The Altona Chiropractic Centre has closed its doors after almost five decades of service to the community. Dr. Dan Redhead is retiring after a 51-year career as a chiropractor, 48 1/2 of those years spent in Altona.

Dr. Redhead grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, graduated from the Chiropractic College in Toronto in May 1969 and spent his first year of practice in Regina, moved to Winnipeg for a year before finding a permanent home for his practice and family in Altona in 1971.

"Over the years I have truly fallen in love with small towns and I think its an absolutely wonderful way to live. I chose Altona because I knew some people here and there was no professional chiropractor in the community so I moved and started my practice in the back part of the old Braun Drugs store that was located on Main Street."

Redhead started out working two or three days a week for the first three months but had to expand his office hours as the number of patients coming to see him began to grow rapidly during his first year in the community.

"I had a surprising start and saw a lot of patients in my first year and it just branched from there. We drew people from a wide area; from Altona to as far west as Somerset, north up to Rosenort, as far east as Vita and south into North Dakota. In those days we'd see 3 or 4 Americans a day. That's how things got going."

That quick start to his practice prompted Redhead to purchase a lot on 2nd Street NE where construction on a new office building was completed in January 1972. That building came to be called the Altona Chiropractic Centre.

Redhead set out for a career in health care, not only because he wanted to help people, but also because he found chiropractic care fascinating.

"I was never bored. Every patient is different...and you can't catalogue them. They may have similar conditions but their total lifestyle, total response and total personality is different from patient to patient, and that's what's so interesting."

Dr. Redhead helped pioneer chiropractic care in the area at a time when few professionals were practicing in rural southern Manitoba. That situation has changed significantly over the past 50 years with chiropractors operating in many rural communities.

Even the attitude toward chiropractic care from other medical professionals has improved with better sharing of information between the medical profession to the chiropractic profession and vice-versa, according to Redhead. He says many physicians see chiropractic care as a legitimate alternative form of care.

The Altona Chiropractic Cente on 2nd St. NE opened in 1972.

"The fact is that there is a limit to what a chemical product can do and there is a whole field called manual therapy. That field is rapidly expanding; today we have chiropractors, we have physiotherapists and massage therapists and it just goes to show the value of manual, hands-on treatment."

Redhead says it's been a satisfying career for him and his personal relationship with people is the thing he has valued the most over the years.

"I treated them as chiropractic patients, but many of them ended up as friends. I love to go downtown and see people that I know on a first-name basis. To me, that's unique because they're not just a number. It's more about being plugged into a relationship."

Dr. Redhead says he has a bucket list of things he wants to do in retirement and he intends to approach things at a much slower pace. Spending time at the cabin with his wife Joyce, spending more time with family, some light travelling, and pursuing his love of books are all part of that list.

One thing that will likely remain constant in the years ahead is his love for small-town life which he recommends to everyone.

"My wife and I sit at the breakfast table and we turn on the radio and we hear about all the traffic jams in Winnipeg and we just shake our heads and say 'Man, we can get to the office in one minute and the parking is free."