On July 12, 2012, four students from across the country flew out to Scottsdale, AZ for the Council on Chiropractic Education’s Stakeholders meeting. A stakeholder is defined as one who is involved in or affected by a course of action. With that definition in mind, it came as a surprise to discover that this was the first time students had been allowed to participate and present at the stakeholders meeting; and yet, we weren’t even initially invited. What other group of people is more directly affected by the actions of the CCE than the collective student body? The standards and policies set by the CCE have a direct influence on what is taught and how it gets taught in our schools. When these standards and policies are not upheld by the schools, they risk losing accreditation. Without accreditation, the school loses its credibility and ability to produce graduating doctors eligible to receive licensure. Following the line of control and influence, it is easy to see that in the world of education the CCE reigns supreme. We students would soon discover the world of fear circulating under their tyranny.
On July, 11th, Wednesday evening, Derrel Pratt-Blackburn and Jarret Browning flew in representing Parker University in Texas, Robert Love from Life University in Georgia, and I from Life Chiropractic College West in California. The reason we took time out of our busy schedules to attend this meeting was because of the opportunity to express the frustrations experienced by many students as we see the principle of chiropractic continually watered down and overshadowed by treatments and diagnosis. Unless attending one of the few remaining schools actually teaching philosophy, “subluxation” is seen an evil word and “adjustment” is no more than a therapy, usually called a “manipulation”, and would most commonly be used for no more than relief of a musculoskeletal condition. So, what does the CCE have to do with this? The term “subluxation” and phrase “without drugs and surgery” were removed from the new 2012 CCE standards. The removal of these words holds major implications. Our syntax is what makes chiropractic separate and distinct from other health professions. You don’t see dentistry trying to abolish the word “cavity”. The fact that we don’t prescribe drugs or perform surgery makes us the #1 Natural Health-Care Profession in the world. The attempt to drop these terms from our standards by the CCE seems to be an attempt to gain “cultural authority,” but will most likely end up being little more than a future absorption of our profession into the medical community.
After a short night’s sleep our student task force, led by Dr. Martha Nessler of MCQI (Movement for Chiropractic Quality and Integrity), met for breakfast at 8am. It was there that we discussed what each of us wanted to present at the meeting at 9am. As I listened to the other students bring their topics to the surface, I was honored to know that I would be presenting with some amazing people who are dedicated to the advancement and preservation of chiropractic. I was also humbled to be sharing a seat at the table with principled chiropractors Danny Gambino, Brian Stenzler, Eric Swenson, Joe Merlo, and Jay Komarek. It was apparent we students were in good hands and exactly where we needed to be, even if we would soon enter what some would have called the “meat grinder.”
At 9am the MCQI student task force entered the CCE stakeholders meeting and were joined by numerous groups and organizations ready to voice their concerns with the direction of the CCE’s stance and standards for chiropractic. Some of the organizations represented were: ICA, ACA, IFCO, COCSA, MCQI, NBCE, ACC, FVS, and Sustainability Committee. The first part of the meeting consisted mostly of these groups voicing their disapproval as to the direction of the CCE (ICA, IFCO, MCQI, FVS, Sustainability Committee, and COCSA). Perhaps one of the biggest triumphs of the morning was a presentation by a COCSA representative. The following excerpt from an article written by The Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation highlights the importance of this presentation:
- “In what is being regarded as one of the most significant events at the recent CCE Stakeholder’s meeting in Scottsdale Arizona, John LaMonica DC, the 2nd Vice-President of the Congress of Chiropractic State Organizations (COCSA) and Vice President of the New York Chiropractic Council (NYCC) expressed several concerns about the CCE held by COCSA.
- Dr. LaMonica stated that COCSA was concerned about transparency of the CCE Board, representation on the Council and Site Teams, and retaining a focus on subluxation. While these are significant coming from COCSA, the most significant concern raised by COCSA at the CCE meeting was for chiropractic to remain a drugless profession.
- The CCE infuriated the conservative faction of the profession when it removed the phrase ‘without drugs and surgery’ from its most recent revision of the Standards for accreditation and ignited the current educational crisis within chiropractic.
- The reason that the comment from an executive at COCSA has drawn so much attention is that COCSA has made every effort to promote its stance in support of “States Rights” when it comes to the drug issue in chiropractic. This is the first time in recent history that COCSA has taken a public stand against the incorporation of drugs into the practice of chiropractic.
- LaMonica explained to the CCE leadership that the concerns regarding transparency, representation, drugs and subluxation were developed through a consensus process of the leadership in his organization. LaMonica explained that COCSA represented state associations whose combined membership represented about 35,000 DCs.
- According to Dr. Stephen Welsh, ICA Board Member, ‘The comments of Dr. LaMonica were significant in that they reinforced the concept that the concerns throughout the profession are NOT limited to a small minority group.’”
