Is this really a road?

When I was in the US I had the pleasure of working with a wonderful doctor of chiropractics named Andrew Ragon. When I told him I was moving to Fiji he said that his college did clinics abroad there. I contacted the administrator for the clinics & arranged to meet the team on 2 separate clinics in a town near me. It was lovely to meet these hard working students, be among like minded people and spend time with Americans. Of course it also rocked that I got adjusted and they left behind the ever-coveted American magazine.

So after the last clinic in July I thought it would be great to host a clinic in my town. The students from Palmer Chiropractic College come twice a year and spend about 12 days going to mostly schools and adjusting the students and staff. It took months of emailing back & forth with the college in the US & with people locally. I needed to get approval from the head teacher to have a clinic at my school, set up a venue in town, arrange for 2 teas, design a flier to distribute, walk all over creation to hang the fliers & of course give a description of what chiropractics is because it is an unknown form of treatment here. So after several long months of detailed work it came together on Friday Sept 30th.

The team of young chiropractors-to-be slowly disembarked from the bus after an early morning wake-up call and a long journey to my school in the bush. My school is about 10km outside of town & 1.5km in the interior down a bumpy, windy, dusty and sometimes precarious road. The admin person Cheryl, looks at the road then looks at me & asks “Is this really a road?” My reply is “Yes. It even has a name.” About 5 minutes later the driver got a flat tire. Oops.

The doctors set up their tables and supplies and quickly got to work on the 160 students/staff and nearly 100 locals from the nearby village and neighborhood. It was blistering hot that day with the sun shining and humidity hazing the mountains. The doctors worked tirelessly through heat, sweat and exhaustion. At one point I was sitting and watching the clinic progress and I saw a doctor treating a young, nervous girl. The doctor is smiling and generously explaining what is about to happen. The child is trusting and has no idea what to expect. I was holding back tears as I watched my vision of holding a clinic taking place right before me & seeing these future chiropractors treat so many deserving people in this financially weakened land.

We wrapped things up at the school, had a lovely tea of local fruits and traditional Indian snacks and headed to town to set up for the next venue. It was held at the local Sathya Sai Centre. When we arrived there were already 30 people waiting! We set up and got to work. The team of 18 saw nearly 150 people in 3.5 hours. A SMASHING success!

I later spoke to one of the team and he said that Friday, even though it was their last day of doing clinics & they were all exhausted, was his favorite day. I was overjoyed! He said he saw more patients at the final clinic than any other place that were relevant to chiropractics and would be similar cases to what they would see in the US.

This was one of the most meaningful projects I have done since I’ve come to Fiji and by far the largest scale. Chiropractics is something I firmly believe in & it has healed me from many injuries and a car accident. In 1 day the team treated nearly 400 people. I am still standing tall and proudly wearing a feather in my cap for this accomplishment. The young students from the Palmer college have made an impact in Fiji and I am so grateful for their service.
A hearty Vinaka Vakalevu!! (huge thanks!)

Coming soon…..this blog is taking a different direction….Fiji Feasting-all food all the time.