TNR Happenings December 3, 2018
Gifts for the Reservation must be on the truck by tomorrow!
Our 2018 Christmas on the Reservation gift raising ends tomorrow!
Don’t worry if you have more gifts trickling in after the deadline as gifts arrive to the Reservation from our group all year long. They have established a gift and clothing bank to help families in need throughout the year. Dr. Megan, our full-time DC, has witnessed the labor intensiveness of matching specific gifts with each child. It takes lots of people and lots of hours to accomplish this! That’s why the gifts need to be on the UPS truck by tomorrow. Also, remember that it’s really easy to make a donation on CrowdRise. Those who are making the journey to the Reservation, be sure to give a shout out to all of the teachers you encounter and thank them for all of their volunteer effort making sure the right gifts reach each and every child.
Let’s take a moment to thank everyone that participated and a remembrance of all who have participated in the past. Each is intertwined with one another. We honor the past by improving and serving more. A collective consciousness is created forever. It doesn’t matter how many gifts or donations you raised, it’s the intent you have shown these kids and our nation and beyond. It’s nice to behold the intent, excitement, and passion of a group of DCs taking flight. I know Dr. Joe has that beautiful smile on his face as he watches us! By taking an active stance in restoring the hope, health, and dignity of these kids, we are not accepting the extreme hopelessness of this situation. We are not fighting against the problem; rather we are part of the solution. It’s so easy to say it’s too large a problem since so many billions of dollars have been spent without truly realizing the extent of this problem upon humanity. Imagine Hitler being a fan of our treatment of the Indian problem. Some of his ‘final solution’ was borrowed from our savage past. I wonder if someone will become a fan of LHNC and borrow this model to stop genocide and war as a way of resolving problems. Hmmm.
DCME on January 19th is coming up!
DCME is a concept that is now creating quite a buzz inside and outside of our circle. Traditionally, philosophy or technique was looked upon in Chiropractic as a solution to seeing cases most DCs will never see. More recently, integrated medicine has arrived on the scene supplying more allopathic (outside-in) gadgets, BSOs, and now personnel from nurses to MDs, to physical therapists. Very little, if anything, changed in these offices because DCMEs are so much more than technique, philosophy, academic, etc. All of these attempts are repackaged, yet they are still the same ole thing and fail to resonate high enough. You can supply a force (marketing and sales) to anything (drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, pet rocks) and it will seem to succeed for a while, but as with all usage of force, it’s not power and it will crash, leaving you and your patients high and dry and possibly a great big mess to clean up.
Reading about being a Navy Seal or pretending to be one isn’t the same as actually experiencing it. You must be metaphorically (and perhaps literally) beat out of your comfort zone. This includes economics for many DC! Add in some external resistance, like insurance coverage, regulation of what you can and can’t do as a DC, and the resistance of the very people you are attempting to help and you have effectively put an end to the vast majority of DCs seeing anything beyond adult neck and back pain. To jump into the realm of seeing kids and adults in dead-end situations, you can’t just continue to do more of what you already know to do. It’s entirely different, counterintuitive, and you have to train and want it urgently. Even if you don’t currently have the grunt to perform DCMEs, the principle is the same for all endeavors into the unknown. It’s the true hero’s journey. This is a template of what to do when life throws you a curveball.
Practice tip of the week
Make sure each and every new patient knows about Baseline Assessments for 15 and under kids, as well as the friends and family discount. The friends and family discount is a method of inviting a potential new patient in for an evaluation and you waive the exam price or greatly discount it. Have it in your Important Patient Record Folder or on your walls. Ditto with the Baseline Assessment. The Baseline Assessment is a free community service of doing a baseline assessment of the nerve system of children and teenagers. It’s filling out the proprietary form AND AN EVALUATION. It’s not just filling out the form! Even if the adult or child declines care, their exam results and BA are kept on file. Should they elect care in the future, you can demonstrate the progressive and degenerative nature of compromise to the nerve system. If you are doing this to help more people experience Chiropractic in a TNR style office, congrats. If you are doing this to change the world, congrats. If you are, however, using these methods as a way of marketing or selling you may be surprised it won’t work very well. The intent of the DC will determine the success of these programs. If you look at your economics, less than 8% of your monthly income is generated from exams. By waiving any resistance to becoming a practice member, you add lots and lots of new practice members who agree to your terms, not coming in for cheap, low-value Chiropractic care.
