Page 4 - BackSpace October 2017

ECU news
Vivian Kil re-elected for a second term
VIVIAN KIL has been re-elected unopposed for a second two-year term as ECU Vice President. She will be taking on a special responsibility
for liaison with the relaunched Academy
(EAC) in support of the ECU drive to widen
access to chiropractic education and care.
An AECC graduate and former president
of the Netherlands chiropractic
association (2012- 15), Vivian has
recently moved
her clinic (Nervus), now in its seventh year, to larger premises in order to realise a collaborative environment for spinal health care professionals in Beek, in the Netherlands.
Speaking on her re- appointment, Dr Kil said: “I and my colleagues have all benefited from the efforts to develop our great profession
by those who went before us.
I very firmly believe that in addition to providing superior patient care, we owe it to those who will come after us, and to those for whom the possibility
of chiropractic care is just a dream right now, to expand the profession and translate the best research in spinal care into daily practice.”
L-R: David Newell, Haymo Thiel, Øystein Ogre, Vasileios Gkolfinopoulos, David Byfield, Ian Beesley
ECU Education Task Force encourages more chiropractic students and schools
IN MID-SEPTEMBER, the ECU Education Task Force met to discuss how to accelerate the number of students being trained in European chiropractic schools. The BCA has recently successfully concluded negotiations with London South Bank University for a new chiropractic course built on evidence-informed principles (see page 18) and is in discussion with a further British university for
another course. It will, of course, be some time before these courses can be accredited by the ECCE, which requires a full cohort of students to have passed through training before an accreditation visit. Meanwhile, the ECU is leading talks to
examine the prospects for securing more signatories to the principles espoused by the International Chiropractic Education Collaboration (see Volume 12 Number 1).
Care Response now available in five languages
OVER THE past year,
the ECU has provided financial support for rolling out Care Response (see volume 13 number 1) to a wider range of chiropractors in Europe. It is now available in the original English,
plus German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. In the coming months, additional expansion will be funded by the ECU to include Dutch, Estonian and French. This will allow the patients of over 6,250
European chiropractors to record outcomes and client experience of chiropractic care. In embracing Big Data the chiropractic profession is making it possible for national associations to wield a formidable objective weapon
to demonstrate the results of its care to the health care authorities and for individual chiropractors to benchmark their practices. Joining the Care Response club is free; for details consult your national association.
ECU supports annual EPHA conference
ONE OF the most important dates in the calendar for health in Europe is the annual conference of the European Public Health Association (EPHA) in Brussels. It is the leading health advocacy group and the ECU is a member. This year the focus was on chronic diseases, with discussions about how commercial decisions affect public health and how best to mobilise political leadership
to effect change for well-
being. The enduring concern is prevention of disease.
Delegates included most of the large health professional associations, the European Commission and the WHO. The keynote speaker, Dr Sania Nishtar, was shortlisted for
the post of Director General WHO. Other speakers included Dr Alessandro Demaio from the WHO where he is Medical
Officer for non-communicable conditions and nutrition.
The ECU made a two-fold contribution. Contributors were invited to send information
for inclusion in the book of proceedings on (a) three
killer facts (in our case about musculoskeletal disorders
– MSD); (b) three key policy documents about prevention of MSD; and (c) 100 words that sum it all up. In addition, the ECU took a stand in
the exhibition area where it showcased the 2017 winning entry for the Jean Robert research prize, the benefits of adopting Care Response and the 2018 ECU convention in Budapest. The initiative is part of a number of actions being taken to raise awareness of evidence-informed chiropractic care amongst fellow health care professionals.
4 BACKspace www.chiropractic-ecu.org October 2017