Howzit!
Real quick, let me get through all the basic background stuff first. I was born and raised in Honolulu. After high school (Iolani, Class of '86), I attended BYU-Provo and served a two year church mission in Hiroshima, Japan. Went to chiropractic college in Kansas City. Passed my boards and got my D.C. degree in 1998. Opened Hawaiian Pacific Chiropractic in May of 1999. Started the Honor Box in October 2001. I'm married to my best friend, Eriko, and we have four great kids.
But now, please allow me to share with you some things about me that may be more helpful to consider in your search for a new chiropractor. I suppose you want to know:
- What kind of doctor am I really?
- What is my chiropractic philosophy?
- Am I'm someone you can trust?
Questions like that.
I think the best way for you to see into my heart as a chiropractor is to share with you some important things I discovered while on a chiropractic mission to El Salvador. In 2007, I travelled with a group of doctors and interns from all over the United States and we adjusted thousands of people in the churches, marketplaces, government offices and community centers of El Salvador.
I posted my thoughts on my blog after I returned home from El Salvador. This is what I wrote:
The chiropractic adjustment is truly powerful. When a doctor delivers an adjustment with love and confidence and a patient receives it with faith and gratitude, miracles happen.
I have been blessed with much in my life, but for the most part, my thankfulness for what I have has not been adequate-- and my lack of appreciation, from a certain perspective, is cause for embarassment.
Convictions are only strengthened through sacrifice. Without tests of courage and welcomed adversity, whatever beliefs we cherish will eventually wither away.
Just as there is sadness among the wealthy, there is also great joy among the poor.
We are all brothers and sisters. Everyone.
Chiropractic is truly a science, a philosophy and an art. As a chiropractor, I must embrace all three aspects so as to think, feel, and act in a manner that may best serve my patients.
Without the love and support of family and friends, my potential is limited and my achievements meaningless.
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway.
I made many wonderful friends. The people of El Salvador not only look like "locals" from Hawaii, but they definitely have that aloha spirit with them as well!
I was so thankful my friend, Dr. Shayne Guthrie, came with me. We were the only two from Hawaii.
Our makeshift clinic was in an empty workers' union hall above El Salvador's largest marketplace.
Check out this video to get an idea what a typical adjustment looks like in my office.
