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Drs. Jennifer Lovern, Daniel Bertamini,
Martin Silva, and Sven Boehne.
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Then, I remembered that after I graduated from CCCLA in April 2003, I had worked as an associate for Dr. Ron Oberstein in San Diego, California. In the fall of that year, a tremendous fire destroyed an inland suburban area. Many Dr. Ron’s patients lost their homes and the city of San Diego screeched to a halt. During the critical emergency phase, a small group of chiropractors including Dr. Matt Hubbard, Dr. Ron’s other associate at the time, organized a team to give chiropractic adjustments at the base camp of the San Diego County fire fighters. When a large area is aggressively burning, the fire departments not only attempt to extinguish the fires but also try to contain them in order to prevent greater losses and casualities. In this intense phase, every minute counts, and the fire fighters’ bodies produce so much adrenalin that they may not even notice the pain from overexertion. This means that they risk going beyond their physical limits without being aware of it.
At such times, a chiropractic adjustment can help them feel better and work more effectively. It is a little like an athlete who receives a treatment before a major event in order to face the challenges of great physical effort in a maximum-performance state. Knowing this, in the face of serious catastrophes spontaneous groups of chiropractors have emerged in places including the United States, Peru, Australia and other nations.
Finding Ways to Help: Navigating the Bureaucracy
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| Dr. Mauro Cento at CRU military camp, Paganica. |
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Thanks to the efforts of our national Italian Association of Chiropractic (AIC) (www.chiropratica.it), chiropractic has been officially recognized as a primary health care profession in Italy since 2007, after decades when chiropractors could only practice under the license of a medical physician. Another difference between Italy and the United States is that in Italy the authorities are much more restricted in their ability to allow private citizens to contribute to relief efforts. For many days, I faxed, telephoned, and sent emails all over Italy, from Rome to Milan, in order to find someone in a decision-making position who understood chiropractic and how chiropractors could help. I contacted the National Guard, the Red Cross and numerous local government offices without success.
Then, by what seemed like pure luck, I obtained the cell phone number of a spokesperson for the Italian Red Cross. Even after hearing my American accent, he was kind and willing to listen to me. He then put me in contact with the head medical doctor coordinating all the emergency facilities in the military tents in the earthquake zone. She gave us permission to organize two small groups to head to L’Aquila and to be present in two different Red Cross camps. Initially, she seemed skeptical as to why we would want to participate and asked us to not cause confusion or interfere with the operations taking place. Nonetheless, she made it possible for us to join the relief effort.
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