Clinic Gateway Experience – Kelly Milano, DC Student

Celebrating Student Success

On Tuesday, April 12, Life University hosted its first Clinic Gateway Reception honoring the new interns who are joining the Life Clinics. The event began in the afternoon with a learning experience that included speakers such as Dr. Davis (Dean of Clinics) and Dr. Schneider (Director of Student Services) as well as hands on events such as the Myers Briggs Personality Inventory.  The afternoon event, as stated in the invitation, was geared toward “Communication, Celebration, Care, Compassion, and Success.“ According to Dr. Marc Schneider, “The experience was developed to provide a means to help students entering the clinical setting, to be better able to, and more effectively communicate with, prospective and current patients. Our experience with students transitioning into the clinical setting informs us that one of the areas that would enhance and improve the transition is effective communication.”

Following the afternoon events, the students and their guests were invited to a dinner catered by Bon Appetite. The evening was a chance to recognize the students for the hard work they had endured as they reached the next step in their education. Ceremonies such as this are becoming more popular among medical, dental, chiropractic, physical therapy, and veterinary medical schools and marks the student’s transition from the basic sciences to clinical health sciences and patient care. Brett Kubricht, Vice President for Student Council and new 8^th quarter intern, opened up the evening by welcoming the guests.  He was incredibly excited because just hours before, he had given his first adjustment in the Student Clinic (CCHOP.) As any new intern knows, that is truly a life changing moment for a student!

Dr. Riekeman addressed the students by telling them, “The day you said you were going to a chiropractor, you became a chiropractor.”  He went on to challenge them by asking, “When do you stop being a student and start being a doctor?  I hope it’s now.” He talked about the chiropractic profession being a ‘tribe’ and continued that it’s not, “faculty, staff, administration and students. We are all CHIROPRACTORS”.

After Dr. Riekeman’s talk, Dr. Davis called each student’s name and ‘presented’ them to Dr. Riekeman. The students walked across stage and received their Clinic Gateway pin, signifying the next phase of their journey.
In the past, student turnout to the event was dismal at best. Of the students entering clinic, only a small handful showed up, most choosing to ‘boycott’ the event all together. This quarter, the event coordinators responded with not only having the learning event, but by adding the reception afterwards. This changed the perspective of the students and only a handful didn’t show up. Grant Lassiter, 9^th quarter intern, stated on Life’s Facebook page “It was great to celebrate this accomplishment with fellow classmates and faculty” and most students agree.

Congratulations to all the new interns on reaching this milestone and thank you to Life University for taking the time to honor the students along their journey!

Where are the Thompson Tables? – Johnny Roberts, DC Student

Stuck with sub-par equipment

I am surprised. I am confused. I just can’t seem to find the Thompson tables in the outpatient clinic. I think it’s time to call attention to the fact that for some strange reason, despite the fact that Thompson technique is a required course in the curriculum, we do not have one Thompson table in the outpatient clinic. Surely it can’t be a money issue. With all of the recent improvements to the campus, which look great, the college surely has enough money to provide the students in the outpatient clinic with one or two Thompson tables. Let me clarify what I am referring to as a Thompson table. I am referring to the Zenith 440 table that a guy named J. Clay Thompson designed specifically for the technique he also designed. Honestly, how hard would it be to add a couple of Zeniths in outpatient clinic? So far the people I have asked about the issue simply tell me to talk to someone else because they are not responsible for it. My point is that it is time for the person, whomever that may be, to start the process of adding a Zenith or two to the outpatient clinic. If we are required to take the class, at least give us the proper tools to learn to use the technique the way Dr. Thompson intended, with Thompson tables.

