Chiropractor accepts koha payment
It’s not often you would offer to cover the costs of the person next in line while paying a medical bill.
But a Ferrymead chiropractic clinic’s ‘‘koha system’’ is letting customers pay ‘‘whatever they can’’, with many opting to shout or subsidise care for customers in need by overpaying for their own appointments.
Connect Chiropractic owners Matthew Wild and Alex Skjervheim Wild were sick of seeing people receiving substandard care because they could not afford regular appointments.
‘‘We found ourselves making exceptions for people, trying to make it work . . . everyone deserves care so we wanted to set up a system to make it more accessible,’’ Wild said.
When the husband-and-wife duo returned from Australia last year and opened their own clinic, they wanted to make sure their services were available to ‘‘absolutely everyone, regardless of their financial situation’’.
After the first two fixed-fee meetings, the clinic, which opened in November, charges a koha fee for every customer. The koha system is a Ma¯ ori custom allowing people to support a gathering they attend by giving a gift or payment as a way of saying thank you.
The couple offered guidelines about what each price point would cover, such as the appointment only, or the appointment and care for others, but ultimately let customers pay ‘‘whatever they could afford’’.
Outsiders worried people would take advantage of their offer, but Wild said everyone had been very generous, often paying over the guideline price to make sure there was a constant pool of funds for those who needed them.
‘‘When you treat people with respect, people find it really hard to rip you off or take advantage of that.’’
In less than three months, Connect Chiropractic has provided more than $2000 worth of subsided care.
The message on the wall of the clinic – ‘‘a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in’’ – encompasses what the pair want to achieve.
Wild said the exchange was mutually beneficial. People were so grateful to have access to care they otherwise could not afford, and they were grateful that people saw the value of their work and getting the care they needed.
Through the clinic’s Community Connect programme, they also donate 1 per cent of each month’s earnings to an organisation voted for by patients. So far, they have supported organisations including Cultivate Christchurch, Roimata Food Commons, Student Volunteer Army, Dogwatch Sanctuary Trust, Lyttelton
Mother4Mother Breastfeeding Support Group and the Woolston Development Project.
‘‘The big goal here is that if more and more people and professionals see what we are doing, they will adopt koha-type fee systems,’’ Wild said.
‘‘Imagine if we had every business in our communities donating a small amount towards local programmes they believe in. That’s the kind of world I’m sure we all want to live in.’’