Name: Dr. Lara Long (l to r): Dr. Lara Long and Dr. Rebecca Long
Clinic name and location: Long Chiropractic Center
What chiropractic school did you graduate from? Life Chiropractic College West, December 1995.
What made you want to be a chiropractor? Watching my dad growing up, serving thousands of patients with his passion, getting up in the middle of the night to meet a family with a child having an asthma attack instead of going to the hospital. The inspiration I received from watching him over the years in practice and knowing that I would be a mother one day and wanting to be able to help my own family stray healthy and strong. Using chiropractic first in health and wellness and prevention . . . staying out of crisis. That was my motivation!
How has being a member of the WSCA helped you? It has helped us stay connected to our chiropractic community, networking through seminars, continuously inspired by the chiropractic philosophy.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in your career? To practice what you preach! Invest in the proper equipment and tables to save your own body. Do everything you ask your patients to do! Walk the talk, get adjusted regularly, do massage and acupuncture to offset the repetitive stress placed in your body. Work out, invest in a good mattress and eat healthy. If your body breaks down, you will burn out and not be able to be there for your patients.
What one piece of advice would you give to new DCs? For new chiropractors, you should absolutely find a mentor. Find a chiropractor that inspires you in business, technique, and philosophy. Then, work with them for at least 2-3 years and soak it all up! Learn as much as you can about patient care and recommendations, how to run a business, how to inspire your patients to follow through with care through your report of findings and health class. The health of a person’s life is in your hands literally, and if you fail to tell them what they need it could alter the course of their life! What you have the capability of doing with chiropractic and the effect it can have on thenervous system is exponential! Don’t water it down.
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. In 1997, I moved to Costa Rica with the intention of practicing chiropractic and inadvertently ended up opening my own clinic with a chiropractor, Dr. Sandra Castro, that I met there from New York. The plan was to be there for 6 months to a year, but we were not sure how it would go. At the time there were only 3 practicing chiropractors in the country. We had an article written about us in the largest newspaper in Costa Rica, La Nacion, and following that we had a huge influx of patients and our practice exploded! We couldn’t leave. We ended up staying for 3 years with a thriving, all cash practice. During that time we happened to become a part of helping to create a law for chiropractic in Costa Rica, making it legal to practice chiropractic. Now there are hundreds of chiropractors practicing there giving healthcare to a country that didn’t have any. This was the best experience of my life and shaped me as a chiropractor!
Name: Dr. Rebecca Long Clinic name and location: Long Chiropractic Center
What chiropractic school did you graduate from? I graduated from Life Chiropractic College West in June of 2000.
What made you want to be a chiropractor? Starting out isn’t about how many new patients you can adjust. It’s about learning how to communicate to a new patient as to why they need to be adjusted, what their problem is and how you’re going to fix it. If you don’t master your analysis of a patient (ie exams, history, X-rays) and then the communication of your findings, you won’t be able to give them confidence that you can help them and they won’t trust your recommendations. Chiropractic is about healing the whole body and if we do our job right we can make a difference and change people’s lives!
How has being a member of the WSCA helped you? The only way to build your practice is hard work. No one is going to just hand it to you and patients don’t just appear. Put your time in, go out into your community, do screenings and spend time with people telling them what you know. They will be a better patient coming in if you listen and don’t rush through it. Remember you’re putting yourself out there to tell people how chiropractic can change their life.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in your career? I have always wanted to work with children. I thought about teaching but it didn’t seem to fit in what I wanted out of a career. During my sister’s graduation, my dad (Dr. Brian Long) gave the commencement speech. He talked about adjusting a newborn baby and while adjusting her, the baby just went peaceful and calm, knowing innately that what he was doing was good for her. I wanted to be able to help babies and children in a more profound way. Three weeks later I moved to California and started my prerequisites to go to chiropractic school.
What one piece of advice would you give to new DCs? The WSCA has been a great support. They have given our business support with ads for new doctors and CAs. They have helped chiropractic have a voice in the state of Washington, keeping our philosophy strong. They have helped support chiropractic in Olympia to make laws that have helped keep chiropractic separate, distinct and thriving in our state.
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. Eight years ago a friend asked my sister and I to donate to his trip to Haiti for a mission trip. We donated to him and then my sister signed us up to go with him. It was a week away and she convinced me to go. It was a humbling and an amazing experience that I will never forget. To be able to help hundreds of people who are in need and have very little. The brilliance of chiropractic is that all you need is your hands!
Ple x us F eb/March 20 2 5
11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
