About the SeniorAdvisor.com 2014 In-Home Innovation Scholarship: We started the scholarship program to bring awareness of the unique benefits and challenges of in-home caregiving for seniors to younger generations. The questions posed by the scholarship encouraged our nation’s future caregivers to present solutions for improving home care in the United States. College-aged students were required to answer one of the three essay topics below and provide a short bio as part of their scholarship application. Read the winning essays here.

How can your major of study improve the lives of seniors receiving in-home care services?

Essay response by Brock Baumgard, Bethel University

It can become so easy for younger individuals to take their mobility for granted.  As a person ages, it is no longer easy to complete everyday tasks.  I believe that this all begins with posture.  In my opinion, it is essential that chiropractors become involved in the lives of people of every stage of life.  A wonderful opportunity could open up for individuals who may struggle with even leaving their homes to drive to various appointments.  Adding regular Chiropractor visits to agencies’ agendas in cities across the country would be revolutionary.  The amount of elderly people with back and neck pain is staggering.   Opponents may argue that there is no advantage in dealing with elderly people who have perhaps already begun to ‘stoop over’ after years of labor.  I disagree.  Even the smallest positive alterations can make a world of a difference.  Is not that the point of In-Home Care Agencies as a whole, after all: to make lives just a little easier for people while still giving them an opportunity to live independently?  In addition to this, it is never too late to incorporate healthy habits into individuals’ everyday lives.  Whether that is how a person, sits, stands, walks, or even sleeps, a healthy spine is everything.  After I have obtained my degree, I am planning to establish a practice in a city, potentially one that has an established In-Home Care Agency.  I could then team up with the Agency to find senior citizens who potentially struggle moving around, even in their own home.  Perhaps another chiropractor and I would be able to pair up; one of us staying and working with the patients that come into our office, while the other is out in the community, making regular visits with elderly citizens.  Similar to how doctors in the past made personal house calls, I could go door-to-door, bringing a portable table/bed along for the patients to lie on.  As a chiropractor in a community, it is important for me to be able to establish relationships with these individuals on a personal level as In-Home Care Agencies have done so successfully in the past.

The overall health of an individual is more closely linked to his/her spine alignment and posture than many realize.  In the late stages of a person’s life, this becomes even more critical.  In-Home Care Agencies have done a fantastic job of assisting those who could potentially use a little more help, while still allowing them to maintain their independence in their own homes.  Adding regular chiropractor visits to the In-Home Care services already provided would go a long way in improving a person’s mobility and even their health as a whole.  Admittedly, this idea may seem a little far-fetched as many communities do not even have an established chiropractor, let alone one who would be willing to comply with In-Home Care Agencies and all the out-of-office work that this would require.  Personally, however, this investment into the lives of the elderly is something that I am willing to advocate and promote and would love to see fellow chiropractors do likewise.

About Brock

Brock is a a Biokinetics major with a Pre-Chiropractic emphasis studying at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN.