Dr. Raburn loves helping people
By John Earp
Justin Raburn, D.C., has in recent months expanded his practice based in Artesia to include weekly visits to the Jal Family Wellness Center. Raburn opened his practice in Artesia eleven years ago. He graduated chiropractic school in December 2008 from Parker University in Dallas, Texas. After graduation, he went to San Angelo, working for almost three years as an associate chiropractor, gaining invaluable experience in the hands-on treatment of patients. He says he obtained more experience in one week of adjusting patients in San Angelo than he had in a year at chiropractic school.
Regarding how he decided to become a chiropractor, Raburn says, “As a kid, family events would come around and I was the kid that liked to give my aunts, uncles and grandparents massages, so they always would compliment me. Specifically, my grandfather would always say, “Oh, you’re going to be a chiropractor.” A graduate of Lovington High School, Raburn says he initially entered the nursing program at NMJC, but soon figured out he didn’t want to pursue nursing as a career. He then went to work in the oilfield for a few years before deciding to go back to school. He then went back to college, attending South Plains College in Lubbock, starting in the civil engineering program.
His second semester at South Plains, he and a buddy were working out with weights, doing squats, when his back went out. He says this resulted in him spending five days unable to walk, at which point he decided to go see a chiropractor. He said he had to crawl into the office. After the adjustment, he was able to stand straight up. Within an hour, he had applied to chiropractic school. He said he knew that was what he wanted to do.
Raburn says what he loves the most about being a chiropractor is “helping people. Every person is different. I get to kind of play detective. Every three or four minutes somebody new’s coming through here, so it’s a challenge in that sense. That’s what I do it for, to help as many people as I can. That’s the motivator.”
Raburn says he had wanted to open another office somewhere around Artesia, but he says he just didn’t know how to make it happen. His father called him on the phone while he was on his way to church one Wednesday night, telling him about Jal. His father, a pharmacist, who owns and operates Michael’s Prescription Corner, with a branch soon to open in the Jal Family Wellness Center, got Justin in touch with Stephen Aldridge, who, among other things, is a long-term leader on the Jal Hospital Board. Raburn says the closer he looked at it and prayed about it, he decided that extending his practice to a new location in Jal was an answer to pray and definitely what his next step should be.
While Dr. Raburn has been seeing patients in Jal since September of last year, he says the last month has been the busiest month so far. He says he is hoping to extend his hours in Jal in the future, to include Saturday mornings. He says if the practice continues to grow, down the line, he may have to hire an associate to handle the patient load.
Raburn says, “From day one, we’ve been super busy and blessed,” seeing on average 55-65 patients per day. Raburn says the hospital district made the arrangement for “too good to pass up.” He said, “if the Jal Hospital District wouldn’t have done this, there’s no way you would have gotten these providers over here. It wouldn’t have made sense for me to rent out a building and get all new equipment and all this stuff. They provided all this top-of-the-line equipment. All I have to do is spend my time, drive over here, keep all these people off the roads, so it just makes sense. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
For folks who have never been to a chiropractor or who may be hesitant to try the treatment, he says, “Almost every day we get someone who comes in who had never been and they say, ‘I wish I would have known, I’d have done this before. I didn’t think I was feeling that bad, and now I realize how good I can feel.’ There’s so many problems that we can help out with that people just don’t realize. I didn’t realize it until I got into this world. Just try it out. We offer gift of health certificate to get checked out. There’s no fee to talk to me. We can go over it and if they don’t want to go through with it, that’s all fine too. But if they want to check it out, tell them to just come on in.”
