Hero local chiropractors in the community during COVID-19

Local chiropractors during the COVID-19 pandemic are helping out in their local communities, contributing to local businesses and more

Deemed an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic, chiropractors across the U.S. have struggled to keep their offices and clinics open while seeing a drop-off in patients due to stay-at-home orders — but are still tending to patients in need for pain management and other care.

Local chiropractors providing care for chronic pain and other patients is currently lessening the burden on hospitals and emergency rooms dealing with the influx of coronavirus patients. At the same time chiropractors are helping out in their local communities, contributing to local businesses, providing free services to front-line medical workers and more.

Here are just a few of the stories of local chiropractors going the extra mile in local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Local chiropractors feeding the front lines

A grassroots effort called “Feed the Front Lines” provides Chico, Calif., health care workers battling COVID-19 with free lunches. Jason Gonzales and Shane Smith with Specific Chiropractic Center purchased $100 gift cards for Fresh Cove, a restaurant known for serving healthy food. The two invited health care workers to show up at Fresh Cove and use the gift cards they left, hoping other local businesses would follow their lead.

“We’re hoping to encourage people in our community to follow up with our donation and keep the ball rolling,” Gonzales told KRCR ABC 7 news.

“They’re out there working massive 12-hour shifts,” Smith said. “They’re in a crisis mode and helping everybody out.”

Free chiropractic care for front-line workers

Chiro One in Oakbrook, Ill., offers free chiropractic care to physicians, physician’s assistants and registered nurses working on the front lines of health care during COVID-19.

“Our doctors and clinical care teams at Chiro One want to help them stay healthy so the front liners can continue to help our communities recover as quickly as possible,” said Stuart Bernsen, DC, CEO and founder of Chiro One Wellness Centers said in a release. “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary actions.”

Bridge Chiropractic in Vancouver, Wash., offers free chiropractic care to physicians, physician’s assistants and registered nurses working on the front lines of health care in hospital emergency rooms and urgent care centers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our community’s front-line medical workers are a critical piece in helping us combat our current COVID-19 crisis,” said Bridge owner and founder Paul Reed, DC, speaking to the Daily Record. “These teams are under extreme amounts of mental and physical stress while providing the necessary care…Any physician, physician’s assistant or registered nurse who currently works in a hospital emergency department or urgent care center is eligible to receive complimentary care at Bridge Chiropractic.”

Free local restaurant tabs

Mike Merkt, who owns Specific Chiropractic Centers in Hartland, Wisc., started opening tabs at area restaurants and shops.

“I posted in the Pewaukee Parents Facebook group that I opened up this tab,” Merkt told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I do it on Mondays, so to me it’s a Monday motivation thing to get people in good spirits and spread positively.”

That Thursday, Merkt discovered that just one person had used part of the tab.

“People were too nice to take advantage of it,” Merkt said. “I was like, ‘This is the most Wisconsin thing ever.'” As COVID-19 took hold, his $50-100 tabs around town were immediately taken up. “All of this makes sense to me to be a nice person and get the word out about other businesses,” he said.

Free 3-D printer face shields for front-line workers

Nathan Stewart, DC, of Stewart Family Chiropractic in Sycamore, Ill., and his office staff use his 3-D printer to make 60-80 face shields per day for essential front-line health care workers.

“I’ve made about 200 face shields so far and have given out between 125 and 150,” Stewart told the Daily Chronicle. “There’s a huge need, especially in the medical field. Nurses, elder care facilities, doctors, everyone has been asking about them…I had the 3-D printer and wanted to put the machine to good use. I will give the face shields to whoever would like them. I saw that there was a great need for [face shields], and I wanted to help out and give back to the community.”

For the latest daily COVID-19 info for doctors of chiropractic, including upcoming webinars, updates, resources and coronavirus-related articles from Chiropractic Economics, go to chiroeco.com/coronavirus-covid-19.