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Dr. Terry Rondberg wins ‘Texas Humanitarian’ Award

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Dr. Terry A. Rondberg, CEO of the World Chiropractic Alliance and publisher of The Chiropractic Journal, was presented with the prestigious “Sterling Pruitt Humanitarian Award,” by the Chiropractic Society of Texas (CST).

The award, presented on April 9, 1999, is named after one of Texas’ most beloved and respected chiropractic pioneers and is given “In appreciation of distinguished service to our fellow man in the interest of public health and for dedication to public health and for dedication to the sick and suffering of the State of Texas.”

According to Society spokesman R.J. Kelly, D.C., “This award is the highest honor given by the CST and recognizes the chiropractor who has done the most for the profession… It is our belief that Dr. Rondberg is truly a warrior and visionary in chiropractic and we are very proud to acknowledge him with this award.”

On a more personal note, Dr. Kelly said that, in regards to the Rondberg award, he was reminded of a remark coach Bum Phillips made describing Earl Campbell: “He may not be the only one in his class, but it doesn’t take long to call roll.”

Kelly added: “Terry Rondberg has not only been extraordinary at identifying problems within the profession, but also at doing something about them. He saw that we did not have a periodical that represented principled chiropractic, so he created one. He found there were no books on chiropractic for the lay public; he has now written several. Observing that there was no association to act as a watchdog for ‘the principles,’ he created the WCA. Discovering that there was no ethical congruent malpractice insurance available, Dr. Rondberg established CBS.”

The choice of Dr. Rondberg to receive the award was unusual since it is ordinarily given to doctors within the state of Texas. Dr. Sid Williams was another “non-Texan” to receive the award in the past.

In accepting the award, Rondberg said he was “incredibly moved by the honor, particularly since the state is filled with principled doctors who have gained a widespread reputation for their diligent defense of subluxation-based chiropractic.”

He noted that he was accepting it on behalf of all doctors who continue to uphold the principles of chiropractic, and will be motivated to continue his work to make subluxation-based chiropractic the number one health care choice of the new millennium.

Peter Morgan named WCA NGO liaison

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Peter Morgan, DC, long-time head of Mission Chiropractic and organizer of dozens of chiropractic humanitarian missions to developing nations, is undertaking another “mission” — this time, to the United Nations.

Morgan has been tapped by the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) to serve as its primary liaison with the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO). The WCA is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information.

Since earning that designation in 1998, WCA representatives have worked with health officials in numerous countries, and have served in leadership roles with the NGO Health Committee. The WCA was a signatory of the Declaration on Patient-Centered Healthcare developed by the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations, and established a working relationship with the WHO, participating in the WHO Consultation on Chiropractic in Milan, Italy, and providing valued information for the WHO Guidelines on Basic Training and Safety in Chiropractic.

Morgan also heads the WCA Council on Humanitarian Efforts, which provides support for various chiropractic organizations providing free chiropractic services to underserved populations around the world.

For the last 20 months, the primary NGO liaison spot was held by Tim Merrick, DC, who attended briefings at the UN’s Manhattan headquarters, met with representatives of other NGOs from around the world, and shared information about chiropractic and the role chiropractors can play in addressing health concerns in developing nations as well as in first-world countries. Morgan worked closely with him in maintaining chiropractic’s presence in the NGO community. Dr. Merrick will continue to work with Morgan on UN-related issues.

Morgan is familiar with the special needs of the developing world, having participated in numerous humanitarian trips to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Trinidad, Tibet and other nations. His frequent missions to Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010 gave him firsthand knowledge of the special benefits of chiropractic aid in such areas. He often shares his stories in The Chiropractic Journal, and has inspired many DCs to volunteer in humanitarian efforts.

What is a chiropractic humanitarian?

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by Peter Morgan, DC

A major focus of the World Chiropractic Alliance is to promote chiropractic humanitarianism around the world, and that raises the issue: what is a chiropractic humanitarian? The ways in which we all help others – from the patients we see daily in our offices to the third world children we meet on missions – makes us all “humanitarians” in a way.

As chiropractic humanitarians, we believe that improving human welfare is a moral imperative and by correcting subluxations we help to alleviate the suffering of others. Chiropractic humanitarians strive to ensure that those who are poor and those who have suffered traumatic events receive a chiropractic adjustment, so they can cope with this the physical, mental, and emotional stress they are called upon to endure.

