During the spring 2024 quarter, Life West interns provided 369 chiropractic adjustments across three local service sites, the largest number of visits seen since local service resumed in the summer of 2022.
Local service efforts provide chiropractic care to people that would otherwise not have access to chiropractic care. For the past year, the Life West Health Center has worked with two local organizations, First Presbyterian Church and Second Chance to provide chiropractic care at three different sites each week. For some people at the local service sites, intern-led chiropractic care is the only healthcare they have access to.
First Presbyterian Church provides shelter, meals and other resources 7 days/week to unhoused people in the community at two local sites in Hayward and Castro Valley. On Monday evenings, Dr. Steve Edwards, a faculty mentor in the Health Center, oversees the chiropractic care provided at FPC’s location in Hayward. On Thursday evenings, Dr. David Currie, a faculty chiropractor in the technique department, oversees the care provided at their Castro Valley location.
Second Chance is an organization that supports people in recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction. On Thursday mornings, Dr. Herby Bell, a faculty mentor in the Health Center, oversees the chiropractic care provided at their Newark facility.
Once they’ve met certain eligibility requirements, interns can apply to participate in local service, and they can receive credit toward their graduation requirements for doing so. Each week, 4 interns are scheduled at each site to provide chiropractic care to patrons under the supervision of Life West faculty chiropractors.
Local service not only allows more people to be reached and more lives positively affected through chiropractic care, it gives interns an opportunity to experience more realistic patient care flow, delivery and documentation. As much as the Health Center tries to emulate private practice, it’s still an academic environment with necessary policy and procedure providing foundational infrastructure for burgeoning chiropractors. At local service sites, intake procedures and documentation are streamlined, allowing interns to experience a little more autonomy in their analysis and delivery of care, while still under the experienced tutelage of licensed Life West DCs.
