Enrollment at Palmer's Florida Campus Maxed Out

With an overwhelming response from applicants, the Palmer College of Chiropractic, based in Davenport, Iowa, signed a 50-year agreement with Port Orange, Florida to lease land for a permanent 25-acre campus to be completed in 2003.

An eventful February 8 included the formal agreement for a 500-student facility at the City Center Complex, consisting of 60,000 feet of class and clinic space, with a goal of doubling the size and increasing the investment in the campus by $35 million. Financing will be through municipal bond sales.

As she placed her name on the agreement, Vickie Palmer, great-granddaughter of D.D. Palmer and chairperson of the Palmer Board, affirmed, "It's truly an honor to be here."

Sharing the emotion was Palmer President Guy Riekeman,DC. "It's destiny - I don't think anything can stop us. The reception we've received from the city has been fantastic."

"What began as a professional relationship has become a personal one," said Port Orange Mayor Dorothy Hukill.

The city's former mayor, Judy Anderson, commented, "The Palmer commitment will greatly enhance higher education opportunities in the county, and it shows the college has a positive view of our local system."

The temporary site for the campus, the Allen Green Civic Center, will welcome an opening class of 45 students on October 7, 2002. "We expected only 25," Chancellor Michael Crawford noted. "Already we have 65 applications, but we can accommodate only 45."

The Palmer Chiropractic University System Board of Trustees is considering moving its San Jose, California campus 137 miles northeast - to Folsom. Palmer had had its eye on Davis, California as a possible site for the campus. Palmer President Guy Riekeman,DC, said that while there are no formal agreements, Folsom is more conducive as a new location for the school than Davis, as land is more readily available in Folsom.

The move from San Jose (in Silicon Valley) is based on the area's high cost of living, heavy traffic and housing shortage. The move is not scheduled until 2006.

On February 25, 2002, Parker College of Chiropractic presented the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) a reward check for $22,500. The reward fund was for the apprehension and conviction of Alvin Braziel in the September 1993 murder of Doug White, a Parker College of Chiropractic employee, and the rape of his wife.

Thanks in part to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national repository that compares DNA profiles electronically, the Texas DPS identified the killer in January 2001. He was convicted in July 2001, and is now on death row.

College President Fabrizio Mancini,DC, expressed the sense of closure: "CODIS has made it possible for us to put years of darkness, uncertainty and doubt surrounding this case behind us. I am certain that I speak for everyone on the Parker campus in extending our profound sense of gratitude."

CODIS was a pilot program developed by the FBI in 1990. In 1996, Texas required sex offenders to submit blood samples to its database. It was the matching of this with DNA evidence collected from Mrs. White that led to the conviction of Braziel.

"We are pleased and honored to accept this donation from Parker College," said DPS director Colonel Thomas Davis, emphasizing its intended use in furthering the CODIS program in Texas.

In 2001, the FBI named the Texas DPS and Florida CODIS laboratories as the country's top two DNA labs, each containing between 100,000 and 106,000 offender profiles. Between the two states, 830 cases have been aided.

Eugene Sparlin,DC, a 1954 Logan College of Chiropractic graduate who has practiced in Atlanta, Georgia for 47 years, was honored recently with a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Georgia Chiropractic Association.

Dr. Sparlin was appointed by Governor George Busbee in 1979 to the Georgia Board of Chiropractic Examiners, and was its president in 1979 and 1980. In 1979, he was at the forefront of a successful campaign for an insurance equity law for DCs. In 2001, he was named by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the top 25 health care providers in the state.

Today, Dr. Sparlin employs 11 DCs and 20 support staff under one roof. Over the years, he has employed and taught over 80 DCs the practical and business ends of practice.

"Society needs us and our approach to natural health. There's no limit to the help we can provide to the population," Dr. Sparlin commented upon receiving his award from Dr. William Harris.

Sam Sparlin,DC, Eugene's son, carries on the chiropractic tradition. "When you teach others how to promote themselves, as well as be a credit to their profession, it continues and grows," Sam commented.

Alternative Medicine, Inc., (AMI), an IPA network out of Highland Park, Illinois, announced in late February a name change to Alternative Medicine Integration. CEO James Zechman reasoned, "We felt that our new name would better represent the essence of our company."

"AMI unites the best worlds of alternative and conventional Western medicine for the benefit of our clients," added Mr. Zechman, who co-founded the corporation with Richard Sarnat, MD, in 1997.

AMI has a network of primary care providers, including chiropractors, who are contracted through major health care providers and self-insured companies. AMI plans to expand in 2002 into additional markets with PPO, workers' compensation and HMO plans.

(For more information on AMI, go to http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/04/20.html and http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/05/14.html for our two-part interview with Mr. Zechman.)

Sid Williams,DC, president of Life University, presented a glass sculpture of flowers to Nancy Hill in a recent ceremony celebrating her career at the school. She is retiring as dean of the Nell K. Williams Learning Resources Center (LRC), which she directed since Life's opening in 1974. The center has gone from a few books to over 50,000 volumes, and incorporated computer technology.

In an earlier ceremony, Ms. Hill received a golden hammer to symbolize the beginning of demolition of the old LRC, which will make way for an expanded 40,000-square foot facility.