Most of the top leaders in health and government were in attendance, confirming their belief in American institutions and refusing to be intimidated. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, and the heads of the U.S. Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services, and practically every other major health agency in the U.S. (and several from foreign countries) were present at the sessions. The heightened security for the event made no difference to the chiropractic profession, which returned for the 17th consecutive year of participating on a basis of equity and parity with all other health professions.
The APHA exhibit hall is the largest of its kind in the world. There were over 600 exhibit booths in the Georgia World Congress Center, and the Chiropractic Health Care (CHC) section of APHA had its booth there too, disseminating information about contemporary chiropractic to thousands of attendees.
The educational program of the meeting contained over 900 scientific and technical paper presentations, with three full sessions devoted to 12 chiropractic papers by 56 co-authors. Continuing education and relicensing credits for these sessions was arranged through the Palmer College of Chiropractic's postgraduate department.
The titles of the three chiropractic sessions were:
- Chiropractic in the Changing Health Care Environment
- Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Practice
- Public Health Education
In addition, Dr. Mitchell Haas of Western States Chiropractic College presided at one of the surgeon general's major presentations, and Dr. Lisa Killinger of PCC presented and co-presided at a special session on the relationship of the faith community, terrorism, and public health.
The "Distinguished Service Award" for 2001 was presented to Dr. Cheryl Hawk in recognition of her leadership and accomplishments in APHA and public health.
Section Election Results
The elected officers and appointed committee chairs of the Chiropractic Health Care section for 2002 were announced at the meeting:
Chairperson:
Lisa Killinger,DC
Chair-elect:
Thomas Carpenter,DC
Past-chair:
Christine Goertz, DC,PhD
Secretary:
Elaine Morschhauser,DC
Section Councilors:
Monica Smith,DC,PhD
Robert Jusino,DC,MPH
Karen Konarski-Hart,DC
David Kirkland,DC,MSH
Fred Colley,PhD,MPH
Andrew Isaacs,DC
Governing Councilors:
William Meeker,DC MPH
Kurt Hegetschweiler,DC
Action Board Representative:
Mitchell Haas,DC,MS
Committee Chairs:
Awards:
Michael Perillo,DC,MPH
Continuing Education:
Monica Smith,DC,PhD
Lori Byrd (co-chairs)
Membership:
Cheryl Hawk,DC,PhD
Nominations:
Rand Baird,DC,MPH
Program:
Monica Smith,DC,PhD
Publicity:
Bonnie Hillsberg,DC,MEd,MHA
Section Manual:
Mitchell Haas,DC,MS
Newsletter Editor:
Thomas Carpenter,DC
Drs. Killinger, Goertz, and Carpenter will serve on the APHA Inter-Sectional Council (ISC) at the next annual meeting, which will be held in Philadelphia, November 10-14, 2002. Anyone willing to assist these officers with their important duties during the upcoming year is encouraged to contact any of them; volunteers are very welcome!
The Chiropractic Health Care Section of APHA is the only one of APHA's sections to have both the words "health" and "care" in its section name. Our profession is recognized and respected by this oldest, largest, most influential public health association in the United States and in the world.
Faye Wong, the APHA president-elect, recently singled out our profession for recognition, and APHA President Michael Bird was both a guest speaker at an ICA seminar and a guest columnist for Dynamic Chiropractic in the November 5, 2001 issue. And on the subject of publications, this is a reminder that the October 2002 issue of the American Journal of Public Health is being dedicated to complementary and alternative medicine topics (see the November 5, 2001 issue of DC, or go to www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/23/07.html).
We've come a long way within APHA, but our CHC section membership has dropped below the crucial 250 mark for the first time in several years! Please consider joining APHA (or renewing a lapsed membership) now. Membership information can be obtained at the APHA website at http://www.apha.org, or by calling Dr. Cheryl Hawk, CHC membership chair, at 563-884-5199.
Join us! Keep your profession's voice strong in APHA!
Rand Baird,DC
Torrance, California
Click here for previous articles by Rand Baird, DC, MPH, FICA, FICC.