assist. Once her treatment began (including adjustments, ultraviolet light and some topicals), the ulcer began to heal. Dr. Holtom decided that after witnessing chiropractic care spare someone he loved from amputation, it was probably not a bad profession to get into. His own personal experience regarding chiropractic came about during a hockey game with his pals. He was badly injured on the ice and was unable to move. They carried the second year CMCC student to his home and he spent the next few days in bed, having to crawl to the bathroom. Eventually, Dr. Dean Homewood decided to check in on his student. For the next two weeks, Dr. Holtom received daily adjustments. He was back on the ice in a month. Dr. Holtom’s first patient was a long time coming. He had been open about two weeks when a man came in complain-ing of ingrown toe nails. He had a physician but the physi-cian was not nearby and Dr. Holtom was his next choice. Dr. Holtom organized some appropriate treatment but it wasn’t the beginning he had dreamed of. In spite of a slow start (treatment cost at that time was two dollars and fifty cents), Dr. Holtom went on to develop one of the busiest clinics ever seen in Ottawa. During the seven-ties, he was seeing over 500 patients a week, something he attributed to attending Parker Seminars and the Grand Tour Organization (GTO). GTO was the name that was applied to a doctor that attended seven seminars in a row. He said that, it was during this time he went to all the classes and began applying all the information to his practice. It made a huge difference and his clinic became extremely busy. Dr. Holtom was one of the people involved in politics when OHIP was obtained by chiropractic. Ministers of Health were often medically oriented but to his recollection, we had one or two key supporters in provincial cabinet who were instrumental in helping chiropractors achieve the goal of partial compensation, which also provided the profession with third party credibility. Looking back, this was a key major step forward for the profession and helped develop many chiropractic practices almost overnight. Like every generation before and after, he was asked to get involved in the OCA board. His involvement with the OCA lasted for 12 years. He was always willing to serve, even when asked to serve a third year as President. does not understand why chiropractors thought they could really appreciate the nuances of the spinal issues such as anatomical short legs, pseudo-arthrosis and so on, without a means to visualize them. Money – Dr. Holtom was very successful in practice and had some advice based on his own experiences with finances. He said that real estate was his most successful investment. His homes all did very well over time. He recommended not to get involved in less established financial investment op-portunities because, in his experience, they did not usually work out. The profession today – Dr. Holtom feels that perhaps we had lost our way in the profession. He disagreed with veer-ing too far away from the original purpose of chiropractic: the correction of the spine through adjustments. In his later years, some of his patients had come to him because they were not being adjusted by other chiropractors and therefore they were not getting well. Our uniqueness in health care is the spinal adjustment. There is currently too much empha-sis on the other things. Dr. Holtom, we owe you a debt of gratitude for all you have done for this profession. You are a great example of what is possible when you follow the chiropractic approach to life. DR. HOLTOM’S TAKEAWAYS FROM 68 YEARS OF PRACTICE Practicing Chiropractic – Dr. Holtom didn’t run a relief care or acute care practice. He always talked about the five antecedents of health being diet, exercise, rest, positive mental attitude, and a sound functioning nervous system. He recommended a B-complex supplement for most pa-tients to help support the dietary changes. He would see patients three times a week for a month, twice a week for a month and then once a week for a month. He recommended no less than an adjustment every two weeks for maintenance. Dr. Holtom’s opinion, based on his experience was that it takes time to change years of spinal degeneration, and that it had to be maintained. He himself gets an adjustment every two weeks to this day. Patients attended a workshop that he held every two weeks to help them understand these con-cepts. Dr. Holtom is a believer in the full spine X-ray. He www.canadianchiropractor.ca CC_Kosim_April19_CSA.indd 1 October 2019 Canadian Chiropractor 15 2019-03-06 10:07 AM
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