Chiropractors Give Good-will Adjustments in Panama

A story reported in the April 01, 2002 Northwest Florida Daily News reported on a chiropractic mission to the country of Panama where tens of thousands of Panamanians got chiropractic adjustments. In this mission project 32 chiropractors closed their offices for a week and spent their own money to help people in the Central American country. The chiropractors paid for their airfare, room and board, but the Panamanian government supplied their transportation once they were in the country.

The group, known as Chiropractors Restoring Energy Worldwide (CREW), was in Panama for its seventh humanitarian visit since the program began in 1997. The municipal government of Panama City sponsored the mission. Dr. Michael Dorausch, a CREW member and Los Angeles-based chiropractor, said the group was "received with open arms." Dorausch said, "We provided care in civic gymnasiums, government offices, privately owned factories and bus terminals, retirement centers, orphanages, malnutrition homes and prisons."

Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro, who is a Dartmouth graduate and recipient of a master's degree from Harvard University, welcomed the chiropractors in order "to offer one a better quality of life." "The people in Panama embrace chiropractic adjusting," said chiropractor Dr. Karen Humbert. "It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck," she said. "When we'd walk into the gymnasium, the Panamanians would applaud. It gave me goose bumps. I felt humbled because what comes so naturally for me is appreciated so much. We had several instances where people got tingles in their legs that had been paralyzed for a while. And I had one case where a patient had chronic problems for years but after being adjusted he could lift his left arm for the first time in a year."

The chiropractors' mission to Panama also cared for the country's top-ranked pro baseball team. Dr. Dorausch recalls, "I received a call for us to come and meet and adjust the team. We did it right on the baseball field."

On March 9, the last day of the CREW mission, Mayor Carlos Navarro showed his country's appreciation by presenting CREW organizers Drs. Luis and Lina Ocon with the key to the city.