Brett Dellar’s memories.

Back in 2004, I was a second-year chiropractic student and pretty keen to get some hands-on experience. So a few of us students threw around some ideas about whether this was possible to do overseas – to help out others less fortunate. We took the idea to the head of our school, Professor Pallister and sold it in as a great program the uni could own. To his credit, he backed us and pretty soon we were looking at different charities that married up with our early vision – things like doctors without borders and the like. For whatever reason, we didn’t quite align with anyone. So we kind of kept looking.I wanted to get some hands on experience within the uni course

Around 2005, we came across this story about a young rock breaker in India. So I contacted the journo, who put me in touch with Fr James from Seva Kendra. It was exciting times – we were starting to have fledgling conversations on email about how we could help (Prof Pallister also let me make the odd call direct to India which helped smooth out a lot of conversations). It was pretty pioneering stuff really because they had no idea what chiropractic was!

By 2006, we were throwing ourselves into nutting out the logistics of the trip. So many things to consider! Translators, accomm, transport, diseases and what dangers we might encounter, what jabs we needed. The list grew. We put a team of 2 professional chiros (Evan Lawson and Alison Young) with eleven 4th year students together and within a few months had arrived in the heart of Kolcutta on a shoestring budget that afforded us the luxury of a bed bug riddled hotel. You live and learn, huh? Next day, we were on a flight to Bagdogra where we met Fr James and headed off for Siliguri.

Somehow our request for some tables to work on got lost in translation and we found ourselves staring at kid’s plastic tables – the type with legs that twist off in your hand. Eventually we sourced some marginally better benches that got strapped each day to the top of our 4WD enroute to the villages. Toward the end of that trip, we were doing makeshift carpentry repairs to keep those benches going. We pretty much spent that two weeks working in 2 schools. It was smack bang in the middle of the wet season. Hot and sweaty and lots of mud. There were always people waiting for us and while we were all ready to roll our sleeves up, what we encountered was quite eye opening, including seriously deep infected cuts, sebaceous cysts, heart disease, additional thumbs and fingers, ill-fitting prosthetic limbs - the list goes on.

It was an amazing trip. The people were incredible and the bonds we developed with them lasting. When we returned, we passed on our learnings to the Uni which became the basis for the trip the following year. That’s pretty much how it’s gone since, with Noel’s involvement around the second or third trip.

Noel Patterson’s memories.

I took over the HOI reins from Brett Dellar, while he was still a student. At that time, it was going as a great concept, but only just viable. Around then I brought in Dr Brian Nook, the Dean of Chiropractic to Australia, took him through the concept and he agreed to take HOI to the next level. 

I guess I was conscious at the time of how at all major uni courses that have been around for a long time, there existed this worrying trend of “the bigger the head - the smaller the heart”, and it was an attitude that I wanted to change. The HOI idea was the ideal vehicle for such change. 

Having been heavily involved in starting the chiro course at Murdoch, I wanted a way to develop it further. So HOI was more formalised in approach, becoming much more professional. For instance, all Doctors had to pay their own way so that every cent went to the people that needed it most in India. We also concentrated on education and health and would not fund anything else, as these were our priorities to making a lasting change to the beautiful people.

I remember contacting Fr James at Seva Kendra, and he was very happy to help - especially with the changes I was proposing. So I led the next HOI trip, and this time I had full numbers, including 33 final year students, some new graduates, and a handful of experience Doctors, such as Dr Sue Ferguson. Despite the anecdotes and hand-me down experiences of past trips, we flew a bit blind on that trip, but quickly learnt how to run the mission, and learnt from our many mistakes. 

The next year was a huge improvement, and we saw 5500 patients, so a precedent was set. Our fund-raising also saw huge improvements, with a HOI Ball launched in Perth, film nights, quiz nights, raffles etc, and every part of the group had to raise a minimum of $1000 so there was a full commitment. And that commitment paid off handsomely - we nearly raised $100,000! With this level of funding, it enabled us to take on more schools and develop Women’s Empowerment Groups. Clinically we made huge improvements as well, and all the final year students and new graduates had the huge advantage to learn from a very dedicated group of experienced Drs. In fact, it was commonly said that they learnt more in those few weeks than they had in all their time at university. To some, it occurred to them for the first time what chiropractic was actually about. 

From there, the word spread, and there was never a problem in getting volunteers as everyone was desperate to come and learn on this richly rewarding program. And we have now made it a learning experience from a continuing education aspect, so those involved can now make it a tax deduction. We have now taken over 300 Drs over with us, which has helped change the face of chiropractic in Australia. We have now set up a Board, which has made an enormous difference to the running of HOI, as well as taken a lot of pressure off the original Doctors like Sue Ferguson and Dr Brett Dellar. And it has also spawned a leadership path - once people have done the trip and understand the system and pressures, they are then in a position to become a team leader if the Board agrees. Fantastic Doctors such as Dr Sue Ferguson, have now been there many times, especially as Team Leaders, which is a huge responsibilty. 

Now that we have tax deductibility for HOI, it makes it much easier to obtain corporate dollars to assist us. Unfortunately Fr James became sick from tuberculosis, so Fr Felix took over, and he was excellent to work with, showcasing his business savvy. And over time, our communications with Seva Kendra has rapidly improved. These days, they have bank accounts in place (which probably sounds ridiculous, but in the early days we literally carried over many thousands of Australian dollars with us. Apart from being quite stressful to arrive with a suitcase full of cash, it was hard to cash into rupees except at New Delhi airport. 

It’s funny looking back at the way it’s unfolded, but I’m very proud of what we have achieved with so little – and the stories we could tell from all those adventures!

HOI would not be what it is today without the many wonderful and dedicated Doctors, such as Sue and Brett, all the Board members, who were committed to improving the life of these magnificent people, plus ensuring that our young chiropractors saw first-hand how magnificent chiropractic can be under extremely difficult conditions.