The upcoming DC2017 conference in Washington, D.C., is packed with great educational content and world-class presenters. Here we pose 7 questions to two of the featured speakers:
1. What’s your name and the name of your presentation?
Drs. Jenny Brocker and Elise Hewitt presenting “Can Impacting Spinal Health Affect Pediatric Well Being? A Look at the Evidence.”
2. What makes you an authority on this subject?
Dr. Elise has had a private chiropractic practice limited to pediatrics for 28 years and was joined in practice eight years ago by Dr. Jenny. Both are board-certified pediatric chiropractors and both hold leadership positions in the ACA Pediatrics Council. Dr. Elise was president of the Council for 10 years and is currently the immediate past president. Dr. Jenny was the vice president for three years and is the current president. Both also have contributed to research on topics related to chiropractic pediatrics. In addition, Dr. Elise is a member of the NCMIC Speakers Bureau as a pediatric specialist, is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Western States, and a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine. (Their strongest qualification, however, is the fact that they both act like kids 50 percent of the time!)
3. Why should doctors of chiropractic be interested in learning more about your topic?
Kids need chiropractic too! Chiropractic is often underutilized as a treatment for common pediatric conditions. Our presentation will discuss the safety of chiropractic care for the pediatric population, highlight some of the current evidence for treating common pediatric conditions, and suggest directions for future research on the efficacy of pediatric chiropractic care.
4. How can the information you share in your presentation directly help chiropractors in practice?
We will provide the groundwork for practitioners to deliver evidence-based pediatric care in their practices by giving doctors of chiropractic a concise overview of the current research on the safety and efficacy of chiropractic care for children.
5. What about you or your presentation may surprise people?
People are often surprised to learn there really is a substantial body of evidence supporting the safety of the use of manual therapies in children.
6. What’s one thing you learned during your career that you wished you would have known at the beginning?
Dr. Elise: All that really matters is taking care of your patients. The other aspects of being in business will fall into place when your patients’ needs are your highest priority.
Dr. Jenny: Being a good doctor does not mean always having an answer. Being a good doctor is all about relating to a patient’s experience, building relationships with patients (and their parents), and being able to say “I don’t know, but I will see what I can find out.”
7. What book should every chiropractor read, and why?
A Patient’s Point of View, by William Esteb, because it’s easy to forget what it’s like to be a patient once caught up in the details of building and running a chiropractic practice. Taking time to see things from the patient’s point of view and remembering that patients are more than the sum of their parts is part of what makes doctors of chiropractic unique health care providers.
(We’d also recommend anything by Dr. Seuss, because all you need to know about life, you can learn from Dr. Seuss!)
To learn more about the wide variety of education programs and speakers featured at DC2017 in March, visit www.DC2017.org.
To view Q&As with other DC2017 speakers, click here.
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) is the largest professional chiropractic organization in the United States. ACA attracts the most principled and accomplished chiropractors, who understand that it takes more to be called an ACA chiropractor.
