorest, underserved communities is putting chiropractic on the global health-care map. B y M ari -L en D e G uzMan W hen chiropractor Dr. Becky Carpenter heard about World Spine Care (WSC) as a student at Canadian Memorial Chi-ropractic College (CMCC) in Toronto, she knew she had to volunteer. She graduated from CMCC in June 2012, and two months later, she set out for Botswana in Africa to help WSC set up a clinic in the rural village of Sho-shong. It was one of the most eye-opening six weeks of her life. The Shoshong project is WSC’s flagship program that will develop models of care for future WSC clinics to adopt. “Coming back to Canada, especially being a new grad, it was such a huge learning experience in hands-on treatment that I would never have received in Canada,” says Carpenter. Dr. Doug Brandvold, of Rossland, B.C., also vol-unteered for WSC in Botswana – twice. He sees the initiative as creating opportunities to strive for pro-fessional humanitarian service and training. “The holistic and health promotion aspects of our profession mesh well with the possibilities of health care in poorer countries,” Brandvold says. “Muscu-loskeletal-based, functional mobility problems of all The burden of disease is more evident and has greater impact on the liveli-hood of people in developing nations MARI-LEN DE GUZMAN is the editor of Canadian Chiropractor and Massage Therapy Canada magazine. She can be contacted at [email protected]. 28 Canadian Chiropractor June 2014 kinds are crying out for better triage and management in all parts of the world.” Since its inception in 2008, WSC continues to in-spire and mobilize chiropractors and health-care practitioners around the world to help make spinal care accessible to poorer communities in developing countries. Founded by Canadian-born chiropractor and neurologist Dr. Scott Haldeman, WSC’s vision is the establishment of a multidisciplinary, effective and sustainable model of care for musculoskeletal disor-ders, particularly for communities where spinal care is practically non-existent. Since its establishment, WSC has focused most of its efforts in Botswana, where it now operates out of two clinics: inside the Mahalapye District Hospital, and a stand-alone clinic in the village of Shoshong. For nearly three years, Botswana has been the development hub for WSC initiatives – from establishing models of care and building local capacity to creating outcome measures. Quebec-based chiropractor Dr. Geoff Outerbridge is the clinical director for WSC who oversaw the Botswana pilot project in Mahalapye and Shoshong. Coming from a family of missionaries, Outerbridge willingly takes on the task. For two years since 2011, he and his family (wife Sophie and son Liam) lived in Botswana, overseeing the Mahalapye hospital clinic, building the Shoshong clinic from the ground up, developing research programs, training volunteers and educating the community about spinal health, among other things. www.canadianchiropractor.ca
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