Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield is a subsidiary of Trigon Healthcare Inc., a publicly traded company (NYSE: TGH). One week after the ACA et al. plaintiffs alleged that the defendants discouraged "unconscionably inadequate reimbursements for services,"
Trigon's trading was down by more than 10 percent. Merrill Lynch issued a research note on Trigon, attributing the slide in the company's stock trading to the news of the lawsuit. For details of the lawsuit, please refer to DC's September 18, 2000 issue or on line at http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/18/20/01.html.
UIL Changes Policy on Chiropractic Exams in Public Schools
The University Interscholastic League, a Texas group that sets the standards for public school athletic events in the state, had a policy of giving only physicians licensed by the Texas Board of Medical Examiners, physician assistants and nurses the right to perform school physicals. However, through the concerted efforts of the ProviderLaw Network, the Texas Chiropractic Association (TCA) and several individuals, the UIL has now recognized that chiropractors have the training and education to perform student physical examinations, and has sent a notice to all public schools to that effect.
ProviderLaw thanks the following individuals for helping to "bring about this result in such a stunningly quick fashion":
- the TCA, its president-elect, Dr. Chris Dalrymple, its president, Dr. James Welch, and Drs. Dale White and Kevin Kanz;
- Drs. Roy Hatmaker, Kirk Proffitt, Lonnie McKinzie;
- the Corpus Christi law firm of Gary, Thomasson, Hall and Marks, and legalist Craig Henderson, Esq.
The group emphasizes that their efforts to change the UIL policy were strengthened by teamwork and the significance of a single phone call to accomplish a goal.
Logan Participates in Fox Cable Documentary
Four Logan College of Chiropractic students and faculty members participated in the 30-minute network TV documentary, "New Horizons in Health." It was scheduled to be telecast nationally on the Fox Cable Health Network during the week of October 2-8 as part of the ongoing series, "The Cutting Edge Medical Report." (See the October 2 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic, "TV Report Looks at the Future of Chiropractic and Alternative Care," or visit http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/18/21/19.html ).
"New Horizons in Health" is co-hosted by former Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. The program gives a dramatic picture of what can be expected in health care based on the trends in society and breakthroughs in science. The documentary also includes factual information about chiropractic.
Filmed for the documentary were Ralph Barrale,DC, Logan postgraduate director and Kelly Brinkman,DC, educational coordinator. Dr. Barrale was videotaped with student Donna Irelan; Dr. Brinkman was shown with student Cliff Allison. The doctors and students were displayed in treatment rooms in Logan's on-campus Montgomery Health Center, showing typical interactions of a chiropractor and patient during a consultation. The documentary addresses the trend toward complementary and alternative methods of health care. The show deals with the correlation between the breakthroughs that have occurred in the space program and the progress that can be made in health care with teamwork by doctors from various disciplines.
The program was produced with input from NASA scientists, and major scenes were taped at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Space, life science and health authorities from NASA were interviewed along with physicians representing various complementary and alternative health professions. Irv Davis of the St. Louis, MO firm of Clayton-Davis & Associates, Inc., wrote and directed the documentary.
Homeopathy and Allergy Trials
British health officials have conducted a series of studies to test the effectiveness of homeopathy, with results leaning in its favor. In one test at Glasgow University, 51 patients with hay fever symptoms (perennial allergic rhinitis) were tested. Half were given a homeopathic remedy, which had been diluted in water 30 times; the other half were administered a placebo.
Though the homeopathy patients noticed their symptoms becoming more intense during the initial phase, they experienced on average a 22 percent improvement, while the placebo patients improved by only 2.5 percent. These results were found to be similar to those obtained from a doctor using a steroid nasal spray, with no side effects from the homeopathic remedy. Said David Reilly, a study author from Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital, "We found a clear, objective difference between the effects of placebo and homeopathy on nasal airflow."
"It's getting very difficult to argue that homeopathy has no effect," observed Dr. Peter Fisher, clinical director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. He feels that study funding is difficult to obtain because "few people take it seriously." Homeopaths believe that the molecular structures of the plants, animals and minerals that they use as remedies, despite being greatly diluted in water, change the properties of the water in a significant way.
