Chiropractic and Nutrition

[Guest guest]

Dear Listserv members,

I read the message from Dr. Mathisen regarding the Ohio state challenges on nutrition. I'd like to take a moment to educate members on how to direct scope of practice issues. If you already know this, please hit delete. I wasn't aware of all the nuances of my profession until I was offered the privilege to sit on the OBCE. (Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners) When any of us DCs find out about things we perceive to be an attack on our scope of practice there are 3 ways you can help the profession.

1. Notify the profession via listserv and/or get others to join this.

2. Notify your state associations. ODOC & CAO

3. Officially notify your delegate to the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards. (If you don't know who that delegate is, contact the OBCE (503) 378-5816 and ask. It can change yearly. However, I've been the delegate for 3 1/2 yrs. and hope to continue for 1-2 more.)

The state associations must be kept in the loop to assist with 'promotion of the profession'. The board and FCLB delegates assist with scope of practice and public protection issues. At times these link with promotion of the profession, however, keep in mind our primary focus is public protection. The FCLB delegate meets once a yr with ALL Chiropractic licensing agencies around the world and quarterly with districts. In addition, we keep in touch with our delegates via email, phone, etc with issues that could affect licensing status for chiropractors around the world.

Because this listserv has a rule not to copy, fwd or use emails without express approval, when you post it here, I may see it, but can't do anything until I get approval. Then I have to sanitize the email, removing all names and identifiers, blah blah blah. In other words, it may not happen without you fwding to me or the board in an official email. I delete lots of listserv email without opening if my schedule gets too busy. By luck I caught this one and spent the extra 20 min to get to a point where I can fwd and work on it.

I'm explaining this process so you can understand the channels to help the profession more quickly. Often time is of the essence with legislative concerns.

Thanks to Dr. Mathisen for bringing this to our attn. I've now sent it to many others in the FCLB to rally and work on, including the Ohio board and delegate. FYI, in the past, with scope challenges, we've reviewed our education, gotten letters from college presidents, deans of academics, state board presidents & executive directors, outlined our state board test contents, cont education, and regulation requirements. I'll ask other delegates about the rationale of forming a separate board. This may be more than is necessary, but I can't definitely comment on that yet.

There is a good team effort on these issues as you've probably noticed with Vern's posts. You may not realize how valuable Joe Brimhall DC (president, WSCC), Lester Lamm DC - WSCC, Dave McTeague executive director OBCE and other are. They provide educated, professional effort that is absolutely invaluable. They answer questions about core education and more. You may recall last year's posts about the OSAA (Oregon Schools Athletic Association) questions that all the above individuals helped with (and are still working on!). This was also a scope issue of chiros treating mild traumatic brain injuries and return to play in athletic events, which did not require a separate board.

Thanks,

MInga Guerrero DC

president, OBCE

FCLB delegate

NBCE delegate

please note I'm copying this to the board as this is an official education note in my capacity on the board. Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.