UPFRONT | Roundup EDUCATION B.C. ramps up plan for new chiropractic school British Columbia may soon become the site of a new academic institution for chiropractic.The new Pacific Academic Institute of Chiro-practic (PAIC) has released a progress report that out-lined recent developments about the planned chiroprac-tic academic institution, which will include a chiro-practic school, a research program and a multidiscipli-nary primary care clinic. The PAIC is currently exploring the possibility of collaborating with a U.S.-based university. The details of this potential partnership is yet to be finalized. The PAIC is projecting an intake of 100 new students once the school becomes operational. Historically, about 75 per cent of new chiropractic registrants in western Canada graduate from U.S. institutions, George Eisler, CEO of PAIC said. The intent is to capture students from western Can-ada who would otherwise go to the U.S. for chiropractic education. Educating future chiro-practors within Canada has been a long-standing goal of B.C. chiropractors. This led the profession in 2009 to create a special fund – which chiropractors in the province contribute to – administered by the College of Chiroprac-tors of B.C. The goal is to raise $6 million by 2018. This money will be used to fund the establishment of a new health education, research and community primary care in B.C. – which now form part of the newly established PAIC. In addition, the profession also spearheaded the estab-lishment of the Pacific Spine Research and Education Foundation, a charitable or-ganization tasked to develop and implement fundraising strategies for the PAIC. The foundation hopes to raise an additional $24 million. PAIC will be building the 100,000 square-foot aca-demic and research facility on Simon Fraser University (SFU) property in Burnaby, B.C. under a lease agreement. In addition to the educa-tion component, progress is also being made in the re-search and clinic fronts. The PAIC plans to open up a multidisciplinary primary care clinic inside SFU’s Uni-verCity – a sustainable com-munity development project in Burnaby. Eisler said the planned primary care clinic will be located within UniverCity, in response to current demand for physicians, chiropractic and other health care services in the new mountaintop com-munity. It was an opportunity that PAIC was not going to pass up. “We are looking to lease a space and develop what will essentially be a satellite clinic to our institution,” Eisler said. The PAIC hopes to open the clinic by January 2016. In addition to the clinic, PAIC is also in talks with SFU about potential re-search collaboration projects, Eisler said. While no con-crete strategy is in place yet, a joint research seminar was held on September 11 involv-ing chiropractic researchers and SFU scientists to discuss opportunities for establishing potential research initiatives. The collaboration with SFU is an important aspect of the development of the academic institute, according to Eisler, particularly in pur-suing the ultimate goal of in-tegrating the PAIC with the public post-secondary educa-tion system. “The interest for just an-other private school was not that high, but the opportu-nity to be close to and be well-integrated with the public system was attractive. Our long-term goal is to es-sentially become as inte-grated as possible with the SFU system.” There are currently more than 1,000 registered chiro-practors in B.C. Most recent data has revealed chiroprac-tic utilization rate in B.C. – the percentage of the popu-lation who are under chiropractic care – is at 24 per cent. This figure is signif-icantly higher than utiliza-tion rate in Ontario at 11 to 12 per cent, and where more than 4,000 chiropractors currently practice. According to Dr. Don Nixdorf, co-founder of the Pacific Spine Foundation and a big proponent of es-tablishing a chiropractic ed-ucation program in B.C., annual licensing of chiro-practors in western Canada has remained steady for the last 15 years, with no signifi-cant surge in the numbers. “The B.C. school is de-signed to have intake which represents the historical growth and aging demo-graphic of DCs in western provinces,” Nixdorf said. He said having a chiro-practic school in B.C. would “significantly contribute to public and stakeholder awareness when utilizing chiropractic doctors.” Mari-Len De Guzman www.canadianchiropractor.ca 10 Canadian Chiropractor October 2015
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