decrease the amount of medications that they are depending on and just put smiles on their faces.” Poverty and homelessness advocates often say, “Home-lessness does not discriminate.” It’s also true for the patients that seek chiropractic care at the Welcome In centre. Patients come from a variety of health conditions and socio-economic backgrounds – people with mental health issues, addiction, cancer, some are university graduates and many are chronic pain sufferers. “We’re there to make their bodies function better and give them quality of life,” he points out. “If you focus on that, you’ll have success with your patients.” Treating people who have long been dependent on med-ications for pain and other health conditions is a typical scenario at the chiropractic clinic. Watching them wean off or reduce the need for medication as a result of chiropractic care is very rewarding for the volunteer doctors. “For a lot of people, their first line of defence – right or wrong – is typically through the medical field, where they get medications to help themselves,” explains Dr. Gary Dix We take the so-called ‘oath’ to help people, and it doesn’t always have to be, ‘if they can pay.’ “You guys are miracle workers,” Cathy Cryderman re-marks to Kunej as the DC examines her chart. Cryderman is one of about half a dozen patients already lined up for their weekly chiropractic visit when we arrived at the Wel-come In Centre. The clinic is open once a week every Friday, between 1pm and 3pm, with two volunteer DCs on duty. Conversations with the patients while on the chiropractic table can quickly go from health-related issues to their per-sonal stories, job-hunting prospects, past and current rela-tionships. Connecting on a personal level makes the patients feel their doctors genuinely care about their well-being. “The people here do great work,” Cryderman tells me. She has known Kunej – or “Dr. Sandy” for those who know him – for about four years now. She used to be a patient at his private clinic when she was working as a hairstylist. Cry-derman now gets weekly chiropractic care at the Welcome In since the service opened last year. Cryderman is among dozens of patients and Welcome In guests who take advantage of the free chiropractic clinic – many of them with challenging health conditions – and have since found some level of relief from regular chiropractic care. “We see people from all walks of life here and we do what we do to improve their quality of life,” Kunej explains. “We www.canadianchiropractor.ca of Paris, Ont., who was on duty that day with Kunej. “If we can provide a service and care to improve function without medication and, as a result, see them come off their medication or, at least reduce it, then that is fantastic.” Logistics Although the chiropractic clinic is only open for two hours, one day a week, scheduling volunteer doctors and figuring out who’s available which day can be challenging, especially when you don’t have a big pool of volunteers to begin with. Kunej shows me an electronic calendar on his smart phone, which he says is shared with other chiropractors who volun-teer at the Welcome In clinic. The calendar lets them know which schedule slots are open and which ones need to be filled. And the doctors indicate their availability based on the open slots. Kunej counts at least eight chiropractors who have initially agreed to take turns at the clinic. If you do the math, each will only have to do one shift in a month, which Kunej points out is not a huge commitment. But that is if everybody is always able and available to volunteer once a month on a regular basis – which isn’t the case every time. He sometimes finds himself taking on two shifts a month. He admits it’s getting increasingly challenging to recruit volunteers at this point, especially with the summer season approaching. September 2016 Canadian Chiropractor 31
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor September 2016: Page 31