Chiropractic humanitarians are strong professionals, students, and lay people. They are male and female, young and old, of all colors, cultures, ideologies, and backgrounds. Their motivations for humanitarian work are diverse, but all are united by their commitment to humanitarianism and chiropractic.

Chiropractic humanitarians strive to provide assistance to the increasing number of people affected by man-made and natural disasters every year. They reach out to the poorest and neediest people regardless of where they are in the world or what nationality, social or religious group they belong to.

They reflect everything that’s good and compassionate about our profession and our humanity – and should be respected and supported financially.

We face a future in which more humanitarian aid will be needed. If chiropractic humanitarians do not have full access to those in need, many thousands of people will not receive the chiropractic care they require. The best way to ensure chiropractic humanitarians can fulfill their mission is by improving awareness of and respect for the principles upon which chiropractic work is conducted.

In theory, humanitarian work is simple: you help people in need. But knowing how to help others is not always easy. The World Chiropractic Alliance, in its role as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information, is in a unique position to support and publicize a variety of chiropractic missions. This is why it’s so important to be a member of the World Chiropractic Alliance and, in that way, support the efforts of chiropractic humanitarians everywhere.

Visit www.WorldChiropracticAlliance.org for more information on supporting or joining this remarkable organization.

 (Peter Morgan, DC, is head of Mission Chiropractic, and has led dozens of chiropractic humanitarian missions to developing nations. He is the chairman of the World Chiropractic Alliance Council on Humanitarian Efforts. Dr. Morgan and Tim Merrick, DC, serve as the WCA’s NGO representatives affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information.)

WCA mission update… Returning to Haiti

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by Peter H. Morgan, DC

The World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) has coordinated and supported a number of humanitarian chiropractic mission trips in 2013, including a return visit by chiropractors to Haiti. The trip took place in October and involved a team of 55 DCs.

The effort was definitely in keeping with the new mission statement of the World Chiropractic Alliance, which states that the organization is dedicated to:  “develop, promote and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations that, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care.”

Although team members stayed at a Four-Star hotel on a beautiful white sand beach, with a view of the mountains behind them, the trip was anything but a fun vacation.

Each morning, we rose at seven, grabbed a quick breakfast, and were out the door in a half hour’s time. In two rented buses and three SUVs, we fanned out to reach 20 different destinations.

The group was divided into 10 smaller teams, with each unit going to a school in the morning and a church in the afternoon. At each school, we taught the “Straighten Up America” program and checked about 250 children. When we pulled up at the churches, thousands of people were usually lined up waiting to be adjusted.

Each 10-person unit cared for as many as 600 people a day, meaning the whole mission team saw more than 6,000 people a day for four days straight. We not only check and adjust each individual, we tell the chiropractic story to groups of 50 at a time. This is awesome and fun work. Giving for the sake of giving, giving out of our own abundance, using the blessing that God bestowed upon us: our healing hands.

It’s been nearly two years since the devastating earthquake hit the island in January 2010. In many ways, little has changed since then and, in some ways, things have actually gotten worse. There was a cholera outbreak in the quake’s aftermath, and other diseases run rampant as well. During each trip we’ve made to Haiti in the years since the earthquake, we adjust many with cholera. At one orphanage, all 100+ children I see have fungal infections on their heads. Some have never owned a toothbrush.

Exhausted, this trip’s mission team members returned to the hotel each evening to share a meal and swap stories of the miracles we’d witnessed that day. Then we’d hold an impromptu chiropractic philosophy roundtable, and even teach and review chiropractic technique.

I’m back in New York now, but I get phone calls and e-mails from Haiti every day. “Please don’t forget us. Please help us,” they plead. I tell them we won’t forget. Ever. And we’ll be back to help. Again and again, until we bring chiropractic healing to every one of the people in that area.

(Peter Morgan, DC, is head of Mission Chiropractic, and has led dozens of chiropractic humanitarian missions to developing nations. He is the chairman of the World Chiropractic Alliance Council on Humanitarian Efforts. Dr. Morgan and Tim Merrick, DC, serve as the WCA’s NGO representatives affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information.)

