WSCA Annual Meeting & Symposium Recap By WSCA Staff
The 2023 Annual Meeting & Symposium was held on Saturday, February 4 in Seattle and featured one of our most extensive awards presentations to date. But more on that in a minute. Firstly, the Board of Directors held its regular meeting where it was announced that several amendments to the WSCA bylaws were being proposed. Those amendments concerned the election and terms of Directors, giving the Board the ability to shorten or extend them as necessary to accommodate scheduling changes for future Annual Meetings. They also suggested removing the licensure requirement for retired DCs, as many let their licenses go inactive after they leave practice. The proposed changes would allow retired DCs to be members without holding an active license, provided they did not lose their license due to disciplinary action.
The proposed amendments were published in the February 15 newsletter and approved at the March 2 Board meeting.
After those announcements, elections were held for the positions of President-Elect and Representative of Districts 3, 4, and 5. Dr. David Stemp of Tacoma was elected President Elect, while of Vancouver and of West Richland were reelected to their positions in Districts 3 and 4, respectively. Although the District 5 position was technically vacated, Dr. of Spokane was appointed to that position. Finally, Dr. David Butters of Seattle was reappointed to the position of Legislative Director.
Once all were sworn into their new offices, the meeting proceeded with our awards presentation. Several of the honorees appeared via Zoom as one was on vacation, another had recently relocated out of state, and another experienced a car accident the morning of the event.
The Freedom Award recognizes a DC or non-DC who has contributed unusual time and effort to the advancement, promotion, and protection of the chiropractic profession. This year’s Freedom Award was presented to Dr. Devin Brossard of Arlington for his work sharing with the profession his practice procedures manual which was informally dubbed the “gold standard” of compliance by the Department of Health.
The is presented to an individual who champions chiropractic in their community. This year’s recipient secured a $100,000 grant for furthering chiropractic efforts in pediatrics. The funding was used by the Averio Health Institute to provide a 90%-subsidized, six-month long intensive chiropractic care program for seven severely disabled children. These children’s cases were followed in the documentary Hope for Our Future, which gives an incredible exposé of how chiropractic can achieve great improvements in
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patients that allopathic medicine has otherwise given up on. In addition to this, this awardee recently published a children’s book titled Do You Know You Have a Brain?—a colorful adventure that takes the reader through a story of how chiropractic helps the brain function better, resulting in whole-body health. The Activism Award was presented to Ms. Anna Martin of Mt. Vernon.
The recognizes a DC who has broken new ground and “led the way” in chiropractic. This year’s Pioneer Award was presented to Dr. Avery Martin of Mt. Vernon for his many career achievements, including the establishment of the Averio Health Institute, past service as President of the WSCA, many publications in scholarly journals, his instrumental role in the Hope for Our Future documentary, creation of the chiropractic section of the Seattle/King County Clinic, and his part in the establishment of the new Washington Chiropractic College.
The Citizen of the Year Award recognizes a non-DC who has contributed exceptionally to the chiropractic profession in Washington. This year’s award was presented to Kris Dowell, the executive director of the Michigan Association of Chiropractic. Ms. Dowell’s involvement with the profession at the national level is long and storied, but she was honored this year specifically for her work in supporting numerous state associations—including the WSCA—with legislative, policy, and insurance resources.
The Special Service Award is a sort of “catch-all” award presented to those DCs whose accomplishments don’t really fall into any other category. This year we presented four Special Service Awards.
Dr. Caitlin Quraishi of Dallas, Georgia was honored for her extensive work bridging the divide between chiropractic and other healthcare professions through the Seattle/King County Clinic, and more generally for being an exceptional ambassador of the profession.
of Aberdeen was recognized for his work in establishing the Grays Harbor Chiropractic Association and for his work during a 2018 chiropractic mission trip to Uganda.
Dr. Wendy Schauer of Olympia was recognized following an unprecedented outpouring of feedback from colleagues and patients alike. Among the reasons cited for this honor were her devotion to her community, her patients, her peers, and to
From left: Dr. Kimberly Palmer-Yee, Dr. Wendy Schauer and Dr. Chad Hurst
improving relations with other professional disciplines.
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