What Are We Doing Here?
What am I doing here and what are you doing there? That is a curious opening line for an incoming ICS President’s message perhaps, so please let me explain.
Sitting in chiropractic school, we all had dreams and visions of our future practices, successes and professional lives. In my class at Logan, we had a great group of students that pushed each other academically, encouraged each other when things got rough and we socialized at every opportunity. We truly had each other’s backs (chiropractic pun intended). In my dreams of the future, being your ICS President was not even a blip on my radar. My dream was to help bridge the cooperation gap between DCs and MDs and find a way to help more people with chiropractic that were otherwise being steered in other directions.
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After nine years in solo practice, I merged my practice with an internal medicine group and became a partner in the group a year later. What the MDs and I learned about each other is that we all want the same thing, that is to help the patients we serve. With our new merger, we now had the ability to offer every patient a broader choice of talents, tools and training. My dream had come true.
It was at one of my first partner meetings that a representative of a political medical association came to speak to us. Not knowing I was a DC, he explained that he wanted our group to join their association for a variety of reasons but only one that I remember: “keep the chiropractors in check”! Anyone that knows me personally can attest that the rest of the meeting did not go so well for this gentleman and he was escorted out. Blood boiling, I marched to my personal office, called the ICS and asked for an application for membership. The rest, as they say, is history.
I am involved in the ICS because there are influential professions and groups that see themselves as our competition that want nothing more than to eliminate or minimize us. The bias the drove the Wilk case still exists as not-so-hidden agenda items on their quest to obtain market share. It would be naive to believe that the unfair practices and schemes we suffer through daily from insurance plans and regulatory agencies (as well as diminished cultural authority) all happened by mistake. Make no mistake about it, we have enemies, competitors and predators. In politics, if you don’t have a seat at the table, guess what, you are on the menu.
Membership and involvement in the ICS is our strongest strategy to protect our license and ability to earn a living. I am in utter disbelief to know that approximately two-thirds of the Illinois DCs are not members of the ICS….yet, I was just as apathetic prior to finding my motivation. The staff at the ICS office in Springfield works very hard for us every day and I am very proud of their commitment.
So, now you understand what I am doing here. But I ask again, what are you doing there? Join the ICS, contribute to the PAC fund, and attend the conventions. Personally, I have been blessed and enriched by joining the good fight with very good people. We would love to have you join us!
