How Helping Native Americans Helps Your Practice Grow

One of the most amazing metamorphoses we see on a daily basis is the addition of purpose in DC’s lives. Purpose touches everything in their lives in oh, so many unexpected ways.

So many DC’s are so self-absorbed in financial worry, lack of certainty about the future, lack of good new patients, and the ever- increasing crushing weight of debt, that they don’t know what’s missing in their lives. There is just a dull, ever-present anxiety about the present and the future. This worry leaks into intimate relationships, children, and we are never ‘present time conscious’ with anybody. Life seems to be a series of crisis, drama and fires to be put out. Devoid of meaning and purpose, life takes on the boring color of beige with the dull, hollow and shallow feeling of ‘missing something’ or ‘is that all there is’? We didn’t go through all the time, effort and work to become a DC to end up like this. But what if there was another way?

Our group (The New Renaissance) established a world project called Love Has No Color. It was developed to bring attention to the disturbing and appalling third world country conditions present on Reservations right here in our country. As America’s first people they are truly “the forgotten people”. Crimes, poverty, alcohol, drug abuse, suicide, top the list of social genocide. The loss of spirit in a once proud and strong people is evidenced everywhere from the epidemic hopelessness to the feeling of being ‘outsiders’ staying behind a ‘prison without bars’ on the Reservation. What started out as a way of helping indigenous people on the Fort Peck Reservation in Wolf Point, Montana has morphed into something we never expected…

“Back on the reservation I felt a sense of belonging. What Dr. Ed and Dr. Kevin have established there is nothing short of a miracle. They have gained the trust and companionship of our native people who are in desperate need of help. They have worked countless hours to restore hope and show our brothers and sisters true love. Love that is found only in the hearts of those who truly care. The love of Chiropractors, mothers, fathers and friends. It’s this love that they pour out that is making a difference in so many lives. I am honored to be a small part of this amazing project in humanity, peace and love. For those of you who have traveled to Fort Peck I am honored to stand next to you. For those of you who have spent any time in energy or thought towards Fort Peck I am honored to be in thought with you. For those of you who have never been or given it much thought I am honored to offer more to you. Reach out of your own home and community and pour out love to all God’s children. Love has no Color and Christmas on the Reservation is more than an event or a project. It’s more than presents and time. It’s everything. It has everything to do with life, with God and with love. It is a representation of compassion and healing. It’s about unity. It brings all brothers and sisters together for one cause. That cause that is larger than just one. That goes beyond our wants and needs. It’s a movement in humanity and one that will in no doubt change the world. Every Man, woman and child on that reservation needs hope and The New Renaissance is delivering. Every man, woman and child in this world needs hope and The Doctors of The New Renaissance are delivering.

It is much easier to sit back and let someone else do the hard things in life but for this New Renaissance warrior I want dirty hands. God’s word reaches out to us and declares our lives in giving. Give to those who need our hand. Not only to the kids on the reservation but to the individuals in our own communities. Be proud and give freely. Pour out love and hope in your own community and give yourself to those who want and need it. Chiropractic is not simply a crack here or a crack there. Doctors of the New Renaissance are doctors of change.”
-Dr. Craig Onstott, MI

DC’s who got involved with the project started noticing their practices, their relationships with spouses and children got better. A lot better. Their worry started to vanish and was replaced by certainty. Certainty about their economics and their quality of life. It’s been said the “the hole you give through is the hole you receive through”. DC after DC who has become involved has become connected to children and adults on the Reservation. This new connection has given our DC’s the confidence and belief in themselves that they truly can make a difference in the lives of others as well as themselves. The most amazing part of this is that wasn’t the original intention of our world project…it happened when a group of Chiropractors agreed to help Native American people in need. They stopped being self-absorbed and worrying about what’s in it for me and became advocates for what Chiropractic is all about and started “living” we are all one people instead giving lip service to I’m too small to help such a vast problem.

One of our coaches came up with a great idea to bring her father to the Reservation. She thought the giving aspect and the playing full out would benefit her father. Her father has ‘battled’ many demons in his life. He is in his early sixties. A few days before our group was scheduled to visit the Reservation she called me and voiced her concern about her father. She thought that perhaps he wouldn’t like it, there wouldn’t be enough for him to do, or maybe he would be a disruptive influence. I told her that something ‘magical’ will happen to her father as well as anybody else no matter ‘what ails them’ on the Reservation. And it did…he was playing and ‘rough housing’ with the kids like he did thirty years ago with his own family. It was like watching him go back in time. The metamorphosis was unbelievable. His face seemed to grow younger and the deep etches of worry and anger in his face as well as the broken dreams and life disappointments were replaced by a smile that just wouldn’t go away. He said the trip to the Reservation changed his life for the better.

But it didn’t stop there. All of the DC’s, parents, spouses, etc got their practice members and friends involved with gift giving (18,000 gifts for Christmas ‘10, we call it X-Mas on the Reservation). Every child on the Reservation has a coat, hat, sneakers, boots, gloves, toys, educational materials, even musical instruments from our group. Fund raising for everything from refurbishing a movie theater, sending a Native American to Chiropractic School to return and set up a Chiropractic office and so much more. Practice members of our Chiropractors all over the country overwhelmed us with their support. Private citizens, corporations, churches, philanthropic groups, etc went above and beyond once they understood the scope and ‘far reaching humanitarian effects’ of our efforts. It seems everybody wants to help once they can get behind something worthwhile and that’s making a difference.

We invite you to join in our efforts of making a difference right here in our own country with Native Americans. Not only do the people need the support and help, they must know that there are people outside the reservation that care and believe in them. The wellness director on the Reservation (Kenny Smoker, Jr.) called our group ‘the answer to his prayers.’  Love Has No Color is the answer to our prayers of showing the world what a group of humanitarian DC’s are capable of.