Camp LeJeune is the largest Marine Corps base in the eastern United States. It is home to more than 47,000 Marines and naval personnel, and has a surrounding population of approximately 150,000, many of whom are retired military personnel or are employed by the base. Camp LeJeune's naval hospital was one of the original 13 sites chosen for the Chiropractic Health Care Demonstration Project in 1995.1
"The base's health care staff is eager to help our interns and looks forward to the many benefits our students will offer the Marines," remarked Clay McDonald, JD, DC, NYCC's academic dean.
Michael Lalonde, a 10th-trimester student at NYCC, is the first intern to participate in the program. The school plans to add more interns in the near future, depending on the amount of space available at the base.
Under the program, interns will provide care at a pre-existing, freestanding chiropractic clinic, along with two walk-in multidisciplinary clinics: one at the school of infantry in neighboring Camp Geiger, the other near the main headquarters building.
The internship program will last a total of four months. Half of the time will be spent delivering care and treating patients at the chiropractic clinic under the direction of Michael Clay, DC, the department head for chiropractic at the base. According to Dr. Clay, this will ensure the interns receive a quality chiropractic education and have ample time to treat patients.
Interns will spend the remaining 50 percent of their time rotating through various departments at the base, including internal medicine; neurology; orthopedics; podiatry; and radiology, and will be trained under the supervision of the doctors in charge of each department. Depending on the situation, they may be asked to take patient histories, perform physicals and conduct examinations.
The internship program creates benefits for both the interns and the Marines. For the interns, the clinics provide an exceptional opportunity to treat patients suffering from a variety of conditions. For the Marines, the additional manpower translates into less waiting time to be treated, and increased opportunities to experience the healing powers of chiropractic.
Camp LeJeune is the second military base to reach an agreement with NYCC regarding chiropractic internships. In July 2001, the school began an internship program at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.2
References
- The Military Demonstration Project - how will chiropractic be judged? Dynamic Chiropractic, Sept. 12, 1995; www.chiroweb.com/archives/13/19/14.html.
- Groundbreaking internship program at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. Dynamic Chiropractic, Sept. 24, 2001; www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/20/06.html.