Diverse, Hands-on Clinical Opportunities Transform Northeast Students
Gaining hands-on training while working in the community and treating patients: this is a hallmark of chiropractic education at Northeast College of Health Sciences. While at Northeast, students are empowered to start transforming lives while earning their degrees, making their first chiropractic adjustment as early as their second trimester.
Healing through doing is a central tenet of the Northeast College curriculum. Under the supervision of Northeast's expert faculty, student clerks successfully treat patients at the College's health centers and in dozens of other clinical placements throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Northeast delivers diverse patient care experiences
The College's health centers in Depew, Levittown, and Seneca Falls, N.Y., continually create new partnerships and provide clinical rotations and clerkship opportunities for students to gain real- world, hands-on experience while at Northeast
"With our many partnerships at Northeast, we provide robust and varied opportunities that give us one of the most diverse clinical programs for future doctors," said Dean of Clinical Education Dr. Wendy Maneri. "No two days are the same in clinic. This real-world experience provides our students with the competence and confidence to be successful practitioners upon graduation."
Each health center operates as the hub of a wheel, with spokes spanning out to partner sites. Student clerks treat patients at their main health center (hub) and rotate at the partner sites (spokes) for additional diverse clinical experiences.
Partners include regional health centers, the United States Veterans' Affairs Department (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) medical centers, and private practices. These diverse partners provide students with a wide variety of settings and opportunities, including remote clerkships, preceptorships and professional clinical observations.
New Clerkships Available Through Northeast College: 2021
Two of 2021's new opportunities stem from the long-time partnership between the College and the VA. In 2004, prompted by the Defense Authorization Act mandating chiropractic as a veterans' benefit, Northeast established the first-ever chiropractic residency program within the VA.
The newest clinical opportunities are now available at the Northport VA Hospital in N.Y. under the guidance of College alumna Allison Blanton (D.C. '04) and at the White River Junction VA Medical Center in Vermont working with Dr. Justin Brande.
Honors-level opportunities with a competitive application process, VA remote clerkships take place in a student's final year of Northeast's Doctor of Chiropractic program. Under the supervision of expert faculty members, students participate in integrated medical care settings and provide treatment for patients with complex conditions. The students may have the opportunity to observe other disciplines and procedures such as spinal injections and EMG/NCV studies, and to rotate through various departments within the VA hospital, including physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, neurosurgery and pain management.
New Preceptorships Available Through Northeast College: 2021
Preceptorship opportunities allow students to work closely with their assigned preceptor, a licensed and experienced chiropractor, to learn the business management operations, as well as experience private practice settings. In 2021, Northeast was pleased to launch two new such partnerships.
At Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic, in one of its Baltimore, Md., offices, Northeast students can work with owner and Northeast alumnus Marc Gulitz (D.C. '08), who founded the practice based on a patient-centered integrated approach to health care. Students can also work with clinical director and Northeast alumna Erica Wise (D.C. '11) at the center's other Baltimore location. Dr. Noelle Miller is the preceptor at the Parkville, Md. office.
At Elite Sports Chiropractic, students work closely with Dr. Jennifer Amato, who has a diplomate in sports chiropractic through the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians and is certified in Active Release Technique.
Ever-growing partnerships ensure diverse learning with real patients, top doctors
Clinical opportunities at Northeast allow student clerks to gain rich, real-world professional experiences and encounter many different patient cases. Students treat elite athletes at community-based sporting events, work with veterans in government healthcare settings and help a wide-variety of patients -- from pediatric to geriatric -- in family practices and community clinics. Students are even able to help those with opioid dependence and addiction through their work at a specialized health and treatment center.
Through the immersive and extensive clinical opportunities at Northeast, students can realize the many career pathways available even before they graduate. The Northeast College clinical learning model provides students with a full and diverse patient care experience, one that prepares them to be skilled practitioners ready to join the ranks of passionate healthcare professionals.