In early September I headed to Savusavu on Vanua Levu, the second largest island of Fiji. I was with a group of chiropractors, providing free chiropractic care in this region to the local people. This was the third trip of this kind for me, with good friend and colleague, David Leach. David and his wife Beth have been serving the people of this region with regular trips, providing chiropractic care for 10 years now.
Kiara and her parents, both chiropractors have also enjoyed a “tour of duty,” with David and Beth. This trip was the biggest to date, with our group of 6 enthusiastic chiropractors.
On the first day we were able to serve the local people of Savusavu at the Cousteau resort where we were kindly accommodated. We also provided care from the local medical centre. David and Beth have established a great working relationship with the local Savusavu GP, Dr Ishaq, who has been a wonderful support and provides a room in his office to work from.
We spent a day at Naweni Village, which was a lovely experience. We enjoyed an official Kava ceremonial offering followed by a welcome to the village. We had a long and rewarding day providing chiropractic care to the villagers. Gonstead chiropractic care was enthusiastically embraced, and when the school bus brought the children home later in the afternoon, many parents were keen to get their children checked and adjusted if needed. We were quite moved to receive a beautiful song of thanks by almost the entire village before we departed.
We spent a day seeing patients at Seqaqa Public Health Centre. We discovered people had travelled from a large catchment area to experience chiropractic for the first time. The head doctor and all staff were very accommodating and also enthusiastic about experiencing Gonstead chiropractic care for themselves. We found this to also be the case at our furthest base, Nabouwalu Hospital in Balu Provence. We had another very full day, with the six of us working at capacity. The Head Doctor told us it was the busiest clinic day they had ever experienced for any six of us working at capacity. The Head Doctor told us it was the busiest clinic day they had ever experienced for any kind of care, and if there was more notice the numbers could have doubled. We did have a day off in the middle to refresh, and enjoyed diving on the reef.
At each venue we were able to provide donations from Australian patients and friends. Gracious thanks to everyone that was able to contribute. Such simple gifts are so needed and gratefully received. The gratitude and friendship offered by the Fijian people is just so rewarding and we felt privileged to be of service to help improve the lives just a little of our new friends.
Scott Champion
For WorkSpace Week (2-8 October) we’re dedicated to reducing work-related musculoskeletal disorders which cause neck and back pain and are the leading Work Health and Safety issue impacting the physical and mental health of Australian workers, and costs the Australian economy around $50 billion annually. Body stressing from poorly executed lifting, pushing, pulling or bending, using computers in non-ergonomic workspaces (in an office or at home), poor posture, driving and repetitive strain injuries and mental stress can all cause work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Visit workspaceweek.org.au because prevention is the best protection!
Avail your self to one of our check lists, print outs in the clinic or from workspaceweek.org.au. A great place to start is by downloading the Straighten Up Australia app and regularly performing the in-office exercises. Scott, Kiara and Peter are available to discuss with you ways to reduce muscuoskeletal stress in your own particular workplace, and of course, they’re here for you when you do need chiropractic help.
