December 8, 2011 — New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) held commencement exercises Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, conferring degrees upon 91 candidates for doctor of chiropractic.
Graduating student C. Michael Begley addressed his class expressing gratitude to the many people who had helped him along the way.
The commencement address was delivered by Keith S. Overland, DC (NYCC ’81), CCSP, FICC, president of the American Chiropractic Association and the first NYCC alumnus elected to the position. Overland reminded the assembled graduates that one’s profession flows into one’s personal life, changing both how people view them and how they will thereafter view others.
Overland also stressed certain values that are critical to success, among them patient-centered care: “Patients want to know what’s in it for them,” said Overland as he urged the new doctors to put patients’ interests first. He also encouraged them to be compassionate and to listen to others’ concerns. “Recognize when you have succeeded with a patient, and when you have not,” he said. Concluding his talk, he drew a quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
In recent years, Overland has also been chiropractic consultant for the New York Mets baseball team, the United States Olympic training center, and the 2002 Olympic U.S. speed skating team. He taught at the U.S. Open Tennis Coaches Conference and is the medical editor for the New England Tennis Magazine.
Overland was first elected to the ACA board of governors in 2005 and served on the Health Care Reform Task Force. Past president of the Connecticut Chiropractic Association and the New England Chiropractic Council, he was recipient of the Connecticut Chiropractor of the Year award three times and in 2002 received the Delegate of the Year award from the American Chiropractic Association.
Co-chair of the Connecticut Governors Committee on Physical Fitness and a member of Senator Joseph Lieberman’s Health Care Task Force, Overland currently practices in Norwalk, Conn.
Source: New York Chiropractic College, www.nycc.edu