World Chiropractic Alliance issues new mission statement

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The Board of Directors of the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) has issued a revised mission statement that puts the emphasis on worldwide humanitarian efforts. “The new mission statement is a reflection of our desire to create an ever-expanding ripple effect of positive actions,” stated the organization’s founder and President Terry A. Rondberg, DC. “We want to support and assist individual doctors, the profession as a whole, and ultimately the world.”

Peter Morgan, DC, chairman of the WCA Council on Humanitarian Efforts, said the WCA was inspired by the work of organizations that bring chiropractic and related health care and aid to developing nations and underserved populations around the globe.

“We have seen the impact a group of dedicated and compassionate chiropractors can have,” he said. “Although the WCA has always supported those humanitarian missions, and promoted them in The Chiropractic Journal, we feel the time is right to step up our efforts and make this a major focus of the group.”

The World Chiropractic Alliance was founded in 1989 as a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and strengthening chiropractic around the world. It is in a unique position to coordinate and support a variety of chiropractic missions since it is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. Timothy Merrick, DC, the WCA NGO representative, attends weekly briefings at the United Nations headquarters in New York and meets with other NGOs from around the world to share information about chiropractic.

“We have an opportunity to play a major role in addressing health concerns in developing nations as well as in first-world countries,” he explained. “We frequently see people in remote, poverty-stricken areas walking miles to get to a doctor of chiropractic who is visiting as part of a health care mission. They want chiropractic; they need chiropractic. And we all gain from the experience of serving others.

To initiate the new emphasis on service, the World Chiropractic Alliance has scheduled its first annual World Chiropractic Alliance Humanitarian Forum on Oct. 2, 2010 in Long Branch, NJ. Organizations involved in health mission — including Mission Life International, Mission-Chiropractic, Spinal Missions, ChiroMission, The “Best Mission Trip Ever”, and AdJust World — will attend the meeting to discuss how the WCA can assist in their work.

The WCA plans to provide scholarships to students wishing to participate in mission, provide other administrative and/or financial support to humanitarian groups, coordinate with NGOs in United Nations work, raise awareness of chiropractic charitable work through the global health care community, and provide information and resources to groups and individuals engaged in such work.

The new mission statement also reflects the organization’s continued commitment to supporting the chiropractic profession as a whole, and providing a wide range of resources to assist individual doctors of chiropractic.

The new mission statement of the World Chiropractic Alliance is to:

  • Develop, promote and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations that, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care
  • Support health and social measures that would benefit the underserved populations worldwide
  • Promote chiropractic as the only discipline that focuses on correcting subluxations and reducing the stress that interferes with the body’s ability to self-regulate and heal
  • Provide resources needed by doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic students to become more competent and successful practitioners

All doctors of chiropractic, chiropractic students, and chiropractic supporters are invited to join the WCA by visiting the WCA website at www.WorldChiropracticAlliance.org.

The World Chiropractic Alliance is an international professional association representing doctors of chiropractic, chiropractic students, and chiropractic patients. It’s four-fold mission is to develop, promote and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations who, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care; support health and social measures that would benefit the underserved populations worldwide; promote chiropractic as the only discipline that focuses on correcting subluxations and reducing the stress that interferes with the body’s ability to self-regulate and heal; and provide resources needed by doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic students to become more competent and successful practitioners.

DCs helping in Haiti

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The new mission statement by the World Chiropractic Alliance puts an emphasis on humanitarian work around the world, re-dedicating itself to “ Develop, promote and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations that, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care,”

We’re obviously not the only ones recognizing the desperate need for chiropractic care as well as basic health care, food, water, clothing and shelter. That’s why the chiropractic profession continues to have a strong presence in Haiti, redoubling its humanitarian and relief efforts in the wake of the January 12, 2010 earthquake that left some 300,000 people dead and more than 1.5 million homeless.

Around the world, chiropractors have demonstrated compassion and generosity in a wide variety of ways, from fundraising by individual practices to ambitious on-site mission work.

Among a few of the many efforts:

Mission Chiropractic—Peter Morgan, DC, reports that the humanitarian group has already made four trips to Haiti this year. They returned just days after the earthquake and helped install water purification units to bring fresh water to a small village that was nearly totally destroyed in the disaster. They continue to provide chiropractic care at the Mission Chiropractic Clinic in Port Au Prince, are rebuilding a school and church, building a homeless shelter, and continue to distribute water and food. “The people in this community begged us to not forget them. We will not,” pledged Dr. Morgan. The group is the process of helping to open a chiropractic-based orphanage called Organisation Des Families Pour La Croissance Des Enfants Demunis: Mission Pour La Vie Internacionale. (Mission Life International: Family Organization for Orphaned Children). For more information, visit www.mission-chiropractic.com.

