Author: Lee Matthis, DC

The vision of Tuck Chiropractic is “to make a significant impact on as many lives as possible.”   I work extremely hard each day to make sure I embody that vision as best I can at home, so when I was recently invited to accompany a group of healthcare professionals on a mission trip abroad, I jumped at the opportunity to take my impact worldwide.

We traveled to Montego Bay, Jamaica and boarded a rickety bus to travel into the Blue Mountains to Blessed Assurance, an orphanage for mentally and physically handicapped children run by Mustard Seed Communities (www.mustardseed.com).  Over the course of a week I learned first-hand what “significant impact” truly means.

The majority of the children were stricken by HIV/AIDS, Cerebral Palsy, or on the severe end of the Autism Spectrum.  Most were unable to communicate, each of them desperately needed what I had to offer, chiropractic care.  And so I began, with the help of three of my graduate school professors and friends, to remove nervous interference by way of the adjustment.

Not once while treating the residents did I hear anything about neck pain, headaches, or low back pain, but a day or two of care, I received wonderful feedback from the caregivers that the children were sleeping better, had better appetites, and were overall less irritable and easier to care for.  The caregivers, whom we treated also, mostly asked to have their blood pressure checked (a common problem in the West Indies due to diet and genetics) and claimed that they felt less stress and fatigue after their adjustments.

To treat a patient who has absolutely nothing in this world to offer but a smile and possibly a hug is the greatest feeling in the world.  To experience complete faith of one’s health placed unquestioningly into your, a stranger’s hand, is the most humbling feeling I have had.  This is the impact I was able to make on lives abroad and it was an amazing feeling.

And so I returned home, having done my best to impact the world and succeeded. I also found that I had refueled my desired to continue to increase my impact here in the office and just hope to do so for as many of my neighbors that grant me that honor.

Author: Ray Tuck, DC

A new report was just published looking to see if chiropractic care would be more beneficial and more economical for neck and low back pain.  The name is Do Chiropractic Physician Services for Treatment of Low-Back and Neck Pain Improve the Value of Health Benefit Plans?  An Evidence-Based Assessment of Incremental Impact on Population Health and Total Health Care Spending, and was performed by Harvard Medical School and Mercer Health and Benefits.

 The results were as follows:

• “Almost half of US patients with persistent back pain” seek chiropractic care.

• “Low-back and neck pain are extremely common conditions that consume large amounts of healthcare resources.”

• “Effectiveness:  chiropractic care is more effective than other modalities for treating low-back and neck pain.”

• “Cost-effectiveness:  when considering effectiveness and cost together, chiropractic physician care for low-back and neck pain is highly cost effective, and represents a good value in comparison to medical physician care and to widely accepted cost-effectiveness thresholds.”“…chiropractic care for the treatment of low-back and neck pain is likely to achieve equal or better health outcomes at a cost that compares very favourably to most therapies that are routinely covered in US health benefits plans.  As a result, the addition of chiropractic coverage for the treatment of low-back and neck pain at prices typically payable in US employer-sponsored health benefits plans will likely increase value-for-dollar….”

This information, along with a report from 1993 named the Magna Report show that there is certainly some benefit to chiropractic being a part of the new Healthcare Reform.  I hope the experts do not overlook this information!

Author: Ray Tuck, DC 

The newest way to reach potential new patients is social media.  This includes Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.

These are great ways to establish yourself as an expert in a specific field and reach multiple people in an inexpensive format (basically free).

However, I do have some concerns about this new media and I believe some guidelines should be developed for us as healthcare providers.

The reality is that the majority of these guidelines I have spelled out below are “common sense.”  However; I think it is necessary to be specific.

I have adapted some guidelines written by Anne Giles Clelland with Handshake 2.0 to create guidelines for healthcare providers.

Here they are:

Patients’ names or situations where someone could figure out who a patient is should never be used.

• Blog posts are not ghostwritten, i.e. written by one person with authorship attributed to another person.
• The author of the post is identified in the post.
• Posts written by guest bloggers writing on behalf of their own companies, products, or services, or on behalf of others, are identified as such in the post.
• The author of the post has full discretion to share his or her full experience.
• If the author of the post has a relationship, whether personal or financial, to the person, company, product, or service he or she has written about - or has linked to - that has been stated in the post.
• Always follow HIPAA and red flag guidelines for the safety of our patients (Tuck Chiropractic’s primary concern).  
• And lastly, and most importantly, put yourself in your patient’s shoes to determine how you would feel if you read such a post from your doctor!

Author: Ray Tuck, DC

Last month, I met with two doctors at one of their regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Though their practices were going well I personally believed they could have been doing better.

When we met I asked the doctors to focus on one thing, evaluating every aspect of the patient interaction that their patients received. My goal with this was to create a certain amount of energy for the doctors I would hopefully allow them to grow their practice. One of the issues that I often find in a young doctor’s office is that they often focus so much on the technical aspect of growing a practice they often forget there is a positive intent side. 

My father, who in my opinion was the expert on making an impact in patients lives through positive intent, would go into an office and triple the practice in a matter of months. When I asked him how he did this he would often say “I'm just spreading the positive intent and the patients just follow me in.”

Now do I believe that he was performing some type of magic?

No.

I believe he was so focused on helping people in his practice which created an energy that made people want to become his patients. The patients could literally feel his sincerity.  It also made patients want to refer other people in to the clinic.  And, it made his patients want to return for care.

Growing a practice is not about special bells and whistles. It's about accepting personal responsibility to help people in your community and to make an impact on everyone's lives you serve.  If you focus only on the technical aspect, you will not help many people. If your intent is to make an impact on the communities you serve and to help as many people as possible, then you're going to grow a large practice and help MANY people.

Focus on patients.

Author: Ray Tuck, DC

As many know, I lost my father, Nathan Tuck  almost four years ago.  What many might not realize is that he was a complete pack rat.  As we have gone through the many places he stored, well, just stuff,  I found a yellow note pad on which he had written several affirmation-type comments that were obviously notes from a seminar he had attended.

He had written, “I will be happy,” “Have an attitude of service,” and “Live each day like it is your last.”

As I read through them, I realized a couple things.  First, I can’t achieve anything that I do without ideas well-defined and written out as he had done.   And second, I measure personal happiness and self-worth by the impact I have on others.

My affirmative statement, which I am sure I learned from my father - which I always measure my actions against, is “I want to make an impact.”  This includes making an impact in patients’ lives, in the lives of our doctors, on our profession, and in our communities.  I’ve tried to let that be the statement for our company as well.

Where can we make an impact?

Zig Ziglar states all the time that you can get anything you want if you help enough people get what they want http://www.zigziglarstory.com/

At Tuck, we never let our doctors and staff members forget that we are in a service industry.  We are here to serve others.

I want to challenge you to make an impact in your patients’ lives.  When you bring a patient into your adjustment room, be 100% focused on them.  Make sure every patient gets great care and a great experience. 

I challenge you to make a difference in your patients’ lives and the communities on which you serve by asking “How can I make an impact?”  I found these ideas from the Impact Factory meaningful and I invite you to read them.

http://www.impactfactory.com/gate/making_personal_impact_skills_training/freegate_120-1102-1331.html

I know many of you never got to meet my father.  Most realize he died very young.  At his viewing prior to the funeral, we counted almost a thousand people who came to downtown Pulaski to pay their respects.  He made an impact on people’s lives.  I want us to do the same.