Though this is the January 28, 2002 issue, I'm writing this column on December 28, 2001. There's no time warp involved here, only that we send DC to our printing house about one month before the date of the publication. (P.S. We do make the issue available on line at Chiroweb.com the Monday after we sent the issue to the printers, i.e., readers of DC On Line can read our publication a good three weeks before the paper version arrives at your offices.)
I make this explanation because this is the time of year we tend to look back on the events of the last 12 months and assess our accomplishments and set goals for the new year. Last year at this time, our national chiropractic associations were in turmoil because they had not been able to goad the 106th Congress into passing legislation to make chiropractic an integral part of the Veterans' Administration health care system. The ACA and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges had worked together, but Congress also had input from the ICA and the WCA. At times these groups worked at cross-purposes, sending mixed messages to Congress. It doomed passage of a VA bill.
After the 2000 VA defeat in Congress, I wrote in the October 16, 2000 DC: "Too many voices; too many associations representing the chiropractic profession and predictable, desultory results. Calls of 'Wait 'till next year' wear thin and add to the general malaise begat by a profession beset with disunity, disharmony, and in dire need of direction."
Many in chiropractic felt the same, and the ACA and ICA took it to heart. On December 2, 2000, representatives of the ACA, ICA and the ACC met and formed a VA and Medicare Task Force, agreeing to jointly support legislation in these areas, and to reaffirm their support of the ACC's Chiropractic Paradigm and position papers on chiropractic. That was a decisive step.
Last week, Thursday December 20, 2001, the 107th Congress sent President Bush a bill that spelled out chiropractic's role in the VA. (See page one for details.) As we go to press, the president is on his ranch in Texas for a month long working vacation, but he is expected to sign the bill. The ACA, ICA, ACC union (with assistance from the WCA) has chiropractic breathing the fabled sweet smell of success, which certainly beats the malodorous whiff of defeat!
There are celebrations, and then there are celebrations. Let's put this in perspective. Chiropractic's first effort to initiate VA legislation, the ICA reports, was B.J. Palmer in 1936! Speaking of time warps. I wasn't around then, despite insinuations from junior staff editors, but just for historic juxtaposition, that was the year the Spanish Civil War began; the year Jessie Owens "ran away" with the Berlin Olympics; the year FDR was elected to his second term; and the third year of the Dust Bowl phenomenon that blighted the prairie states.
The difference between 2000 and 2001 is that our national bodies this time around did not work at cross-purposes, generally supported one another and presented a united front to Congress. Amazing how that works.
DCs are often critical of the national organizations, but without them the VA legislation would not have been passed - simple as that. You can bemoan that what this profession needs is a single, strong national chiropractic association, but the reality is that there will probably always be at least two national chiropractic associations, just as this country will always have two dominate political parties. But the point is that our national associations have wised up. They've learned to work together to meet the profession's political objectives. You owe them your support, membership, ideas and enthusiasm.
2001 - That Was the Year that Was
There was a TV program that debuted in the U.S. in 1964 called "That Was the Week that Was," a spin-off of the BBC program with David Frost. It was a humorous, satirical, and informative look at the events of each week. It was a good idea, because we quickly forget or miss some of the notable events that occur over the course of a week, not to mention the events of an entire year. That's why it's time to look back on some of the DC headlines of 2001 for "That Was the Year that Was in Chiropractic."
- ACA and ICA ask WFC to Adopt ACC Chiropractic Paradigm
- Arkansas Passes Act to Protect Chiropractic
- FCLB Celebrates 75th Year; Foot Levelers and Parker Seminars Celebrate 50 Years; Activator Celebrates 35th
- Duke U. Releases Headache Report: Evidence Shows Efficacy of Chiropractic for Tension and Cervicogenic Headaches
- ChiroWeb.com Featured on National TV Series
- Schwarzenegger Adjusting Table Auctioned
- WFC Meets in Paris, Adopts ACC Chiropractic Paradigm
- Texas Attorney General Restricts Acupuncturists from Manipulation
- Registration of Hong Kong DCs Begins September 1, 2001
- Groundbreaking Internship Program at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center
- Oklahoma DCs Working Together
- First Chiropractic Program in Spanish within a University System
- Canadian Researcher Awarded Prestigious Fellowship (Jeffrey Quon,DC,MHSc)
- Palmer's Florida Campus Approved for October 2002 Opening
- Nearly a Half Million in Chiropractor Donations Move Mountains of World Trade Center Rubble
- Chiropractic Legislation Passes in French National Assembly
- NY Chiropractic Council 'Moving Heaven and Earth'
- Trigon's Failure to Respond is Admission of Conspiracy, Says ACA
- Canada's First Chiropractic Research Chair (Greg Kawchuk,DC,PhD)
- California Chiropractic Association sues ASHP
- FCA Fulminates over Funding Veto
- Dr. Riekeman Will Preside over Both Palmer Colleges
- Jerry Hardee,EdD, is Sherman's New President
- Direct Chiropractic Access Provision in Effect in Washington State
- Kent Greenawalt - DC's Person of Year - 2001
What awaits chiropractic in the new year? With the newfound cooperative spirit of our national associations, I think it will be mostly good tidings.
Stephen Kelly
managing editor
