Since President George H.W. Bush signed the authorization
on Oct. 23, 1992 to commission D.C.s in the United States
military, incremental progress has been made in bringing
chiropractic fully into the U.S. military as well as Veterans
Affairs healthcare facilities. But many in the chiropractic
profession would say that this progress has been too slow and
that all active-duty troops and veterans should have access to
chiropractic. Palmer College is taking the lead on several fronts
to bring chiropractic more fully into the U.S. military—for
active-duty troops as well as veterans and their families.
DOD research project
In February 2011, scientists at the Palmer Center for Chiropractic
Research (PCCR), the RAND Corporation and the Samueli
Institute were awarded a landmark $7.4 million grant by the
Department of Defense (DOD) office of Congressionally Directed
Medical Research Programs. The grant is funding a four-year
research project to assess chiropractic treatment for military readiness
in active-duty personnel. This is the largest single award for
a chiropractic research project in the history of the profession.
Ian Coulter, Ph.D., the Samueli Institute Chair in Policy for
Integrative Medicine at RAND Corporation, is the research
project’s principal investigator. Co-principal investigator and
Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Vice Chancellor for Research
and Health Policy Christine Goertz, D.C., Ph.D., is overseeing
the design and implementation of the three clinical trials funded
by this award. The PCCR will receive approximately $5.1
million in order to accomplish this task. Samueli Institute Vice
President for Military Medical Research Joan Walter, J.D., also
is a co-principal investigator for this project.
Katie Pohlman, D.C., M.S., is serving as the PCCR’s clinical
project manager for the project. She supervises all of the project
managers for the three clinical trials and handles the complex
logistics and day-to-day operations of the huge study, which is
being conducted by a team of nearly 40 people at the three
institutions and a total of six military sites for all of the trials.
This comprehensive project will assess the efficacy of chiropractic
treatment in the following areas: relieving low back
pain and improving function in active-duty service members;
evaluating the effects of chiropractic treatment on reflexes
and reaction times for Special Operations forces; determining
the effect of chiropractic treatment on strength, balance and
injury prevention for members of the Armed Forces with
combat specialties; and assessing the impact of a chiropractic
intervention on smoking cessation in military service members.
The first clinical trial, known as Assessment of Chiropractic
Treatment I, or ACT I, will examine chiropractic’s effectiveness
in relieving low back pain and improving function in
active-duty service members at military facilities located
in Pensacola, Fla., Bethesda, Md., Rock Island, Ill., and
San Diego, Calif. “The doctors of chiropractic who will be
delivering the care in this study are those who are already
treating patients on base at these four facilities,” said Dr.
Goertz. “It is important to work with D.C.s who are already
integrated into the healthcare system at the bases.”
Data collection for ACT I will begin in 2012. |
Since February, Drs. Goertz and Pohlman have been busy working
with the rest of the team to create the many data collection
forms needed for ACT I. “The baseline patient interview form
and informational video, along with 10 to 15 sets of online
questionnaires for each patient at weeks two, four and six, and at
three months, have been developed and are ready for the study
to begin,” said Dr. Pohlman. The plan is for data collection to
begin at the Pensacola, Fla., and Bethesda, Md., sites by early
next year, with the Rock Island, Ill., and San Diego, Calif., sites
beginning collection later in 2012.
In addition to the creation of the data collection forms,
the team has been working to secure approvals from the
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) from the collaborating
research institutions as well as all of the military sites. So far,
the project has received IRB approval from the PCCR and
RAND Corporation, and at the time this article was
being prepared in September 2011, IRB approval
from the military sites for the first clinical trial
had been requested but not yet awarded.
The study team is receiving guidance and oversight
from a number of other committees and
boards, including an 11-member Expert Advisory
Board, Palmer’s Data Safety Monitoring Committee and
an internal steering committee. Both the Data Safety
Monitoring Committee and the Expert Advisory Board
include research experts from outside Palmer, RAND
and Samueli.
Of course, planning work on the other two clinical
trials must be conducted simultaneously with work on
the first one. “We will have completed protocols for ACT II
and III by the end of 2011,” Dr. Goertz said. “We are working
hard to develop study details for these two additional studies at
the same time that we get ready to launch ACT I.”
Palmer teams up with VA
to provide veterans with up to
one year of tuition
Through a unique program offered by the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA), Palmer College is making it possible
for eligible U.S. veterans enrolled or about to enroll at any of
Palmer’s three campuses to have up to 100 percent of their
out-of-pocket tuition and fees covered for a one-year period.
Known as the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement
Program, or Yellow Ribbon Program for short, the plan covers
undergraduate and graduate tuition not already provided for by
the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008.
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The Yellow Ribbon Program allows U.S. degree-granting institutions
to enter into an agreement with the VA to fund expenses
that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition
rate. Each participating institution can contribute up to 50 percent
of those expenses, and the VA will match the same amount
as the institution. Palmer is contributing at the highest level of
50 percent. Beginning Aug. 1, 2011, qualifying veterans who
are current or incoming students at one of Palmer’s campuses
began applying to the Yellow Ribbon Program, and those
accepted will have their tuition costs covered for one year
beginning with the fall 2011 term.
Robert Miller is a fourth trimester student and veteran on the
Davenport Campus who has applied and begun receiving
funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. He served in
the U.S. Navy as an electronics technician from 1999
to 2004 at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Oak
Harbor, Wash. After leaving the Navy in 2004 to
pursue an undergraduate degree in electronics
in Rexberg, Idaho, he worked in the private
sector in Idaho and Utah until being laid
off in 2009. He had considered a
career in chiropractic before going
into electronics, and decided with
his wife that now was the time for
him to pursue it, especially since his
Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits would cover
26 more months in college.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to go from what you know to
something new,” he said. “I stepped into the dark and the
light followed. I would advise people to go for it. For me,
this is a huge benefit. It will reduce the amount of debt I’ll
graduate with from potentially $80,000 to about $50,000.
That will mean a big difference in loan payments and being
able to start a practice sooner after graduation.”
Current or prospective Palmer students interested in
applying to the Yellow Ribbon Program should contact:
- Jennifer Stratman, Student Administrative Services, Davenport Campus
(563) 884-5654
jennifer.stratman@palmer.edu - Brenda Alvarez, Financial Planning, West Campus
(408) 944-6023
brenda.alvarez@palmer.edu - Jaclyn McKay, Student Administrative Services, Florida Campus
(386) 763-2667
jaclyn.mckay@palmer.edu
DOD/VA internship
program update
The Department of Defense/Veterans Affairs Chiropractic
Internship Program provides senior-level interns from all
three Palmer campuses with an opportunity to work with
a staff chiropractor located in a Department of Defense or
Veterans Affairs hospital. The interns gain valuable insights
into how the Doctor of Chiropractic works with health
professionals from other disciplines for the benefit of the patient.
In the spring of 2011, Palmer College of Chiropractic established
academic affiliations with three additional Department of
Defense facilities in Rhode Island, Connecticut and California,
bringing affiliations with DOD facilities to a total of five. Then
in August 2011, an academic affiliation with a Veterans Affairs
facility in Augusta, Ga., was established, bringing the total VA
facility affiliations to six. Palmer students now have opportunities
for internships with 11 different sites. Since the program
started in 2007, 43 students from Palmer’s three campuses have
completed internships in DOD and VA facilities.