It is always with much anticipation that the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) posts the first piece of its National Chiropractic Health Month toolkit each summer. While the bulk of the toolkit is posted in September, the sample proclamation comes a month early to give members of the chiropractic profession enough time to reach out to their state and local government offices and begin the process of applying for a proclamation.
Over the years, the volume of NCHM proclamations has increased as doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic students have become more familiar with that process, which ACA outlines step-by-step in its NCHM toolkit.
The key part, however, is just getting started. Chiropractors in Texas, for example, have the NCHM proclamation process down to a science. They amassed a record 31 proclamations in that state in 2020 – during a pandemic, no less – by being organized and recognizing and encouraging members who are successful through their social media channels. (You can view many of the proclamations from Texas and other states here.)
As the Texas Chiropractic Association’s Andrew Oteo, DC, explained to ACA Blogs last year:
“National Chiropractic Health Month is a prime opportunity to shine the spotlight on chiropractic and the Texas Chiropractic Association takes it seriously. Texas has led the nation in the number of proclamations the past two years for a reason: we plan early! We work closely with our Board of Directors and state leaders, encouraging them to reach out to members in their respective districts. Our goal is to ensure all the major cities are accounted for first and then the other smaller cities across the state.
“We heavily promote ACA’s online NCHM resources and provide our members with a proclamation template that mentions both ACA and TCA. We try to make it easy. When our doctors achieve a proclamation in their city or county, we make a big deal about it,” Dr. Oteo continued. “We feature them on all of our social media channels. They enjoy the accolades and we’ve significantly increased the number of likes, shares and retweets throughout the month. Promoting chiropractic is our No. 1 priority, but it is a win-win for everyone.”
Sample Proclamation, Instructions Available Online
For NCHM 2021, ACA encourages all states and individuals to get moving on their proclamations! This year’s campaign, “Keep Moving!”, focuses on how physical activity contributes to both physical and mental health. Visit NCHM online at www.acatoday.org/NCHM for a sample NCHM 2021 proclamation and step-by-step instructions on how to reach to our local government.
