Alternative to Improve Chiro's Image

June 1 2005
Alternative to Improve Chiro's Image
June 1 2005

It may not be the most popular posi­tion to take today, but I have taken oppo­site views before, such as in urging a law­suit be brought against the AMA, et «/., in 1976. History ultimately proved that I was right and I believe I am also right on what we must do today to correct our pub­lic image. The solution should be self-evident, but I'm reminded of 1976 all over again. Have we learned anything? The picture is not pretty. Enrollment is down in our colleges; colleges are feel­ing a serious money crunch; practices are shutting down at a faster rate than stu­dents are graduating from our schools; major public ignorance, misinformation and fear about chiropractic prevails; 90% of the people won't go to chiropractors— some of them even if held at gunpoint; less qualified imitators are becoming spi­nal adjusters to replace us; we get beat up periodically by the media and press without any PR mechanism in place to forcefully respond, let alone have a pro­active program; and there is no real ef­fective PR program in the works to get our message out to the public. We can't even get a simple postage stamp com- memorating chiropractic, although there are stamps for a drug addict, an emotion­ally disturbed actress and cartoon char­acters like the Road Runner (beep-beep). Meanwhile, our leaders are agonizing over a solution and can't even see the obvi­ous truth or answer. The most popular current idea is to give $500,000 to a PR firm to tell us what's wrong and what we need to do, while simple logic and common sense should tell us, if we simply open our minds and hearts. Do you really believe any public relations firm will ever tell you to form a chiropractic spokesperson program in each State and reduce chiropractic's reli­ance on them? You answer that question, yourself. Meanwhile, I'll give you the best solu­tion free of charge. Some of you may think I am negative about chiropractic. On the contrary, no­body is more positive and up beat about chiropractic than I. What 1 am negative about is our closed-minded leadership that cannot recognize a simple and logi­cal solution that should be self-evident to any objective observer, while some of our publications refuse to publish differ­ing and constructive views, so as not to offend some chiropractic leaders and their big-spending advertisers. This is uncon­scionable. Your State Chiropractic Association can appoint its most trusted knowledgeable and articulate chiropractors and make them "Official Chiropractic Spokesper­sons" for their State association. Give them the vital names and direct phone numbers of all the executive producers of virtually every radio and television talk show and newspaper editor in their en­tire State. Armed with the powerful and provocative well-documented facts, they can make an influential and positive im­pact on chiropractic! The Indiana State Chiropractic Asso­ciation acquired all of the names and di­rect phone numbers of every radio, TV producer and newspaper editor in America. This information for all other States and Canada are available to your State association free of charge by con­tacting me. Chester A. Wilk, DC, PC. 5130 W. Belmont Ave.. Chicago, II 60641 [email protected], Tel: 773-725-4878