OUR HISTORY
THE SANTIAGO FAMILY
The Santiago Wellness Center is currently celebrating the 85th year anniversary. This picture was taken in 1988. Dr Joseph Santiago founded the practice and Dr. Vivian Santiago joined the practice when they married. Recognizing how dedicated and effective their parents were in helping people, three of their children joined them in the practice, Drs. Joanne, Philip and James Santiago. Dr. James Santiago remains today in the Newark office to carry on the family tradition.
Dr. Joseph Santiago’s parents emigrated from Spain and settled in Pennsylvania. Shortly after the great depression hit in 1929, Dr. Joseph became injured and his sister brought him to a prominent Chiropractic doctor in the area who treated and cured him. Dr. Joseph was so intrigued by the doctor’s abilities and success that Joseph would return and observe the doctor work. The doctor noticed that Joseph had a natural gift in helping people and advised Joseph to enroll in Logan Chiropractic College in Saint Louis, Missouri ; Dr. Joseph later graduated in 1939. As World War II broke out Dr. Joseph enlisted in the war and was teaching soldiers emergency medicine. The army needed qualified medical personal for the beach invasion of Guam and Dr. Joseph was sent. He was recognized for his medical ability on the battlefield. For the duration of the war he was in the medical and ranger units throughout the Pacific. After the war in 1945 he returned to the Chiropractic College in St Louis to teach and to take advance courses. In St. Louis he met Dr. Vivian, who was attending the same college at that time.
​Dr. Vivian’s parents emigrated from Sweden and settled in Minnesota. During World War II, Vivian was a Pilot in the Civil Air Patrol. As being part of the Civil Air Patrol she was given examinations by the Army Air Core and she scored in the top percentage. Since she did so well the army requested that she go to Texas to train on how to fly B17s to Europe for the Woman’s Air Core. Unfortunately, the Army stopped the program because the war was coming to the end; Dr. Vivian never had the opportunity to fly a B17. Dr. Vivian had subsequently fallen down a flight of stairs and was taken to the world renowned Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Dr. Vivian was told that her back injury was non-curable and she would be permanently disabled. Her family, being very concerned, had taken Dr. Vivian to a chiropractic doctor to see if he could help. As it turned out, the Dr. Vivian was completely cured by chiropractic treatment and she never suffered with the problem again. Dr. Vivian was very impressed with the chiropractor and he sparked her interest in becoming a chiropractic doctor for herself. Dr. Vivian attended Logan Chiropractic College in Saint Louis and graduated number one in her class in 1947. She would always score so high in all the medical examinations that it actually elevated the school’s reputation. The college was very proud of her successes.
While Dr. Vivian was in chiropractic school she would often hear about the good reputation of Dr. Joseph Santiago. When he returned to the college after the war, they met, fell in love and were married.
Drs. Joseph and Vivian later settled in the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey meeting up with Joseph’s family who moved to Newark during the war for work. They opened the Newark clinic and the practice quickly grew from word of mouth. They became the doctors for many families, companies and sports teams. In the 1950s and 60s they continued their education in Naturopathy (the treatment of organic and nutritional solutions) as well as Physical Therapy. In 1973, just after President Nixon went to China, they applied and were able to obtain a medical visa to travel throughout Asia studying Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. They were pioneers in their fields and far ahead of their time.