The American Chiropractic Association announces the launch of a new health promotion and wellness program. This 100-hour educational program offers the most up-to-date and scientifically sound material presented by the profession's most highly credentialed team of presenters.

The program, set for fall 2006 in Denver, will include four, 12-hour modules of study over four different weekends -- with an additional 52 hours of coursework outside the classroom. CEUs will be hosted by the National University of Health Sciences, and doctors who successfully finish the course will be awarded a certificate of completion in health and wellness promotion. The program includes handouts and a toolkit of resources for integrating health promotion and wellness into everyday practice.

"For more than 100 years, doctors of chiropractic have been the leaders in endorsing a preventive approach to health care," said ACA President Richard Brassard, DC. "This first-of-its-kind seminar will reinforce that approach and provide doctors with the tools they need to successfully educate their patients and their community about the importance of good nutrition, ergonomics, exercise and stress management -- and a host of other wellness concepts."

Program Dates and Presenters

The program -- led by the profession's foremost chiropractic college instructors -- will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Denver on the following dates:

Sept. 23-24: Health Promotion and Wellness in Chiropractic Practice -- Instructors: Cheryl Hawk, DC, PhD, CHES, & Will Evans, DC, PhD, CHES.

Oct. 14-15: Nutrition and Wellness -- Instructors: Jim Gerber, MS, DC, DACBO, DACBN & Lisa Killinger, DC.

Nov. 4-5: Performance Enhancement -- Instructors: Steven Conway, DC, DACBOH, ESQ. & Rob Monokian, DC, DACBSP.

Dec. 9-10: Physical and Mental Fitness -- Instructors: Ron Kirk, MS, DC & Meridel Gatterman, MA, DC, MEd.

Some of the important topics being discussed in this program include:

Use of Health Promotion and Prevention in Chiropractic Practice;

Health Education and Health Promotion in Everyday Practice-The Basics

Building a Toolkit to Help Patients Change their Behavior;

Nutrition and Disease Prevention: Keeping Patients Well;

Prevention/Wellness Programs for Industrial Injuries;

Trends Toward Wellness Care: Putting Healthy People 2010 into Practice;

Introduction to Straighten Up America: An Applied Wellness Science Initiative;

Exercise and Stress Management Concepts;

Mental Health as a Leading Health Indicator;

Ethical and Appropriate Coding/Billing for the Chiropractic Office.