coming in with spine-related conditions. This spine care clinician could be a chi-ropractor or physiotherapist with ad-vanced training on spine care, Kopan-sky-Giles explains. “(The spine care clinicians) are go-ing to screen people and they are going to stratify people into those that can be managed conservatively – with manip-ulation and mobilization exercise – and (those) who need an orthopaedic con-sult or people who need a rheumato-logical consult,” she says. WSC works with volunteer spine sur-geons to perform spine surgery for those who need it. Rheumatology experts are also brought in for patients who need this type of care. Collaboration comes a little easier with the support of major spine care societies. Because there has never been anything like it before, WSC now enjoys the sup-port of every major spine care organiza-tion in the world, including the North American Spine Society, Spine Society of Europe, International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine, Canadian Spine Society, South African Spine So-ciety, the World Federation of Chiroprac-tic and the Canadian Chiropractic Asso-ciation. In addition, educational institutions around the world have also come on-board by either providing scholarships to students from a WSC community or becoming a collaborating centre for re-search projects. These schools include Palmer College, University of Hawaii, University of South Denmark, Univer-www.canadianchiropractor.ca sity of South Florida and CMCC. Haldeman says these organizations and health-care professionals coming together to help address this global health issue is an indication that WSC is an undertaking whose time has come. “We’ve reached a point where chiro-practors are now part of the spine care multidisciplinary team, and the fact that there has been a strong, active participa-tion by the chiropractic profession in World Spine Care has not been perceived as a negative. As a matter of fact, it’s being perceived as a positive by the med-ical communities,” Haldeman says. “Cooperation in multidisciplinary teams, the idea that none of us have the answer and we have to work on this bet-ter and that there are a lot of people who aren’t getting appropriate care – it just all came together to make this work.” WSC plans to break ground and open new clinics in Tanzania and the Domin-ican Republic this year. The memoran-dum of agreement has been signed with the government of Tanzania. Volunteers are ready to fly out at a moment’s notice. India is not far behind. The organization is going full blast on fundraising to ensure the project goes on and the volunteers are supported on the ground without a hitch. WSC receives grants from philan-thropic groups but, Kopansky-Giles says, more funds are needed to ensure a sus-tainable and continuous program. This year, WSC plans to launch a Crowdsourcing marketing campaign to increase aware-ness about its initiatives worldwide, ap-peal for donations and encourage more chiropractors and other health-care professionals to volunteer. “This is what we do. This is how we make an impact on the world,” says Kopansky-Giles. “We’re really hoping that will appeal to chiropractors and physiotherapists to say, ‘Listen, now you’re actually supporting something that is exactly what you contribute to the world.’ I think it will be a lot more meaningful for people.” The aim for fundraising is somewhat of a crowdsourcing model. The hope is to get chiropractors and other donors to become members and commit to donate a certain amount – as low as $50 a year. Since the success of the Shoshong and Mahalapye clinics, WSC has received numerous requests from several countries to come and build clinics, according to Haldeman. “The only restriction preventing us from going into more places is funds,” Haldeman says. “If this works – and it seems to be working very well – we may make a seri-ous impact. Chiropractors, so far, are taking a major role in this whole project, which I think is very commendable and will show the world that chiropractors really care.” For more information about World Spine Care, to make a donation or to volunteer in any of its projects, visit www.worldspinecare.com. June 2014 Canadian Chiropractor 31
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