Heather Jones, DC—When ChiroMission put together a team of 36 chiropractors to provide chiropractic adjustments to anyone in Haiti who needed them (including medical doctors and nurses who were there as part of other relief efforts), Canadian chiropractor Heather Jones, DC, didn’t hesitate. “I was amazed at how everyone worked together to help each other,” she told her local newspaper, which ran a feature on her experience. “I will never forget the children. Even with these tough conditions, there was joy in their eyes. All they wanted was to hold my hand and to hug me.” The team also brought donations of food, clothing and other much needed supplies.

Rennie Statler, DC—This Danbury, Conn., chiropractor received an e-mail asking him to help out on a Stepping Stones mission trip to Haiti shortly after the earthquake. Within 45 minutes, he had made plane reservations and arranged for another doctor to cover his office. In addition to distributing rice and water in Port-au-Prince, the team set up adjusting tables and was immediately surrounded by a crowd of some 300 people wanting the healing only DCs can give.

The Martineau Chiropractic Clinics—In England, the Devon-based clinics held a raffle to raise funds for the Haitian victims, giving away prizes such as a free chiropractic session, a massage and even Pilates instruction. Plus, they matched all the money raised by the raffle!

Cheryl van der Mark, DC—The Ontario, Canada doctor sold her practice to devote herself full time to work in Haiti, where she has been living for the past two years. After surviving the quake, she decided to accept an offer to manage the Mission of Hope Haiti health care facilities. Now, she oversees an outpatient clinic staffed by Haitians, orthopedic surgery, prosthetics laboratory, and an in-patient ward—not to mention working to build a new hospital! An article in the Oakville Beaver newspaper noted that, in addition to all this, she also provides chiropractic care to Haitians and North American doctors working in Haiti. “I’m doing a lot of hands on and a lot of administration at the same time,” she stated in the article. “There’s no set hours. We’re working pretty much round the clock and on weekends as well. We live on the compound where the clinic is, so working has been improvised.”

Tzu Chi International—The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation continues to provide health care to Haitian survivors. Unlike many medical organizations, Tzu Chi provides a wide variety of health services, including oriental medicine, dental services, and chiropractic care. So far, since the earthquake, volunteers have made 13 trips to Haiti, most recently providing school supplies to children along with health care.

Shannon Johnson, DC—Dr. Johnson left his Greenup, Ky., practice for more than a week to work with Angel Missions Haiti, a non-profit medical and education group. As he told local reporters at WOWK-TV, “They were just in so much pain and hurt and there’s no help. I felt I needed to go and I spoke to my wife and asked if she cared if I volunteered and she said no, you need to go.”

Elliott Chiropractic Center—The Canonsburg, Penn., practice sponsored a four-mile relief walk, where participants paid $10 to participate. All proceeds went to benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti. In addition to the walk, Elliott offered free services to new patients who donate $20 to the relief effort.

The list goes on and on

“The World Chiropractic Alliance applauds these efforts and encourages all DCs to look for opportunities to help whenever a crisis hits, whether it’s in their hometown or across the globe,” said Terry A. Rondberg, DC, founder and president of the World Chiropractic Alliance.

WCA sponsors Haiti relief mission

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In response to the emergency in Haiti, the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) sponsored a special Mission-Chiropractic trip to the devastated country in January 2010.

Headed by Peter Morgan, DC, the team of 15 chiropractors and support staff flew to Haiti on Jan. 20 and spent five days delivering chiropractic care, first aid, and humanitarian relief to residents in an area close to Port Au Prince. In addition, the team distributed food and installed vital water filtration systems, which allowed people access to clean water for the first time since the Jan. 12 earthquake. The systems were donated by Connecticut-based KX Technologies.

Dr. Morgan, a long-time WCA member, is the founder and head of Mission-Chiropractic and has extensive emergency relief experience, including organizing efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York. He and his volunteers had just returned from a regular chiropractic mission trip to Haiti on Monday, January 11 — one day before the earthquake destroyed much of the country and killed as many as 230,000 people.

