January 2008

@cutline:

Why I do what I do

by Kimberly Goreham

In 1992, a terrible car accident changed my life forever. I was six months pregnant with my first child. On this fateful night my cravings for chocolate chip cookies were so strong that I couldn't resist going out to the store to purchase the cookie ingredients. On my way back home from the store a driver in a late model Cadillac ran a red light. He was speeding through the intersection as he broadsided my Jeep Cherokee.

The impact of the collision dislocated my left shoulder, I herniated the disk between C‑4 & C‑5, ripped my uterine ligaments and the impact caused me to go into premature labor at the scene of the accident. With sirens blaring, the ambulance delivered my broken body to the emergency room. It was the most painful and frightening ride of my life. Once I arrived at the hospital the doctors stopped my labor with medication and strapped a pager monitor around my contracting belly.

At this point I had a throbbing migraine headache which was causing me to feel dizzy and sick to my stomach, my left shoulder was too painful to move, and I was still contracting. The last place that I wanted to go was home in that kind of shape, but that's exactly where I was headed since my insurance didn't approve me for an overnight hospital stay. Even though I had complained to anyone who would listen about the pain in my shoulder, neck, back and head, my complaints were in vain. Since I was pregnant, x‑rays were contraindicated and the doctors told me that there wasn't anything that they could do for me except wait and see. By the time that I left the hospital not one doctor or nurse had palpated anything other than my abdomen.

I returned home with a pager monitor strapped uncomfortably tight around my belly and I was prescribed Tylenol with Codeine for the pain for the rest of my injuries. I asked the nurse if it was safe to take Codeine while I was pregnant, since I had read that it wasn't safe. The nurse told me that the crystalline drug derived from opium would be just fine for my baby but I had a stirring feeling in my gut that it wasn't, so I didn't take it. Instead, I suffered horribly since my migraines intensified and I was now vomiting and sensitive to light, smells and sound. I was losing weight and I wasn't able to sleep in my own bed because the pain was too severe.

For the next three weeks I was in and out of the emergency room several times to stop my increasingly severe labor pains. They were getting worse! The doctors at the emergency room told me and my husband that we had a 50/50 chance of keeping our child alive (if she was born at that time). I knew that the only plan that the doctors had was to "wait and see."

My intuition was telling me that it was time to look elsewhere for help, yet I had no idea where to start. I turned to the yellow pages and began to thumb through the fat book starting in the A's. Acupuncture was not for me since needles never seemed like a "healing" kind of treatment. I skipped quickly through the C's and scanned through the chiropractor section. I had not heard much about chiropractic except that chiropractors cracked your bones and they weren't "real" doctors. I was in serious trouble and I didn't want to roll the dice on chiropractic with so much at stake.

I thumbed through the yellow pages to massage therapy and I thought that a massage would relax my stiff and swollen muscles and joints. Back in 1992 when this accident took place, it was hard to find a professional massage therapist since the yellow pages were full of "tropical" massage parlors. I went back to the chiropractor section of the yellow pages because I remembered briefly seeing an ad for a chiropractor who had advertised that he had professional massage therapy in his office. I decided to give it a try and I called and set up a massage therapy appointment.

I filled out a new patient intake form for the massage therapist and got ready for my massage. Once I was ready, the massage therapist came in and began to work on my neck and shoulders. Less than five minutes into my massage I began to have a huge contraction. The massage therapist jumped back and ran to get the chiropractor. The contraction was over by the time he came into the room but Dr. Hall still offered to check my spine and he said that he thought that he may be able to help me. At this point I was so tired of the pain I agreed to the exam.

From his examination the chiropractor was able to tell me exactly how I was sitting at the time of the accident and what bones were out of place in my spine. It all made sense to me for the first time and I agreed to the terms of his treatment plan. That night after my first adjustment, I was able to eat dinner and keep it down for the first time in weeks and my migraine stopped completely. I went back to the chiropractor the next day for another check up and another adjustment. I kept getting better after each adjustment. It was a true miracle.

My daughter, Brynn (sounds like Lynn), was born naturally a day before she was due, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my chiropractor saved her life. We were overjoyed and wanted to share our miracle with the world.

I was so excited about the way that chiropractic worked for me that I went to the after‑delivery checkup with a business card from my chiropractor in hand. I wanted to share this amazing gift with other mommies who were in need of a miracle in their lives. I smiled at my ob and said "I'm sure that you have other mommies who get into car accidents while pregnant right?" "Sure do" said the ob. "I found a great chiropractor who I feel really helped me through my ordeal and I think that your patients would greatly benefit from his services."

The doctor jumped back as if I had hit him in the stomach. He wouldn't even take the card out of my hand not even for the sake of being polite. He glared as he told me how dumb I was for risking the life of my child in such a careless way. The kind doctor went on to berate me for my lack of judgment and common sense where my health was concerned. I'd had enough. "Well doctor," I said, "if you aren't willing to tell your patients about the benefits of chiropractic care, I guess I'll have to!"

My journey into the world of chiropractic began that day. I started out as a massage therapist working in a chiropractic office. After doing that for five and a half years, I became a CA because I loved answering the phones and scheduling patients in between my own massage clients. It wasn't long before I was running the office completely including the billing department (which wasn't much fun!).

My background in college was small business management and marketing so I ventured out into the world to promote Dr. Scott Dubrul in San Luis Obispo. I helped Dr. Dubrul increase his practice very quickly and within six months we outgrew our tiny office and moved into a larger building. Things were going so well that some of his friends would call me at work and ask me marketing questions of their own.

In 1998, Dr. Dubrul encouraged me to start my own consulting business to help more chiropractors grow their practices. ChiroWorks Creative Marketing was born that year and it was a huge success right from the start. Today, we've helped more than 250,000 people to understand the benefits of chiropractic care and 50,000 of them have scheduled and prepaid for their appointments at our community outreach events.

The goal of our company is to teach chiropractors how to effectively spread the message of hope through chiropractic care around the world. Our ChiroWorks Community Outreach Satellite program is an effective and economical way for any chiropractor to quickly and steadily grow his or her practice to any volume desired.

First, we survey your local area and secure the most viable locations to promote your practice. Then, our marketing professionals come to your office to teach your team how to effectively market your practice throughout your community. We also set you up with a professional chiropractic display booth that will help you promote your practice with class and style.

We're most certainly coming to a town near you and we're looking to promote the best chiropractors in town. We're looking for doctors who are serious about growing their practices, because you will grow!

In the next five years, we plan to have more than 300 Community Outreach Satellite locations across the USA generating new patient leads and pre‑paid appointments. Our long term goal is to spread the healing message of chiropractic around the world, serving millions of people in need! If you'd like to join us in this mission and you're ready to grow your practice, please contact me toll free for more information at 866‑692‑4476.