Dr Michael Black and Dr David Black studied chiropractic at the Phillip Institute of Technology, School of Chiropractic, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Today it’s known as RMIT Bundoora.
It was a smaller technical college in the late seventies, renamed from the former Preston Institute of Technology. Dr Andries Kleynhans was the principal and a small team of lecturers, many of them chiropractors and several even seniors chiropractic students in their final years of study, mentored and taught the student body.
We were fortunate to have great teachers who often related stories about their patients, clinical pearls of wisdom and lessons for our future.
Great faculty members like Wayne Minter, Tom Bergman, Philip Bolton, Bruce Walker, John Hinwood, Terry Yochum, Neil Davies, Tony Hart and others held our attention and inspired us to be great chiropractors and clinicians. Many visiting chiropractors from the field visited and we were captivated by their stories of treating patients and healing.
In our final year of study, we interned with field practitioners, observing and seeing patients with them, similar to the apprenticeship system of learning. Experience was handed down person-to-person, the old school way. We were fortunate to spend time with Dr Stan Martin, Dr Richard Tucker, Dr Brian Casey and Dr Neil Davies.
We were lucky in many respects to study in that era when we had the opportunities to spend so many hours with these fine gents and learn from them. It was a privilege to see these doctors interact with their patients.
Dr David Black shares his memory of his time learning with experienced chiropractors. While online learning has its benefits, we look back to our era of study and wonder if online study will ever be able to replace the art of story telling.
The eighties will be a special memory for us, living in Ballarat with Dr Neil Davies, working in his clinic with him, doing housecalls and seeing the art of chiropractic performed with passion. Great teachers – great memories!