Morgan’s team joined up with a group of volunteers headed by Herman Mendoza, founder of Stepping Stones Ministries. The two groups received clearance from the Haitian Consulate General in New York to provide relief assistance.

Because there were no available living accommodations in the area, the team was housed by one of Morgan’s patients in the area, chiropractic advocate and Haitian citizen Saurel Charles.

“We installed five water filtration systems in five different locations,” Morgan reported upon his return. “These systems will be used to provide clean drinking water to entire communities. Among the recipients was a makeshift hospital in the rubble of the worst hit section in Port Au Prince. A community ambulance service that was nearly totally destroyed, as was the house of the Pastor in the community that we adopted.”

Upon arrival, the chiropractic team rented three large SUVs and filled them with food and water as well as chiropractic tables.

“We adjusted a few thousand people in tent-city refugee camps around the corner from the Capitol building,” Morgan explained. “The next day, we ventured into the fields behind the US Embassy, where we offered low-tech bandaging and wound care. We adjusted hundreds of people who were living in makeshift tents constructed with sticks and bed sheets.

“As we worked on these people, they begged us for food and water stating, ‘We have not had a drink of water in many days. We need food and water!”

Throughout the trip, the team filled and emptied the SUVs again and again, bringing as much food and water as they could to the desperate people, giving adjustments whenever possible.

“Two associates of our team served in the hospitals assisting in amputations and delivering babies,” Morgan added.

The water filtration systems were a particular blessing to the people. Many people who survived the initial earthquake have since died from diseases contracted by drinking contaminated water.

According to one AP report, “Nearly a month after the quake, respiratory infections, malnutrition, diarrhea from waterborne diseases and a lack of appropriate food for young children may be the biggest killers, health workers say.”

Ironically, generous but ill-informed donors had shipped in huge quantities of powered infant formula, which was useless or dangerous due to the lack of clean water and access to sterilized bottles.

The neighborhood targeted by Morgan and his team, near their host’s home, was almost completely destroyed.

“The school, church, and most homes are gone,” he said. “We have decided to adopt this community. Our mission is to provide full time chiropractic at this location. We also intend to rebuild the school, church, and many homes. We would like to build a shelter at the home of Saurel Charles. We intend to continue to distribute water and food. The people in this community begged us to not forget them. We will not. Our plans are to have two-to-three full time chiropractors at this site until our mission is accomplished. We are asking the chiropractic profession to support our mission.”

Nine days in Tibet

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by Derek Conte, DC

“Two months after my mother, Sarah, passed away in Dec. 2009, I saw an invitation in The Chiropractic Journal to join a mission trip to the mysterious and far away land of Tibet. A photo showed a small temple on a hill and two monks, robed in red, nearby. In the background rose the massive, snow-covered slabs of the Himalayas. I was entranced. The trip was to be led by the World Chiropractic Alliance’s World Chiropractic Humanitarian Forum and Dr. Peter Morgan. I never had any desire before to visit such a place, but somehow I was strongly called to go.

I had moved mom in to live with me the previous year after I took the x-ray that revealed her cancer in what turned out to be the last year of her life. Back in the late 1960s, I remember her reading to my sister and me from the books of Lobsang Rampa, a Tibetan Lama, which told of his world and religion. Perhaps it was this connection that I was feeling when I thought about taking this journey, or maybe some need to break free from my own world and routine, but I knew it was time to look outward again.

The chiropractic mission was attached to a group called “Sacred Journeys,” which offers guided tours to Tibet and other sacred places. When I spoke with Dr. Morgan and asked for his advice on how to help create the mission in Tibet he said to me, “Doc, just make it happen. Go there and you’ll know what to do.” That simple direction left no more to be said. I knew it was up to me to use my chiropractic skills to help wherever I could. So, I left on August 1st with just a backpack that held only a minimum of gear plus a vial of my mother’s ashes. I kept my mind and heart free from expectations. Our mission team had five members: a doctor of Chinese medicine (Kip Clauss), a clinical psychologist (Michael Katz), two chiropractors (myself and Tamara Petersen) and a laywoman (Amparo Far) from Spain who is a practicing Buddhist.