I continued to answer these questions to the best of my ability but quickly realized the CCE was far more prepared and well-versed as it showed in their ability to manipulate conversations, spin tangled webs of red tape, and relinquish the blame put one them and frame it on someone else. Interesting to think—most of the questions they were asking me, they should have been asking themselves. Are they not the people who are responsible for ensuring a “quality CHIROPRACTIC education?” Should they not be involved in conducting surveys to follow-up with recent graduates, ensuring that the education they are regulating is indeed of quality and more importantly of quality in relevance to a practicing chiropractor?
After a long and grueling day attending the CCE stakeholder’s meeting, these were my take-aways:
1) Under the reign of the CCE, a circle of fear exists amongst the institutions. If you are not on board with what the CCE has in plan, you risk losing accreditation. Even though each school had representation at this meeting, hardly anybody wanted to step up and take a stance unless they were primarily in agreement with the CCE and where they are headed. Nobody seems willing to conduct surveys of competency for fear of the consequences.
2) It seems apparent that the CCE is creating standards that allow institutions the flexibility to increasingly approach the Doctorate of Chiropractic Medicine all while watering down and filtering out the fundamentals of chiropractic. You can read the new current Standards, Policies, and Bylaws at: http://www.cce-usa.org/Publications.html
3) If it was not apparent enough where the CCE is headed, council chair Dr. Craig Little is a member of the West Hartford Group. So, who is the West Hartford Group and what is their political stance? This quote was taken from an article published in Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2008, by the current president of the WHG, Dr. Donald Murphy, “There can be no unity between the majority of non-surgical spine specialist chiropractic physicians and the minority of chiropractors who espouse metaphysical, pseudoreligious views of spinal subluxations as ‘silent killers’ [47]. The latter minority group needs to be marginalized from the mainstream majority group, and no longer should unrealistic efforts be made toward unification of these disparate factions within the profession.” Check out the full article at: http://www.westhartfordgroup.com/ourmessage.htm
4) When it comes to matters regarding the CCE and their involvement, the CCE is a professional group that is well-studied in their standards and the political process that goes in to protecting their ideals. If we choose to battle them in their arena, we must bring the big dogs and come as well prepared as they are.
5) There are 11 seats that are now open and waiting to be filled on the CCE. Public nominees are screened through the Council Development Committee. Those candidates are then voted on by the current councilors of the CCE, and elected based on a majority vote. However, it appears as if the CCE is quick to weed out anyone who is not aligned with their same beliefs. This inbreeding needs to come to an end.
6) ACA was one of the only organizations that showed full support for the CCE. It’s obvious that in their pursuit of the broadest scope of practice possible, they have laid in bed with the CCE.
7) If we students leave the school system without knowing the body to be a self-healing organism, the school and the CCE have failed us! Our future practice members don’t need another treatment. They need to be awakened to a new state of awareness and stream of consciousness. They need the empowerment that the ADIO principle provides.
So where do we go from here?
1) We can no longer accept playing in our little sand boxes and say, “politics is for someone else to handle.” We all need to step up, play big, and let our voice be heard. The CCE thinks the principled subluxation based chiropractor is the minority. If we decide to remain quiet, we prove them right! One of the main questions they kept asking during the meeting was, “what percent of the profession does your opinion represent?” Because we haven’t been getting personally involved in the political arena, it is now crucial that you support the political organizations that support your viewpoint. By showing your support for these organizations they can have numbers to back up their statements when presenting at various meetings and conferences. Currently, the IFCO, ICA, and MCQI are organizations that I choose to support and I suggest you look into what political organizations are fighting for what you believe in.
2) The fundamentals of a chiropractic education need to be clearly defined and represented in the foundation of the CCE standards. These fundamentals were laid down for us within the green books, 33 principles, and by the main developer of chiropractic B.J. Palmer, DC, PhC. They are the rules of the game. You wouldn’t show up for basketball practice with a tennis racket and call a 3-pointer an ace.
3) A true chiropractic competency survey must be distributed, collected and analyzed. If distributed amongst recent graduates in practice, sample questions could include:
“Did your school properly prepare you for a career in chiropractic?” “What percent of what you were taught are you currently using in practice?” “What is your WHY for what you do?” “What is your current income and is it what you originally imagined yourself earning?” “Do you feel you received proper education in the art, science, philosophy and business of chiropractic and are you able to communicate that in multiple settings?” “Are you able to make your student loan payments?” “How would you rate your quality of life?”
We the students need to band together and initiate a movement. It’s as much our responsibility, as well as our fellow chiropractors, to step up to the challenge. When enough people come together, get organized, and make a stand for a higher purpose, change is imminent.
It's time, Rise Up
