Whalen Chiropractic at MedLaw Tri-Con

August was a big month for professional conferences, and yours truly was in the thick of it. Somehow I was “voluntold” by the California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery (CSIMS) that I was the new education chair. The event was held in August at the beautiful Loew’s Coronado Resort in Coronado over 4 days.

CSIMS is the organization of doctors, mostly orthopedic surgeons, pain management doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists as well as Doctor of Chiropractic (DCs) and others who evaluate injured workers to determine whether their injuries are work related, or what permanent disability they have.  It is important work and has profound effects on injured worker’s lives.

We have also recently incorporated doctors and attorneys who treat people involved in personal injury cases, like auto accidents, and issues related to traumatic brain injury. 

Historically, in the past 10 or more years the largest conferences we have put on was about 225 people.  If I was going to be in charge, it was “go big or go home!”  I set an initial goal of 350.  On the 3^rd day of our conference, we had to close down registration at 525!  Whoo hoo!

Medical and legal care is constantly evolving, and the only way for us to keep up is reading journal articles and going to conferences. Conferences are sometimes tedious, but usually more fun than reading research papers. You get to talk to colleagues.  We listen to lectures from experts like doctors and attorneys in workers’ compensation, personal injury and traumatic brain injury, and hopefully take that information back to the office on Monday to do a better job of taking care of you.

As Education Chair, my overall job was to oversee a very dedicated and skilled group of volunteers to decide on what courses we should have and who should teach them.  We had to arrange for breakfast, lunch and dinner for everyone (did you know it costs over $100 per person to host a buffet breakfast?) All doctors and attorneys want continuing education credits, so we had to have a plan to check them into each class and collect the data so we could certify their hours with their respective licensing board.

All told, we had over 90 speakers and 50 panels.  And thankfully, rave reviews. 

It was not all work:  we had evening receptions, open bars, Karaoke, taco trucks and a fancy burger truck. And a chance to talk to some very smart, very dedicated doctors and attorneys who want to help YOU!

We have already had 3 meetings planning next year’s conference! In the “No good deed goes unpunished” category:  I take over as CSIMS president, their first chiropractor EVER in January.