Upon arriving in the capital, Lhasa, I noticed a striking quiet and stillness. The air was fresh and sweet. There was a heady, dreamy feeling as we carried our bags to the waiting caravan. The overall environment in Tibet is extreme with rocky, dry and unforgiving ground that prevents growing anything other than barley or rice near the river banks. It was cool in the day and cold at night. The sun is so strong that covering the head and arms was crucial during hikes.

To get to the hinterlands we visited, we would drive off-road as high as our trucks could take us and then hike for two or three hours more, as high as 16,000 ft., up to a village, nunnery or monastery nestled in the mountainside.

The thin air took its toll on all during these hikes. On our first day of hiking, after hours of walking up toward the sacred caves in Samye (one of Tibet’s spiritual centers), I began to falter and lagged behind the group despite working to push myself through the pain. I had to stop on the steep slopes every few steps to pant for breath. My legs were dead. I felt at the breaking point, physically and mentally. Eventually, I noticed I was alone and found myself wondering if I would die up there. Would that be so bad, I wondered, in a place like this? I stopped, gathered myself, and began to notice the majesty of the space and quiet around me. A great sense of well-being swept through me. I knew my mother would have loved this place and I used this moment to pray for her and spread some of her ashes on a cluster of beautiful wildflowers and in a stream I discovered nearby.

Our first stop after these mountain hikes would be an eating-place, usually a moderately sized room seating 15-20 people where we would have dinner. This was conducive to mission work because people were relaxed. At dinner this same evening, Michael Katz noticed a local who was favoring his neck. We had our Tibetan guide, Tsering, speak to the entire room and say that there were doctors present who would help them if they wanted. The man was reluctant, but at the urging of his wife the brave soul came forward. After a brief translated history was taken, the people gasped as the adjustment was done and the patient laughed and smiled as he moved his neck freely and without pain. And in that moment, the mission began. Everyone started lining up to tell us of their ailments.

Word traveled quickly through the village, bringing even more people. A tremendous energy was in the air as Kip Clauss grabbed the video camera and translated for Tamara and me as we interviewed the patients. The languages bouncing back and forth, the tension of the evaluations, the physical surprise of the adjustments, and the joy of the results combined to make an indelible memory. One teenage boy had hip and groin pain, bladder control problems and testicular pain with an elevated testicle. We adjusted the mid-lumbers and stretched the psoas muscle and cleared the genitofemoral nerve for him.

This scene was typical of how the mission work would unfold. From modest beginnings grew intense and exciting moments of healing, joy and communion. The effect of pure chiropractic, in its elemental form, was profound.

Another day, at an outdoor eating-place, I offered to help a woman who was rubbing her hurting foot. As I was working with her, a crowd gathered around and a five-hour adjusting session ensued, during which I adjusted dozens of monks and villagers alike. We saw many problems, like chronically dislocated joints, tooth decay, old severed tendon injuries, thrombophlebitis, suspected organic problems and much more, which would have benefitted from earlier chiropractic or medical intervention. But we advised the people accordingly and did our best to help everyone with the only tools we had: our hands.

Tibetans are beautiful people with deeply lined faces etched by a hard life, and skin made reddish-brown by the unfiltered sun. They smile easily when engaged and believe it rude to complain, even when hurt or sick. Most have never seen a doctor, dentist or hospital, much less a chiropractor. In a place like this, a single, well-placed chiropractic adjustment can change a life. One villager I helped was stooped over from a motorcycle accident 10 days earlier, his face badly bruised, and within a few minutes he was upright and smiling with his family. He can earn a living again.

For me, this feeling of usefulness and being needed was very rewarding. I now know that wherever I am, I have the capacity to bring a ‘chiropractic mission’ with me and that is a very formidable idea. Ironically, though I was giving something to the people, I felt like I was the greatest recipient; not only from the work we did, but in the way I received so many blessings to my soul just by being among the Tibetan people. There were several powerful moments on this journey for me, spiritually, when what I witnessed brought me to tears, like hearing the nuns chant and sing in a temple, meeting a holy woman whose radiant energy penetrated me and when in the marketplace on my last day in Tibet, a child broke away from her mother’s hand just to run up before me and declare, “Welcome to Tibet!” It was like being hit with a hammer. I only wish she could have said that to my mother, too.

(Dr. Derek Conte lives and practices in Smyrna, Georgia. Contact him by e-mail:drderek57@msn.com)