If you haven’t read Rebecca Bell’s prior blog introducing the DC2017 conference, be sure to check it out here.

DC2017 is the premier conference for the chiropractic profession that includes compelling scientific research and inspirational speakers form the profession. This year it was hosted by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) and the Association for Chiropractic Colleges (ACC).

At the conference there are countless networking, scholarship and professional development opportunities for students like me to take advantage of. I was able to attend the event this year with the UWS Student American Chiropractic Association (SACA) club, the student representation of the ACA. Read on for more of the highlights of the conference and what to look forward to next year.

1. Networking opportunities.

I had the privilege of meeting some of the best chiropractic physicians in the world at this conference, including Dr. Heidi Haavik, who is currently the leading neurophysiology researcher in the chiropractic profession. The UWS SACA public relations representative, Darcy Ogloza, met with Dr. Haavik and helped facilitate her gracious gift to all attendees from UWS with signed copies of her book, “The Reality Check”. I highly recommend reading it, if you haven’t already! She even signed a copy for our campus library.

Chiropractic students would not have the opportunity to meet some of these amazing doctors if it weren’t for gatherings like this conference. I also met three doctors who work in different parts of the world that are willing to let me shadow them and I have DC2017 to thank for this amazing career opportunity. My peers who also attended the conference made similar connections with doctors who they are interested in shadowing and learning from too. We also connected with other students from different chiropractic institutions and those are some of the most valuable connections I will ever have. I have made some of my very best friends through these interactions.

2. Scholarship opportunities.

The scholarship opportunities available to students at gatherings like DC2017 are extremely valuable. I am so grateful to announce that I was the recipient of one of these scholarships. I applied for the Standard Process scholarship, which was available to chiropractic students that would be present at DC2017. Out of 26 applicants, I was chosen as one of four recipients to receive a $2,500 scholarship. I was shocked and grateful, to say the very least.

To be awarded such a generous amount of money to help ease the financial burden of graduate school was a tremendous experience. I would not have had the opportunity to be eligible for this scholarship had I not attended this conference. People do not always realize that there are amazing opportunities available for conference attendees such as the Standard Process scholarship.

3. Challenging contests.

Another amazing opportunity this conference provided was a contest challenging SACA members to see who could get the most signatures on the Medicare Equality Petition. I was also lucky enough to win the top prize for this contest and was awarded $500. These are opportunities I wish everyone took advantage of and are just another thing that makes me excited to attend these conferences and be involved with SACA.

4. Public speaking practice.

The fourth opportunity from attending DC2017 is the chance to improve my public speaking skills and confidence when discussing the chiropractic profession with not only legislators, but with anyone. We do not get many chances while in school to work on these skills, and I think they are so valuable. I had the opportunity to run a task force to amend a SACA bylaw this year and presented it to more than 100 of my peers at the business meeting. It was a unique experience to expand my public speaking skills due to my involvement with SACA.

In the UWS SACA chapter, we have members of our executive board that sit on national committees as well. Nikki Daskal and Rachel Frontain were both involved with national SACA committees, which requires a fair amount of public speaking. Additionally, we have executive board elections coming up for SACA, so if anyone is interested in this or the other opportunities I have written about, I urge you to run for a position or become more involved with SACA on campus!

I hope this answers questions about the DC2017 experience or involvement with UWS SACA. I am passionate about this organization because I think the progression of our profession is of the utmost importance.

Special shout out to all the other students that made the investment in their future by attending DC17 with UWS: Nikki Daskal, Rachel Frontain, Urvi Khare, Darcy Ogloza, Kathryn Knox-Baker, Katie Kanda, Cassandra Hoy, Rebekah Wilks, Valerie Kovach, Taylor Kerschner, Krystal La Plante, Eddie Lee, Bryan Lo and Christeen Perkins.

As DC2017 has come and gone, I have gained another year of valuable experiences that I will take with me wherever I go. It is still surreal that I had the privilege to attend one of the biggest events in the chiropractic profession put on by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) and the Association for Chiropractic Colleges (ACC). I also had the opportunity to lobby on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the ACA with my fellow Student American Chiropractic Association (SACA) members and some of the most incredible doctors I have ever met. Prior to DC2017, our executive board held meetings with attendees to prepare them for lobbying.

Our legislative representative, Urvi Khare, created agendas for us to lead small group meetings and taught attendees how to lobby and confidently speak about the profession to others. We had attendees practice their elevator speeches about what chiropractic is in front of our small groups, giving them some public speaking experience prior to sending them off to lobby. This was a very important part of preparing us for DC2017, and these are skills the attendees were able to draw on not only during lobbying, but when networking as well.

I would like to mention before anything else, that this experience would have been impossible without the hard work and support from my fellow SACA executive board members. I had the privilege of serving on our school’s SACA executive board as the vice president as well as co-vice chair of National Membership committee for SACA this past year. My classmates, friends and family often have questions regarding this conference, the lobbying experience and my involvement with the SACA, so I will attempt to answer some of the most frequently asked questions.

Lobbying efforts with SACA:

Lobbying is when individuals or an organization try to influence a politician’s opinion about something, such as a change or addition to existing laws. At DC2017, SACA members like me did not decide what we lobbied for at the conference, that was a job for the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), which is the non-student version of our professional organization. The issues we lobbied for were on the association’s behalf. To lobby for or against something, you make an appointment to meet with your congressional representative and then you go talk to them about the issue or legislation you are lobbying for in hopes to gain their support to get it enacted into law. It is important to do your research before you meet with members of the House of Representatives or members of the Senate.

What were you lobbying for this year?

This year at DC2017, we lobbied for four different bills. Three of these bills were for the House of Representatives, while one was for the Senate.

HR 103: This is specifically for the House, but also urged senators to co-sponsor a similar senate bill titled S. 609. This bill concerns veteran access to chiropractic care and the implementation of chiropractic care into more major Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities and hospitals across the country. Currently, only 60 major VA facilities employ chiropractors, while chiropractic presence is absent at more than 100 major facilities. This becomes a problem for veterans in need of chiropractic care in areas where the VA has no chiropractor on staff. During DC2017, we had a productive meeting with Congresswoman Jaime Herrera-Beutler (R-WA). She was completely baffled by the fact that the Portland VA does not have a chiropractor on staff and offered her assistance to help us change that. If this is something that ends up getting changed because of our meeting with her, I will forever be able to say that I was a part of getting chiropractic care implemented into our local VA facility, which is a really cool and impactful experience.

HR 1378: This budget neutral bill would allow chiropractors to be included as eligible applicants for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) post-graduation. The NHSC is made up of many different health care professionals who provide services in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HSPAs). Currently, doctors of chiropractic are not eligible to be applicants and this bill is trying to change that.

HR 302: This bill unanimously passed the House of Representatives in January 2017. It concerns team physicians and their ability to provide care to athletes during sporting events outside of their home state. Essentially, this bill ensures that the sports health provider’s liability insurance covers chiropractors outside of their home state for services within their scope of practice. Since it passed the House, it will next be voted on in the Senate, so at DC2017 we presented this bill to senators and thanked the representatives for their support.

HR 372: House Resolution 372 is about the federal anti-trust laws and how health insurance companies are not subject to those laws and may therefore practice unfair trade practices like price fixing, collusion or market allocations. I am pleased to say that this bill passed the House. It was so cool to witness the direct benefits of our work lobbying right after the trip to D.C.

For anyone interested in reading more in depth about any of these issue briefs, you can visit the ACA website to read each issue brief in its entirety.