Blue Jacket Envy – Kelly Milano, DC Student

A color of approaching success

At some point in our schooling ‘career’, we all go through it. There’s no set point as to when it happens, but it will happen to each of us. We venture through the doors of Life University, full of excitement and anticipation. We look forward to helping people and being part of true healthcare. We don’t care that we’re at the bottom of the totem pole because we’re here, and that’s all that matters. At some point, something changes. Suddenly, we see all the blue jackets around us and it hits us…Blue Jacket Envy!
It usually starts to really affect us when we first step into cadaver labs. We suddenly think, “This better all be worth it!!”  Then we remember the covetous blue jacket! We see new interns in the bookstore trying on jackets, smiling and snapping pictures to adorn their Facebook pages and to email to family and friends.  We walk past them in the hallway and feel a sense of jealousy. All we want is to legally put our hands on patients and adjust them. We want to give them what we feel will be the perfect adjustment, to free them from their ailments, clear the fog from their brain and even have angels singing our praises. We’re sure that when WE get to put on that blue jacket, we will have officially arrived and heaven will be silent for a moment and watch as we step into student clinic for the first time.  For that brief minute, we lose sight of the anatomy, physiology, full spine, mo-pal, pathology, skel radd and the dreaded CLET exam which stand in the way of us and our clinic experience. All we see is that blue jacket.
We are suddenly snapped back to reality as the professor hands us a scalpel and tells us it’s our turn to cut into the 82 year-old female cadaver in front of us. How in the world did we end up in a cold room full of bodies??
The blue jacket is horrible, but it’s a symbol that we have finally arrived. We are finally going to be doing what we are here to do. We are finally going to adjust our patients, feel the feeling of their cervical spine between our fingertips, the feel of their ligaments as they spring back into tension as we motion the body and to watch in amazement as our patients go from headache to smiles in a matter of minutes after our adjustment. This uncomfortable, stiff, polyester jacket brings us one step closer to outpatient clinic and eventually a practice of our own.  We don’t realize the responsibility that comes with the blue jacket, however. We may not fully realize that we will literally be holding someone’s life and wellbeing in our hands. We don’t realize the countless hours that will be spent in clinic, waiting, finishing paperwork and waiting some more for a doctor to sign off on our work. But, we assure ourselves that all the waiting will be worthwhile because…we will be doing it in our blue jacket!!
This process of Blue Jacket Envy is important in the journey!  It keeps us focused on the task ahead and keeps us pushing forward. Be warned…there will inevitably be a time while you are at Life when you want to quit, when you feel the stress and pressure and feel you are going to crumble underneath the weight.  But seeing a new round of students buying their blue jackets brings us back to reality and keeps pushing us forward. The blue jacket is a symbol for all those around us and we must keep pushing on. It’s one of the big accomplishments that will be felt by each and every one of us and one that sets us apart from those around us or those who are coming up behind us. Blue Jacket Envy! It’s worth it!

Changing Leaves, Tides, and Lives – Jason Feltz, Student Publisher

Fall is my favorite season. It’s the time of year for college football, opened windows, campfires and family get-togethers. It’s the last season, before the dead transition to winter, in which you can wrap up your annual goals.

This quarter started the fall season of my DC student career as well, as I have reached the outpatient level of clinic and I’m preparing to be a chiropractor. I have one year left, one chapter to write, and a bunch of tests to complete before I am the doctor that I have always wanted to be. There are many loose ends to tie up and decisions to be made, but at the same time I have reached the pinnacle of my learning experience and I’m going to be making the most of it. In working with the general public in the outpatient clinic, I am sharpening the

clinical skills necessary to be an effective chiropractor.

My sister Kayla is now in her first quarter of the DC program. I can’t tell her that time will fly or slowly pass by. I can’t tell her how difficult or easy her path will be, only, that along the way she will be in a vacuum of like-minded individuals and she will enjoy the transition that I have endured if she wants to. First quarter for me seems to have been so long ago, and yet sometimes it seems like it was only yesterday that Dr. Demons was “cha-chinging” me. Now I feel as though I am caught in a transition from being a student to being a person in the “real world.”

It took pressure and time for me to adapt to this student lifestyle, and I think it will take some time for me to transition from being a student to a member of a common community.

Now that I am an upper-quarter student, I feel something of a disconnect with the rest of the student body. Many of the students I had known on campus are in the process of, or have graduated. I see many new faces on campus without the time I once had to form new relationships.

In this last year, I will be relinquishing some of my leadership roles while hoping to find replacements. At the end of winter quarter we will have a new Vital Source student publisher. There will be a new leader of the golf club come spring quarter, and I’m going to need a student(s) to take over the planning of next year’s Chiro-Games. If you are interested in such positions please contact me. Enjoy the warmth that is left this fall season, the cold winter is coming!