Dr Reed Shiraki: Great Chiropractor, great leader.

Thanks to Dr Reed Shiraki for the picture

Most chiropractors in my life, mostly teachers, are a valuable source of knowledge. A knowledge I am really grateful that they share with me so I can become a better chiropractor. However, in the chiropractic profession, there is only a handful of chiropractic doctors that really inspire me. The first one that comes up in my mind is Doctor Reed Shiraki from Hawaii. So how can a chiropractic student from Quebec, Canada can be aware of such a man?

You tech savy readers probably know how social media is all about sharing. A little less than a year ago, someone in my list of Facebook friends posted this video:

I was impressed by his adjustment skills. At that time, I had adjusted  less than a dozen spines and my speed and precision was no way near his. Anyway, I was  interested enough to take a look at his website at http://honorboxchiropractic.com/

There, I read about a thing called the Honor Box, a way to make sure that everyone can afford chiropractic care, an issue that troubled me ever since I started my chiropractic doctoral program.  Not everyone has insurance  covering chiropractic and as I said in my last post, the Quebec government doesn’t cover the cost of chiropractic care while it does for medical care. I’ve had patients who had to stop treatments due to their financial situation. Dr Shiraki’s Honor Box is a way for less fortunate patients to pay what they can afford; I plan on using a similar program when I’ll begin my own practice in September.  Dr Shiraki could have chosen to not treat the patients paying $1.73 for a high quality treatment. But like I am, he is an idealist who cares about his patients.

To quote him:

“However, the idealistic side of me knew that this approach to health care was the most congruent with everything I believed about healing, my responsibility as a doctor, and what it means to provide the best care to my patients.”

I also went through all his blog posts and the more I read, the more I respected the man and his vision. I do not want to be the French Canadian version of Dr Shiraki, but I have a feeling our paths will be similar through time. Even more so since he is jumping into the political arena as a candidate for the State House in his district 36, Pearl City in the November 2010 election. I truly hope that he will become an elected official because I know that he will be a great leader for the Hawaiians. You can check out his website for the campaign, the Facebook page of his campaign, his Twitter account or his personal Facebook page.

ps: It also helps that like myself, he considers Mohandas Gandhi one of his heroes. *smile*

So dear readers, do you know a chiropractor who had a great influence on you? I’m looking forward to learning about them.

[Via http://drdanymorin.wordpress.com]