103-Year-Old Former Olympian's Souvenir
At the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, a young platform diver from the United States, Hal Haig Prieste, won a bronze medal. After the Games, Hal did some traveling, going to Hawaii in 1921, where he was taught a sport he'd never seen: surfing.
His teacher was the king of surfing, Duke Kahanamoku. Hal returned to California to teach others this great new sport. In his spare time, he found work in the silent movie industry, playing the role of one of the "Keystone Kops."
Hal Haig Prieste, 103, with his Olympic bronze medals and the original Olympic flag from the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. His chiropractor, Dr. Christopher Lyden (r), accompanied Mr. Prieste to the Sydney Games to return the flag to the IOC.
Over 50 years later, Mr. Prieste was in Atlanta for the 1996 Olympic Games. An historian there told him that the first flag displaying the interlocking five-ring logo, which flew over the Games in 1920, had been lost.
"Oh, I've got it in my suitcase," Prieste told the scholar, who laughed in appreciation for the small joke.
But Prieste wasn't joking. After completing the diving competition in 1920, he had, in his excitement, climbed a flagpole and took the Olympic flag home as a souvenir.
Having learned that the flag in his possession was of historic value, Mr. Prieste contacted the International Olympic Committee. It was arranged that he would return the flag in a ceremony at the Sydney Games.
Mr. Prieste's chiropractor, Dr. Christopher Lyden of New Jersey, and podiatrist Nick LaMania, along with Dr. LaMania's wife, Carol, became involved in discussions with the United States Olympic Committee, which sponsored Prieste's flight to Australia after NBC backed out. The group accompanied the 103-year-old and was present throughout the returning of the flag, a formal event that took place on September 11.
Colorado Chiropractors Recognized
DENVER, CO. - Dr. Robert Nelson (Lakewood) was honored with the Chiropractor of the Year and the Chiropractic Sports Award during the Colorado Chiropractic Association's 66th annual state convention on September 16, 2000.
Among the other awards were:
Young Chiropractor of the Year:
Dr. Richard Gingras (Highlands Ranch)
Distinguished Service Award:
Dr. Bruce Lee (Westminster);
Dr. Ken Spresser (Arvada)
Dr. Dan Wik (Carefree, AZ)
Chiropractic Sports Award:
Dr. Timothy Rinn (Steamboat Springs)
Community Service Award:
Dr. Harold Lease (Walsh)
Botanical Research Studies to Intensify
The University of Arizona and Purdue University will join the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Illinois in researching the validity of botanical supplements. Last year, both the Illinois and UCLA campuses received funding which enabled them to investigate the biological effects of botanicals, including those in dietary supplements.
The funds ($1.5 million over five years) enable the doubling of the size and breadth of research underway to study the health effects of botanicals and explore their role in dietary supplements. The research awards were granted by the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements.
The Center for Dietary Supplement Research at Purdue University, in Indiana, is headed by Connie Weaver, PhD, and will study the health effects of chemicals from plants known as polyphenols. Subjects of research will also include soy, grapes, green tea, herbs, and other supplements linked to the treatment of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and cognitive decline.
Barbara Timmermann, PhD, who heads the University of Arizona Center, has proposed studies of the healing effects of organics such as ginger, turmeric and boswellia.
Didgeridoo Dundee
When Dr. Anthony Galle of Vancleave, Mississippi was eight years old, he saw a newsreel about Australia and heard the haunting sounds of the didgeridoo, a 4-5 foot long, hollowed- out aboriginal wind instrument made from the gum tree. The ancient instrument has been played for over 40,000 years.
Dr. Galle now makes didgeridoos from gum trees and giant bamboo that grow on his property. "A lot of people have heard the didgeridoo but haven't seen one," Galle told Karen Nelson of the Sun Herald. "But now that those Olympics have opened up, 90 percent of the United States knows what they look like."
"It awakens something primitive in you," Dr. Galle explained. The sound is a kind of drone that vibrates throughout the body of the person playing it." He says that playing the instrument is a "form of meditation."
Dr. Galle keeps a dozen didgeridoos behind the x-ray machine in his chiropractic office in Ocean Springs. He regularly gets together with other didgeridoo players for "log jams," and also gives lessons.
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