“One less chiropractor in Canada isn’t going to make much of a difference, but one more chiropractor here will make a huge difference.” in 1998, where the World Federation of Chiroprac-tic (WFC) was holding a meeting. That’s when he met his wife, Apple Sumida, a Filipina. Three months later they were married. The couple lived in Vancouver as Tetrault main-tained his practice in California and commuted to and from Vancouver. The decision to move perma-nently to Manila came several years later. “It was a family decision to move here and be closer to my wife’s family,” says Tetrault from his Forbes Park clinic in Makati, an upscale commu-nity on the southern part of Metro Manila. He has one daughter with Sumida, and five other children from a previous marriage. In 2006, he set up his first two chiropractic www.canadianchiropractor.ca clinics in Metro Manila. Today he has three offices located in various parts of the greater Metro Manila area, serving around 5,000 patients in total. Be-cause chiropractic is relatively new in the Philip-pines, demand for chiropractic care is not high. Hence, opening his practice in a neighbourhood where the majority of the residents can afford chi-ropractic care is no coincidence. In the eight years that Tetrault has lived in the Philippines, he has learned to speak Tagalog – the Philippines’ official language. He has become fa-miliar with the culture, the laws and the people. He named his clinics Mabuhay – a standard greeting in the Philippines which means, “long live.” As a businessman, he learned to deal with the bureau-cracy often associated with third-world countries. These are all knowledge and assets that are vital if a chiropractor is to succeed in a foreign practice, Tetrault says. It is also important to do the research and talk to the right people within the government or com-munity where one would like to build a practice, to make sure the DC is starting off on the right track. Prior to opening his clinic, Tetrault met with the Philippines’ minister of health. “I asked him di-rectly if there was any problem with me moving here and setting up practice. He was very welcom-ing and he said, ‘Come, bring more friends.’” The minister was also upfront about setting political expectations, telling the Canadian DC not to expect laws for chiropractic in the Philippines to be coming any time soon – as the legislation process typically moves slowly in this part of the world. Tetrault always had an interest in foreign practice and was even promoting it as an option for other chiropractors. With the help of other like-minded doctors with many years of experience under their belt, he spearheaded the foundation of the Chiro-practic Diplomatic Corps (CDC) in 1997. “We looked at how to help people get better or-ganized in order to be interested in practicing abroad,” Tetrault says. The organization provides chiropractors who have genuine interest in foreign practice a system of support and resources to help them work at or set up their own clinics in a foreign country they choose. CDC provides comprehensive information for chiropractors considering a foreign practice, including international practice tips, global statis-tics and worldwide chiropractic missions. All the coaching and advising the CDC provides are voluntary and there is no fee to register with CDC, according to Tetrault. CDC aims to make chiropractic globally acces-sible, particularly in third-world nations. The or-ganization works with the international community, such as the World Federation of Chiropractic and June 2015 Canadian Chiropractor 21 DIPLOMATIC CORPS
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor June 2015: Page 21
