The West Frankfort Chamber of Commerce will have their regular monthly meeting Wednesday for directors, members and guests. The luncheon affair will be at Lola’s Restaurant on Main Street, at noon.
New president Larry Wall will conduct his first 2009 gathering and he said he is looking forward to it. “We are going to do everything we can to promote our town this year,” he said.
After the business meeting the guest speaker will be Dr. Jon Diaz, of Franklin County Chiropractic Clinic. Originally from Alton, Illinois, Diaz has taken to the area both professionally and because of his love for the outdoors, which includes hunting, archery and bow hunting. “Everyone in Alton thinks they live in ‘southern Illinois,’ as did I until I moved to West Frankfort, where I learned that I was, in fact, from ‘northern Illinois,” he jokingly told the Daily American.
“I attended Alton High School and graduated in 2000. All throughout high school I played ice hockey and when I went away to college at DePaul University in Chicago, I played for DePaul’s ice hockey team.” At DePaul, Diaz studied many things en route to a biology degree, including a total of seven years of Spanish. During his junior year at DPU he was getting restless, trying to figure out a plan after graduation when his mother told him about the accelerated program at Logan College of Chiropractic, in Chesterfield, Missouri.
“I transferred to Logan in 2003 and began the accelerated program to obtain a bachelors of science in human biology while I was earning my doctorate.”
He was very active in school. “I became involved at Logan in many activities and clubs, including the Logan College club ice hockey team, the Motion Palpation Institute Club, in addition to becoming serious about being competitive in the martial art Judo. While studying at Logan, it was mandatory for all students to be certified in CPR as well as the automated external defibrillator (A.E.D.), and I opted to take additional training in Acupuncture (the thousands of years old science of regulating the body’s energy) as well as auriculotherapy (a microcosm of acupuncture done on the outer ear).
“I participated in research, both as a guinea-pig many times and as a co-author. During the last few semesters, I was elected to be an intern group leader by the clinician, a great doc and mentor, Dr. Bill Hogarth. By the time my stay at Logan was finished, I had competed successfully in many regional judo matches, was teaching judo and women’s self defense, had my BS in human biology, was a Doctor of Chiropractic and passed all parts of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners tests 1-4 as well as the Physiological Therapeutics exam.”
Upon coming to West Frankfort, Diaz assumed the patient load of the Franklin County Chiropractic Center and the esteemed and well-respected Dr. Stephen Leek. “Dr. Leek stayed for a couple of months to ensure a smooth transition, giving me pointers on how to work with his individual patients.”
The Franklin County Chiropractic Center is located at 310 W. St. Louis Street in a new facility.
At the Chamber of Commerce meeting, Diaz will be speaking about the generalities of what chiropractic and acupuncture are, how they work, as well as offering tips for healthy living.
The Chamber will also wrap up final details for the annual chamber dinner, scheduled for January 22, at Frankfort Community Park.