Coming to a campus near you?
Calgary, Guelph, London, Regina … what do these Canadian cities have in common? In each one, there is an excellent university. Within those four institutions, we discover a burgeoning chiropractic presence. Here are the stories of front-line health-care practitioners who are delivering chiropractic in vibrantly unique post-secondary settings.
A Partnership of Health Disciplines
University of Regina’s integrated approach to health care
Chiropractors have fully integrated into the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport’s community health clinic at the University of Regina. Called the Allied Health Centre, it represents an alliance of many health disciplines including chiropractic, medicine, physical therapy, podiatry, exercise and lifestyle rehabilitation, massage therapy and counselling services. The centre is owned and operated by Health Pro Management in cooperation with the University of Regina.
Health Pro Management and the Allied Health Centre were first conceived by three individuals who were running separate clinics at the university: Dr. Mike Nicholls, sports medicine physician; Dale Pituro, University of Regina Physiotherapy Department, and physiotherapist for the Saskatchewan Roughriders; and Yvonne Slobodian, Paul Schwann Cardiac and Exercise Rehabilitation Centre. Although they had their individual clinics in different parts of the university, they each believed in an integrated approach to health care, based on their experience in sports medicine and working together at the university.
From 2001 to 2003, the university underwent an expansion that encompassed student residences, and a kinesiology wing with lecture theatres, laboratories, a gymnasium, a health and fitness centre, and an indoor running track. The impetus was the Canada Summer Games, which were held in Regina in August of 2005. The university wanted to incorporate a clinic that would promote health and wellness in the community as well as provide service to students, faculty, and athletes.
Health Pro Management was entrusted with recruiting health-care professionals who espoused an interdisciplinary approach. Having previously worked with Dale Pituro on sporting events, and through mutual involvement with multidisciplinary assessments for the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board and other health-care projects, I was asked to fill the chiropractic role. A second chiropractor joined the team last year – Dr. Charla Borowski, a graduate of Western States Chiropractic College.
SHOWCASED DURING THE CANADA SUMMER GAMES in 2005
The Allied Health Centre and the university’s new facilities were showcased during the Canada Summer Games. In fact, the Summer Games Medical Committee was largely made up of many of the Allied Health Centre’s personnel. The medical committee promoted multidisciplinary teamwork at the main Polyclinic, set up at the U of R, and at the medical triage clinics situated at event sites. This multidisciplinary model received many accolades from health-care disciplines nationwide both during and after the Summer Games.
The same open and cooperative spirit is the essence of the Allied Health Centre where two chiropractors, nine medical physicians, two massage therapists, 10 physical therapists, exercise physiologists, a podiatrist, nurses, and laboratory services technicians work side by side in close proximity. There is a common waiting room and front reception, with underground parking and an elevator directly below. Those attending the clinic can undergo exercise rehabilitation in the new health and fitness facility and pool, at no extra charge.
The interdisciplinary, comprehensive and concurrent treatment paradigm allows for case discussion and appropriate cross-referrals to ensure timely treatment. Allied Health Centre activities include monthly interdiciplinary meetings, the development of the centre’s own clinical guidelines based on evidence-based research, and the establishment of research programs in partnership with the Department of Kinesiology and Health Studies. In the future, the centre hopes to acquire onsite MRI technology for diagnostic and research purposes, as well as to promote partnerships with the government and private agencies that support multidisciplinary assessment and treatment of health-related conditions and community wellness initiatives.
It is the mandate of both the Department of Kinesiology and Health Studies and the Allied Health Centre to promote health and fitness in the community while at the same time being a state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre for the management and treatment of neuromusculoskeletal injuries. Chiropractic is viewed as an integral part of the services offered at the University of Regina’s Allied Health Centre, and as an important and valued partner on the medical team. This acceptance will lead to further chiropractic research and ensure a place for chiropractic in standard, interdisciplinary health-care treatment.•
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