Building Healthier Communities: The impact of grassroots healthcare experience

In this article, Faye Deane, BCA Board Member, chiropractor and lecturer, explores the intersection of personal passion and professional purpose. Through her experiences in both clinical practice and global health initiatives, she highlights the importance of following one’s intuition and embracing opportunities, even when the path may seem uncertain.

As a chiropractor and lecturer, my foundational thoughts, values, and beliefs are deeply rooted in evidence-based theoretical information. Nevertheless, I often find myself engaging in philosophical discussions with my students and patients about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, which influence their life trajectories. My professional journey, significantly guided by intuition and gut instinct, has occasionally felt disparate. However, steadfastly following my passion has ultimately led to convergence and professional clarity. This personal perspective aims to inspire readers to persist in pursuing their passions, even during times when progress feels stagnant.

I’ve been a registered chiropractor for 16 years, after the initial 5 years post-graduation, whereby my focus was predominantly on refining my clinical skills, I spent several years pondering why many of my patients led predominantly unhealthy lifestyles. While working in a private clinic, I developed a keen interest in health inequality, recognising that many patients were unable to access necessary care and treatment for musculoskeletal (MSK) issues, impacting their overall wellbeing.

Motivated by a sense of altruism, I undertook two self-arranged public health and chiropractic internships in low- and middle-income countries. The first of these was in Malawi, Africa, then the third poorest country in the world. During my six-week tenure at Open Arms Infant Home in Blantyre, I assisted with the daily operations of the orphanage, which housed 40 infants co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV. Additionally, I visited specialised rural spinal health centres and observed various pathologies in local charity hospitals.

My second internship took me to Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile, where I was part of a global public health team. This experience involved working in rural and urban public and private primary and secondary healthcare facilities. I learned from traditional healers and gained a deeper understanding of the cultural differences, beliefs, and values underpinning healthcare in developing countries. This inquiry prompted me to pursue studies in International Public Health at The University of York, examining patient care from a population perspective, and understanding the broader socioeconomic factors affecting health and wellbeing. Despite this extensive background, I faced multiple rejections when applying for public health positions.

In 2020, Teesside University launched the first MSCi Chiropractic degree in Northern England. With a passion for education, I was appointed to the course team at the end of the inaugural year, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This marked a turning point in my professional career. I was tasked with developing the public health module for the degree program, which led to my appointment on the Public Health Committee for the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC). Shortly thereafter, I was elected as a Board Member for the BCA, the largest and most established association for chiropractors in the UK.

Teesside University at the time, sought to extend its global reach to South America as part of its Global Strategy. Despite my brief tenure of six months, I successfully secured an internal seed corn funding grant, facilitating a professorial visit from Universidad del Desarrollo and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. The professors, my public health lecturers from The University of York, with whom I’m facilitated my previous internship, had collectively led and developed the first Global Public Health pan-Latin American development group on Migration Health, and had changed the law in Chile to include chronic pain in all non-communicable disease health priorities, aligning with the World Health Organiation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Consequently, Teesside University’s Global Strategy now includes South America, providing chiropractic students a unique opportunity to participate in global public health research at Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago.

In April 2024, during the BCA’s Chiropractic Awareness Week, I was part of a team that hosted a roundtable at the House of Lords, Westminster. This roundtable aimed to gather insights from various stakeholders, including members of parliament and the ex-minister for sport, to develop a strategy to further the BCA’s Vision of integrating chiropractic care into the UK healthcare system. During my tenure as a Board Member, I have actively advocated for the chiropractic profession, with notable achievements including an appearance on BBC’s The One Show.

In 2023, I received the BCA Chiropractors’ Chiropractor Award for my work with the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, driven by my desire to reduce health inequalities. I have now embarked on a PhD focused on musculoskeletal (MSK) health policy in the UK, specifically examining the role of integrated care boards in implementing recent policy changes prioritising musculoskeletal health.

I now perceive myself as a leader in both the chiropractic profession and the field of public health – an outcome I would not have envisioned when facing rejections from interviews. My advice to anyone feeling professionally lost is to persist in pursuing your interests – one day, you may find them intertwining in unexpected ways, leading you precisely where you aspire to be.