“I think every chiropractor has that dream to have their children following their footsteps.” more open to alternative therapies and use them regularly.” She points out that chiropractors in Alberta have a prac-titioner ID number that is the same as a general practitioner, which means DCs can refer patients to a specialist and the specialist treatment will be covered by the province. “Often, I have somebody who has massive hip degenera-tion or someone where they need to see a specialist. I can skip the MD and go directly to the specialist by referral,” Megan explains. “We can also order x-rays, bone scans, CTs and MRIs and they are all covered, so it gives us a lot of diagnostic capability.” DYNASTY lab at the University of Calgary. With a reference letter from Kawchuk, she applied to CMCC a year later and got ac-cepted. Throughout the process, her little sister Mailie was always right behind her. Mailie acknowledges it was her sister who was a big influ-ence in her decision to go into chiropractic. After graduating from university, she worked in sales for a company that sells lab equipment and chemicals in Ottawa – but that didn’t last long. “I wanted to do something that has an impact on more people directly. And my sister had been telling me about chiropractic,” Mailie says. Hearing her sister talk about chiropractic encouraged her to visit CMCC and see for herself. Years later, Mailie made her way to Edmonton to start a practice with her sister. She now says she would not want to practice anywhere else. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in Alberta in the long term because we don’t have our family here. But things just keep going really well… so I don’t want to mess with a good thing,” Mailie says. Megan shares her sister’s enthusiasm. “It’s just a really good province to practice. We have a large patient base of people who want to access chiropractic. People are a lot www.canadianchiropractor.ca The Harris sisters are not unique in their chosen path, and chiropractic as a family profession is not unusual among DCs. A number of chiropractors in Canada belong to a family of multigenerational DCs. Among the most famous is the West family, whose chiropractic roots can be traced as far back as 1910 when Archibald West became a chiroprac-tor. For more than a hundred years, the West family has carried on the tradition producing at least 11 DCs across four generations. The latest one to join her family’s chiropractic dynasty is Dr. Megan West. She and her husband Dr. Tony Varsalona, also a DC, run the West Niagara Chiropractic and Wellness Centre in Grimsby, Ont. Drs. Roy and Bob Kariatsumari of Alberta hope to be able to start a tradition – perhaps, ultimately, a chiropractic dy-nasty – in their family as well . When Roy learned of his son Bob’s desire to pursue chiropractic as a profession, he was ecstatic. “I think every chiropractor has that dream to have their children following their footsteps,” Roy says. He notes chi-ropractic is not only a career for them but also a way of life. “We have raised our children as naturally as we could: they weren’t vaccinated; we basically kept them away from a lot of the sugars and junk food; and just tried to make sure that they are active and exercising.” Roy is a first generation chiropractor. He grew up in a farm in southern Alberta, and had his first encounter with chiropractic when his father was injured falling off more than 12 feet of hay, fracturing his spine. Because the injury happened during harvest season, Roy’s dad had deferred going to the hospital for treatment and was trying to endure the pain so he could continue to work. December 2015 Canadian Chiropractor 29
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