Meet The Team

Dr. Jeremiah Sample

Chiropractor

Dr. Jeremiah Sample is a native of East Dubuque, Illinois. Upon graduation from high school, Dr. Jeremiah began his service to his country as an Infantryman in the U.S. Army. After his training in Fort Benning, Georgia he was stationed in Fort Riley, KS with the 41st Infantry where the next four years contained a multitude of deployments, including being a part of the initial spearhead into Iraq, March 2003. During the Battle for Karbala Gap, Dr. Jeremiah was wounded prior to saving another soldier’s life. For his actions in combat he was awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star.

Melissa Marley

Director of Operations

Melissa is Dr. Joel’s wife and a large contributor to much of the operations of Family First Chiropractic. She is responsible for making sure that there is a great team of people serving you each day. She spends half of her time each week at FFC so you may see her at times popping in and out of the office. You will also see her at the parties in the office and special workshop nights where she may also be one of the speakers!

Melissa was born and raised in East Dubuque, IL. She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 2004 with a degree in Recreation Therapy and then also graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 2005 with a degree as a Chiropractic Office Assistant. Since she and Dr. Joel married in 2009, they were blessed in March of 2013 with their first daughter, Gianna, and in December 2017 with their second daughter, Mae. Melissa enjoys being able to pursue her mission with Family First Chiropractic as well as a second career in doing life/business coaching and team training for chiropractors around the globe.

Joanne King

Administrative Manager & Chiropractic Assistant

Joanne was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in education, and from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2007 with a Master’s degree in education.

After spending a few years working with local school systems, Joanne decided to pursue an opportunity to educate people of all ages about the importance of having a healthy spine and nervous system. Joanne focuses on providing the best experience to everyone who walks into the office; most of her efforts happen “behind the scenes,” making sure that everything at Family First Chiropractic is running smoothly! Outside the office, Joanne enjoys cooking, traveling, watching movies with her husband, Todd, and being a mom to their daughter Adalynn and son Oliver.

Julie Larson

Community Outreach Coordinator & Chiropractic Assistant

Julie grew up in Bellevue, Nebraska, and then attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood. She has worked with children in many capacities, helping them to learn, grow, and be healthy. Julie began her journey with Family First Chiropractic in 2010 and has served in many roles in the office throughout the years. As a Chiropractic Assistant and Community Outreach Director, she loves continuing her work with educating others, both in the office and in the community, this time about keeping your nervous system functioning optimally by maintaining a healthy spine. She loves coming alongside patients and making connections to help people in their health journey. Julie and her husband Ben have two children, Anna and Claire. Among reading, cooking, and playing with the girls, Julie loves to travel, be outdoors, and spend time with friends and family.

Ally Rhoads

Check-In Chiropractic Assistant

Ally is from Omaha, Nebraska. She attended Millard South High School and received her bachelor’s degree from UNL in education…Go Big Red! Ally was the Director of Education for Sylvan Learning Center for many years and worked as a reading para-professional and substitute teacher in the Gretna school district.

Ally is married to Scott and has two boys, Jack and Henry. She also has a playful pup named Oliver. When not busy with her boys’ sporting activities she enjoys working out, watching sports, and having fun with her family and her friends.

Ally enjoys working at Family First Chiropractic for the family-oriented environment and getting to know all the wonderful patients.

Joan Knutson

Chiropractic Technician & Chiropractic Assistant

Joan was born in Spearfish, South Dakota and was raised and graduated in Sturgis, South Dakota. She is the second born out of five and has a twin brother. Throughout high school she spent most of her time in a variety of sports, taking part in band and choir and was a part of the drama club. She also spent most of her time outside of school taking part in a youth organization called Jobs Daughters.

In the nine years she spent as a youth in Jobs Daughters, she held various local, state and international positions. When she was sixteen, she had the honor of serving as Miss South Dakota Jobs Daughter, where she got to compete for Miss International Jobs Daughter with many other wonderful girls from around the world. She was also fortunate enough to spend her last two years before aging out, as South Dakotas Grand Bethel Honored Queen, where her main duty was not only to run the state but to mentor the younger girls in the organization as well as representing South Dakota Jobs Daughters as a whole.

She enjoys traveling to new places, experiencing all the things and spending as much time as possible in the outdoors, especially hiking. Before joining the Family First Team, she spent four years working as a CNA and even started on her journey to becoming a nurse; however, God lead her down a different path and that’s how she ended up in Nebraska. She now spends her free time exploring everything Nebraska has to offer and teaching herself how to play the ukulele.

She looks forward to learning more about chiropractic and how it can help her on her journey to a stronger and healthier life, as well as hearing all the stories and how chiropractic has enhanced others heath journeys as well.

Nick Monzu

Chiropractic Technician

Nick has a passion for helping individuals optimize their health and movement. He played football and received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and minor in exercise science from Wayne State College. Since completing his degree, he has also completed multiple certifications which are: Certified Personal Trainer(NASM), Corrective Exercise Specialist(NASM), Senior Fitness Specialist(NASM), Holistic Lifestyle Coach(Chek Institute), and USAW Olympic Lifting Level 1.

He has over 8 years of experience training clients and has dealt with his own problems coming from poor health habits, improper lifting form, and sports injuries. As a result of addressing his own health and chronic pain issues, he has developed an expertise in aiding others on their journey to optimize their quality of life through exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle/behavior modifications. He uses this knowledge and experience in combination with chiropractic care to help our patients stay pain free and achieve their health/fitness goals. Nick is extremely excited about the chance to integrate his skills with the care our Doctors provide here at Family First!