A Thought on Charity

Some chiropractors will think nothing of writing a check for $100 to a worthwhile charity. Yet they will not give four free adjustments to a needy person, or worse, will not even accept them as a practice member.

13 thoughts on “A Thought on Charity”

  1. I have stated time and again that if you render the service you MAY get paid. However, if you do NOT render the service you cannot (legally) get paid. Your odds are better with rendering the service. Thus you should think in term,s of rendering the service for that ups your odds of getting paid. No service; No pay.

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  2. Dr Sid used to say, Your right hand does the adjusting and your left hand does the collecting, never let one hand know what the other is doing.

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  3. Perhaps those chiropractors are giving charity based on merit rather than need. I would rather give to a charity that is 100% in line with my vision than give free care to someone who won’t pay because they don’t value the care.

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    • Matt, how do you determine merit and need. Does a sigle Mom with 4 kids who comes in every week and puts 5 dollars in the box value chiropractic more than the businessman who comes in whenever he hurts and puts 40 bucks in the box?

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  4. Chiropractic and the adjustment of VS is the birthrite of everyperson; I give to each according to their need and it is given to me according to mine. I pity those who lack the courage to trust enough to give, for it is only through giving that we receive.

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  5. Sometimes it is difficult to determine who really needs charity and who just doesn’t value your care. I’ve had people who drive way better cars than me, take better vacations, and live in a more expensive house tell me that they don’t have the money to afford care.

    I am happy to help someone out who really can’t afford care but if they just want me to reduce my fees so that they can continue living high on the hog…then I am not interested. Most people spend more on things that destroy their health than they would on chiropractic care. Add up the costs of 2-3 sodas a day and a couple packs of cigarettes sometime. Many impoverished people find money for that stuff.

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  6. It is for this reason that I am thinking of switching to a box on the wall. I won’t have to judge merits of each case or justify my choices to a regulatory board…ummm..I assume…will I?

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  7. Providing free care to the needy has always enriched me in the long run, both spiritually, and materially. The problem I find here is that most of the time the truly needy don’t show up at my office ( and probably not yours either). This is why volunteering to go on mission trips, or providing care in places like church free clinics (as I have done frequently) can really provide you an opportunity to serve the less fortunate.

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  8. i think that the patient who doesnt pay at least a minimum dont get any compromise with a regular basis care . A good way is the first visit more expensive and the regular care cheaper. The patient that not come to the visit in to the regular care (in 2 months for example)when he come back pay the cost of the first visit again. I think is another way to make patient education, no? ( excuse my english I promise I am learning!)

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    • Thank you for your input Maurizio. I think we must be careful that we do not penalize people because they have not fully understood our message. …and a 1 hr orientation, in my opinion, is not sufficient. I had chiropractic classmates who sat and listened to Reggie for 3 years and still did not get it. By the way, your english was fine but it brings up another point. My office sees, perhaps as many as 200 people a week who speak little or no english and speak one of 10 different langauges. I’m too old to become multilingual in everything from chinese to ukranian! I think we need to be flexible. We also see hundeds of others who are born and raised in this county and have been brainwashed in medical-outside -in thinking. They just do not know any different. It takes time to clean out the garbage.

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  9. I just had to comment on the Sid quote by Steve that states: “Your right hand does the adjusting and your left hand does the collecting, never let one hand know what the other is doing.” What a crock of crap [as my grandmother of blessed memory word say]. That quote is only an excuse to do things that are questionable yet wish to reman in the fold of Sid. Same with the term: “I am a subluxation based chiropractor.” Another term that allows you to practice anything you want so long as you used some sort of manipulation and you did NOT shy from the term when speaking with fellow chiropractors; to your practice members, it did NOT matter. Just own up when you are compromising our principle and stop the rationalizing. While I have lots to say about the ACA & CCE model of chiropractic, I know where they stand. It’s those that talk both sides of their mouth I find disgusting; sort of each hand doing their own thing.

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