If you saw 200 new practice members last year, would it be unreasonable to see that number swell to 250, 280 or more? Mixed in that would be a generous amount of DCMEs, teenagers, kids, etc. What’s more, the metrics for these entities would be different than your current people: more retention, more referrals, higher case averages, and, of course, lots more wellness care.
DCME confidential
Question 1: My DCME wants to be in charge of their DCME frequency and duration according to how they feel. He has already pre-paid his entire fee. Now he thinks he owns me and wants more and more time from me, as he texts multiple times a day! HELP!
Answer: It’s all part of the learning curve of DCMEs. First of all, think of an at-risk teenager or an addict being in charge of their care plan: the true inmates running the asylum dilemma. You will need to re-iterate your care recommendations so they understand the frequency and duration. The 21-Day Video Program should also be added. A mistake all of us make with our first 25 DCMEs is we spend way too much time. Use boundaries with every practice member whether you think you need them or not. Like a dog, it’s not their fault; it’s what they were taught. Spending too much time is a reflection of our doubt, not theirs. They always will have their doubt; we must rely on our certainty. More time does not result in better results. You could make an excellent argument that less time with more urgency and intensity does result in better results. Also, no more text messages, you will lose your leadership!
Question 2: I have a previous practice member who comes when their symptoms flare up and then I won’t see them for a few months or years. Now that his nephew is on a DCME program with me (he bragged about this special care at Thanksgiving) this practice member wants to do the same. As you like to say this person is a pain in the ass and they don’t understand Chiropractic. What do I do?
Answer: Have a frank discussion regarding the parameters, i.e. missing adjustments and not doing homework, etc. You may find this is way out of their comfort zone or their commitment zone. In most cases, they will opt out very quickly when the fees (outside of insurance) are brought up. They probably aren’t a good fit for a DCME. DCME will appeal to the few, not the many. Unless they had a transformation in their lives, a zebra does not change their stripes when it comes to willingness, finances, and commitment.
From the mind of Miyagi
What is the true cost to society when we as DCs say, infer, or intend that we can’t help restore a practice member back to health? This is a polite way of quitting or thinking that person is not deserving of our best. You’ve got to ask yourself, “Who would I be willing to give my best?” Aren’t we all one people, interconnected, with a shared interest in being healthy? Regardless of who this person is socio-economically, you can be sure they have been told they are not good enough, big enough, or smart enough throughout their lives. Having one more person agree with ‘what can’t be done’ can be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. If they are a mother, they will teach that message (don’t go the extra mile, don’t take the risk, do what you’re told, conform) to their kids. If they are a teacher, they will multiply the infection by hundreds of underlings that believe the poison they are being forced to ingest.
Each time you stand before a practice member in truth, something magical happens, not only to that person but also to their family and every person they interact with. Like ripples from a stone being thrown in a still pond, as DCs we must be the person who is their advocate in health, regardless of the odds against them. It’s so easy to give up on a person: they don’t have the right kind of insurance (like the right kind of melanin in their skin?), I’m not qualified, the regulators in my state don’t like DCs taking on cases like these, etc. There is something that has become a bit antiquated or out of vogue and that’s HOMEWORK! It’s time spent building a bulletproof belief and intent on what you choose to accomplish. Do you spend a few hours a week on the TNR website reading our blogs, do you watch the training videos on the members-only site, do you place the printed TNR Happenings in a binder that you read over and over, etc., or do you get sucked into anything and everything on the web? One helps direct and conserve your personal power and the other simply scatters and squanders personal power. Have you ever been bored and started surfing the web and then you get that phone call from your spouse asking where are you? You thought it had been only 15 minutes of mindless surfing when it really had been over an hour. That won’t help you become a warrior or a person who has a burning drive that makes you unique.
Dr. Kevin’s right-paw partner
Hachi Bear won’t be happy until every kid on the Reservation has gifts, joy, and love!!!
Christmas on the Reservation Ornaments
Don’t forget to get your LHNC 2018 ornaments! These make perfect gifts for friends and family as well as VIP practice members. This year’s ornaments have a dream catcher design with LHNC burned into the center of an outline of Montana and have 2018 on the back. Due to the intensive labor that goes into making these ornaments, we won’t be getting more, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. If you’re ordering from the U.S. please use: savethereservation.org/online-store and if you’re ordering outside of the U.S. please contact TNR so we can figure out the shipping cost.
