Two of the poorest countries in the world got some richly deserved help from a local Queens doctor.
Dr. Ronit Vilan of Bayside Chiropractic recently returned from a humanitarian trip offering her chiropractic services, including spinal adjustments, health care, funds and supplies to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
“I have vacationed in the Dominican Republic and although I knew it was a poor country, I saw first-hand how poverty can affect people,” said Vilan. “One community was living on the side of a trash dump, with poor Dominican/Haitian kids wandering the trash heaps with no shoes. Their toys were old tires and bottle caps.”
Vilan said that while the people in the third world live a simpler life, they still require the care and treatment that people in the U.S. receive for their work-a-day worries. For people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, poverty and lack of nutrition are the biggest factors affecting health on the island.
During his visit, Vilan adjusted 1,500 people in a three-day period with the majority being children. Vilan and her fellow doctors visited schools and adjust every kid at the school, as well as the teachers and staff.
Vilan traveled to the Dominican Republic with a group of 50 doctors and 10 students intent on giving free chiropractic care to people. The group was organized by ChiroMission, the Doctors without Borders of the chiropractic and natural healing world.
Witnessing the conditions of schools, homes and citizens, Vilan’s perception of what it means to be poor was greatly altered by his trip.
“We think this economy is bad, yet when you witness first-hand a different reality you realize things aren’t that bad,” she said. “We need to be grateful for the abundance we have at our fingertips.”
Vilan is the clinic director for Bayside Chiropractic, a full-service wellness center practicing in the area for over 20 years. They offer family health care, acupuncture, nonsurgical spinal decompression, orthotics and nutritional counseling.
“The mission at Bayside Chiropractic is to check as many people as possible for hidden health problems and to save them from a life of drugs and surgery,” she said. “We do this in Bayside everyday yet I realized after this trip that the world needs our help as well. I have been hit by a lightning bolt and will never be the same.”
In addition to the chiropractic charity in the Dominican Republic, a total donation of $24,000 was made to the Haitian Relief Funds through Universal Chiropractic Foundation (UCF), a not for profit organization.
