At the height of his frustration, he decided he would just skip the football games. What did it matter, he didn't get to play much anyway? At this point, we had a discussion about "commitment."
Our discussion centered around what it meant to be a member of the football team; how it would not always be easy or fun, and the commitment involved. We talked about him putting in his time; about learning and being ready. That is what the eighth-graders had done: It was part of the process.
My younger son John is ten and plays on a football team comprised of fifth and sixth-graders: He is a fifth-grader. Normally, his opportunity to play would be the same as Joshua, but a large number of sixth-graders received poor conduct reports last week and were forced to sit out all of the games that week. As a result, John played every defensive play, half the offensive series, and was on the field for most of the plays involving the special teams. He was ready. His opportunity came.
As we drove to school, Joshua and I talked about how commitment applies to marriage, family, friends, business, work, and in all aspects of life. I ultimately told him that the football team was not the important issue: learning commitment was.
The same lesson applies to the chiropractic profession. When the profession makes a commitment to do something, it is the responsibility of individuals and organizations to make it happen.
Three years ago, the chiropractic profession made the commitment to develop its own practice guidelines. In the face of federal and state mandates it was very obvious that we had no choice.
The goal was to develop the best guidelines possible with the greatest amount of consensus. The Congress of Chiropractic State Associations saw the need and commissioned the panel. The ACA, ICA, Canadian Chiropractic Association, Association of Chiropractic Colleges, Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards, Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research, and 13 other chiropractic organizations saw the need and joined as sponsors of the Mercy Conference.
Now that the Mercy Guidelines are being published, it would put the members of the chiropractic profession at a disadvantage not to have a copy of their own guidelines, particularly now that various states are studying the adoption of the Mercy Guidelines (with minor local modification to accommodate variations in scope of practice) as part of their administrative law.
Once again, the commitment that the sponsors and members of the Mercy Conference demonstrated is shown by those companies that have made the commitment to see that every chiropractor in the United States gets a copy of the Mercy Guidelines.
There are a total of 11 organizations that made the commitment to see that you got a copy of this most important document:
The National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company (NCMIC) donated the money to see that every one of their over 22,000 policyholders received a copy of the Mercy Guidelines at no charge. This is just one of the many research oriented investments that NCMIC has made to strengthen chiropractic's future.
Monte Greenawalt, D.C., DABCO, founder of Foot Levelers and and his son Kent, president of the company, have done many wonderful things for the chiropractic profession: supporting the chiropractic colleges, research, and the Chiropractic Centennial. Foot Levelers has made a major contribution to the dissemination of the Mercy Guidelines to all of the DCs who are not policyholders of OUM and NCMIC.
Likewise, the OUM Group has demonstrated their commitment to the betterment of the profession by donating the money needed to insure that each one of their almost 4,000 policyholders get a copy of the Mercy Guidelines. In addition, OUM is producing an educational video on the implementation of the Mercy Guidelines.
Finally, there are several other prominent chiropractic organizations who have also contributed to the dissemination of the Mercy Guidelines to every member of the chiropractic profession:
California Chiropractic Association
Leander Health Technologies
Activator Methods
Motion Palpation Institute
Parker Chiropractic Resource Foundation
The Practice Resource Group
Synergy
Visual Odyssey
Ultimately, when you have a chance to review the Mercy Guidelines, you will probably agree with most of it. But the definition of consensus dictates that you may not agree with everything. Either way, you have the above organizations to thank for your personal copy of the Guidelines.
Their commitment to this profession is keeping you informed on this most important development. Please make a point to let them know that you appreciate their commitment.
DMP Jr., B.S., HCD(hc)
Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.