A seemingly isolated incident can send a person on a defining path in life.

That’s what happened to Madilyn (Kessel) Blunk, who has been interning at Lambert Family Chiropractic in Denison since November 1.

Madilyn is a 2017 graduate of Charter Oak-Ute High School, where she was involved in basketball, volleyball, student council, FFA, band and choir.

“When I was in elementary school, I got hit in the jaw while playing basketball,” she said. “For months my jaw clicked whenever I ate to the point that my parents could hear it when we ate supper at night. My mom took me to a chiropractor in Carroll (Dr. Angie Cross). She kind of took me under her wing and started teaching me a lot about chiropractic. That got me interested. I was amazed at the things she did and what she was teaching me while I was there.

“She talked a lot about chiropractic, what it entails and how it can affect everything in the body. It’s not just what everyone thinks it is - cracking your back and making your back feel better. She explained to me how chiropractic is so much more than that, how it helps your body function in general,” Madilyn added.

When Dr. Cross left Carroll, Madilyn started going to Dr. Lambert’s clinic where she became further interested in a career in chiropractic.

“He taught me a lot of things, and throughout high school I shadowed him,” she said. “That’s when I decided this is what I wanted to do; that it would be a good way for me to be able to help people.”

The job-shadowing was not through a school assignment but through Madilyn’s own initiative and interest in chiropractic.

“I was able to see Dr. Lambert treat a lot of patients and see how quickly they got better,” she said. “I thought this is a great profession to be in because he was able to help so many people every day, and that is something I want to do – help people.”

While attending Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, Madilyn shadowed other chiropractors.

“I wanted to figure out what kind of chiropractor I wanted to be, to find the things I like and don’t like, and take something from each person,” she said. “I had great learning experiences in every office I was in.”

After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, Madilyn continued her career path at Palmer Chiropractic of Chiropractic in Davenport.

“I chose Palmer because I wanted to stay in Iowa,” she said. “It is one of the closer schools to home. Family is important to me and my husband, so we wanted to be able to be a part of that.”

Madilyn also chose Palmer because it would help her become a well-rounded doctor through the variety of chiropractic techniques taught at the school.

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Madilyn’s internship with Dr. Lambert will finish her course of studies at Palmer. She will graduate on February 23 and will work at Lambert Family Chiropractic in Denison a couple days a week and then will spend a couple days a week at a new clinic Dr. Lambert will be opening in Dunlap.

Madilyn and her husband, Ben Blunk, and their son, Jaxtyn, born in August, moved from Davenport to Denison. Ben is a Denison High School graduate and just started working in maintenance at Crawford County Memorial Hospital.

Madilyn said her career goal is to help people become more fulfilled through chiropractic health care.

“You have to listen to patients, take in that information and decide how you can best help them,” she said. “Each patient is different, and what works for one might not work for the next.”

She continued that chiropractic could help anybody.

“We are also very good about knowing when it’s time to go on to the next thing. We’re primary care physicians; we can treat any patient and we’re a good first step for a patient,” Madilyn said. “I think a lot of people see us as low back pain doctors but we’re so much more than that.”

Madilyn said she hopes to see a lot of moms and babies come into the clinic for the care they need.

“Chiropractic can help pregnant women and babies,” she said.

Madilyn added. “It’s amazing to see all the things that chiropractic can do, and I hope to be able to help the community with that, help people understand all that chiropractic can do for them.”

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