Bellingham Chiropractic Health Office
Robert C. Affolter, D.C.
My chiropractic story actually begins with my parents. My father was a pre-med student at the University of Kansas when the army drafted him to go to Korea. He was trained as a medic. Army doctors told him that his headaches were due to his vision. Dad said that he left the army with six pairs of glasses and still had headaches.
When he got back from Korea he married my mother and they moved to Manhattan, KS. He enrolled at Kansas State University and planned to become a veterenarian. My mother was having headaches and had been helped by a chiropractor so they both began chiropractic care. The chiropractor adjusted them differently. Not only did their headaches improve, my mother stopped having epileptic seizures. My father decided to become a chiropractor.
I was born in Davenport, IA while my dad was a student at Palmer School of Chiropractic. Dad had a home/office when I was little. I saw patients come and go.
When I was about 12, my low back began hurting. It got so bad I had to hold onto the banister to take the weight off my back while going down stairs. If I bent over to play croquet, tears would roll down my cheeks. Dad said the problem was in my neck. He x-rayed my neck and said, "I'm adjusting the wrong side." After adjusting the left side, my back pain was gone the next day.
I thought I'd become a chiropractor too. I completed the pre-med requirements at the University of Kansas, in 1977. However, I've always been interested in business and learned about the master of business admininstration degree. I was accepted into the program and completed the MBA program at the University of Kansas, in 1978.
I married Madeline (Mandy) Wilson in 1978.
IBM asked me to interview with them. I was hired and agreed to give them 3 years. I was trained as a systems engineer.
In 1979, our first son, Sam was born. The same year my father died suddenly. My mother and I were giving away records to patients so they could go to someone else. The last patient that day walked me out to my car and said, "I wouldn't be able to walk today if it wasn't for your dad."
He told me that he had fallen off a scaffold and had progressively more pain. When local doctors couldn't help him, they sent him to Kansas City to the University of Kansas medical school. He was there for over a week doing daily tests. Doctors finally took a muscle sample to send to a lab in St. Louis. They sent him home and told him he would get the diagnosis in the mail.
Two weeks later, he got the diagnosis. He was told that he had a rare muscle disease and would never be able to work again. However, he was already back to work, thanks to my father.
In 1981, I quit my job as systems engineer at IBM and enrolled at Palmer College of Chiropractic. Our second son, Ben, was born in 1983, while I was a student. I graduated in 1984 and opened my practice in Bellingham in 1985.
Using my MBA, I taught at Western Washington University in 1984 and 1985 in the College of Business and Economics. I find that I really enjoy business and teaching.
Matt, our third son, was born in 1985 and our daughter Melissa was born in 1988. Both were born here in Bellingham.
I began writing in 2000. I wrote Moments of Wisdom - A Guide to Self-Counseling with my friend, Carolyn Jackson. It was published through iUniverse and is no longer in print.
Improving the Odds - From the Crapshoot of Manipulative Therapy to the Innate Chiropractic Adjustment was written in 2002 and self published. I used it to teach a continuing education course on chiropractic.
In 2002, Carolyn decided to become a real estate agent to help her son who was a general contractor. Ben was also working in construction so I took the course too. I maintain a real estate broker's license.
I published From Paint Rags to Riches - Becoming a Real Estate Millionaire, in 2004. The book is my way of teaching the basics of real estate investing.
Chirocredit.com admitted me to faculty for continuing education for chiropractors in 2004. I have online courses that can be taken at any time and occasionally teach a webinar. Topics include philosophy of chiropractic, business, and technique.
In 2009, with the health care debate heating up, I decided to write two ebooks on the subject. Exposed - How Politics Increased the Cost of Health Care in America and Exposed - The "Science" of Medicine and the Dollars It Generates. I combined both of them into a paperback titled Dupe 'em and Dope 'em.
Ben has been a general contractor since 2006. In 2013, he also got a real estate broker's license. Together we are Affolter Team, LLC at Keller Williams.
I've moved my practice location five times but have always been in Bellingham. Now I'm downtown.
To summarize I have a publishing company, a real estate company, in addition to my private practice. I also teach at Affolter Academy, an online resource for helping us all reach our Innate potential.
I am developing my Innate abilities and helping others do the same.