A Palmer Doctor of
Chiropractic is: the primary
care professional for spinal
health and well-being. It is
clearly stated and clearly
understood. When I
graduated nearly 40 years
ago I intuitively thought
that we as chiropractors
were the primary care
providers of spinal health and well-being. I also have always
believed that Palmer is the preeminent chiropractic college, and
our brand tagline, The Trusted Leader in Chiropractic Education,
sums up my feelings very well. We’re taking our history, our
philosophy and our mission and bringing them together in
our identity statement and our tagline.
Throughout my years of practice, I’ve struggled to come up with
a concise statement about what chiropractors do. I like the
Palmer identity statement because we’re the ones who are firstline
providers in spinal care. It opens the door to talk with
patients about the scope of chiropractic care—that we’re not
only the primary care professionals for spinal health, but also
for overall well-being.
The identity statement is something the profession as a whole
can embrace, not just Palmer chiropractors. Because it talks
about spinal health and well-being, it bridges the gap between
mechanistic- and vitalistic-oriented chiropractors. I’m going to
put it on my website, on my patient education monitors and
any materials used in my practice.
The other aspect, besides using it to concisely explain what I
do for my patients, is that it gives our legislators and the business
community a way to identify what chiropractors do. Business
people can use this to explain why they’ve added chiropractic
benefits for their employees, including those like Standard
Process Inc. who are providing in-house chiropractic care for
employees and seeing benefits like fewer sick days and increased
well-being and productivity. (See the Spinal Column on page 18.)
The identity statement is one sentence, but it is very powerful.
We need to make more people aware of what chiropractors do
so they seek our care, and this is one of those statements that
moves us closer to that in just nine words. To read all of the
identity documents, go to our website at www.palmer.edu and
click on “Who We Are,” then “Our Identity.”
The identity documents are further proof that Palmer is demonstrating
its role as The Trusted Leader in Chiropractic Education.
We are making a concerted effort to provide the resources necessary
to validate what we do.
Speaking of resources, the Alumni Office is continuing to look
at different services to provide to our alumni that will positively
impact your bottom line. You’ll find information about these services
on page 3 and also on the alumni section of the Palmer website
at www.palmer.edu/BusinessServices. We’re in the process of
revising our web pages. We’re always interested in your feedback
on the “For Alumni and Friends” section of the website. E-mail
me at mickey.burt@palmer.edu if you have any suggestions.