Health Care That Actually Cares?

We need to revolutionize the way we look at health care.

What I’m proposing isn’t drastic in nature, but is very different from what I’ve personally experienced in my lifetime.

The last time I went to see my (now former) Primary Care Physician (PCP), she barreled into the room with a man I didn’t know, briefly asked me how I was doing and barraged me with a series of questions. There was no denying that we were all on the clock and she needed to get out of there as fast as possible. “So you’re short of breath? Pain in chest? Coughing? Sneezing? Fever?” The man, who was obviously being trained, stationed himself in front of the computer without so much as a nod in my direction. 

As I shot back answers as quickly as possible, she gave commands to the man in between them, making me feel like she was only half-listening to my responses. "Put code such-and-such for cough. Uh-huh. Okay. So no fever?" Out of all the questions she could've had, the one she didn't think to ask was if it was alright to share what is supposed to be a private space with another person. 

Once she had heard enough of what I had to say, she immediately suggested what she could prescribe. “Your pharmacy is Walgreens, right?” Not once did she ask me how I was eating, how often I was exercising (if at all), or if I was experiencing any abnormal stress. I had to be the one to ask, "Shouldn't we check this? Shouldn't we rule out that?"

Mask the symptoms and perpetuate the root cause; this is the current state of our health care, because it is what’s profitable.

Let me begin by acknowledging that modern medicine is a great thing. Without it we wouldn’t be able to treat chronic illnesses like Type 1 Diabetes or perform intricate surgeries. But what modern medicine doesn’t do is look at individuals in a whole sense. When we treat symptoms, we are only looking at a small part of a person.

I believe that we should have a health care team which would include much more than just your family doctor. We should all have coverage for a nutritionist that not only provides an education on food, but also helps grocery shop and teaches how to actually prepare healthy meals. A life coach/therapist that helps manage time so we can cook said healthy meals and who helps manage stress. Stress is behind a vast myriad of disease, so it is absolutely ridiculous that it is not the FIRST thing a health care provider tries to assess and treat. Finally, we should have coverage for a personal trainer who helps determine which kinds of exercise routines work best for each individual’s needs.

Lower-income communities should have many of these benefits provided to them for free, as well as other services that should be provided to all such as guided meditations, yoga and/or tai chi classes, massage therapy and family counseling. And free services shouldn’t mean lesser quality. We already have services like these provided through our cities and churches, but they’re often operated by well-meaning yet untrained volunteers. I’m talking about staffing professionals and having local—even federal—government subsidize the cost.

How can we afford it? Stop subsidizing corn and soy, for starters.

We should also provide urban communities with education on how to grow their own food. It’s not as simple as putting a seed in the ground and watering it. You need to know what grows well together, how much sunlight it needs, when to plant it, etc. Local farmers could be appointed by the community to be their city’s official “Community Farmers” who oversee several organic community gardens throughout strategic areas of the city and help people learn how to be self-sufficient. Self-sufficiency is key in this world I’m envisioning. As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” You feed his future generations, too.

This is our problem as a society; we have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips, but we lack practical education on the “simple” things.

If we approached health care in a comprehensive way, we could slowly find ourselves in a country of happier, healthier people. 
And when people are happier and healthier, they think clearer.

And if we find ourselves in a country of thinkers who are no longer clouded by the abundance of stress that has been accepted as “normal,” we progress as a society in positive ways.

How we eat and move plays a major role in how we think and act. If we could balance our lives in a way that fits our unique personalities, we may collectively be better able to tackle other problems in our country. And in the same way that other countries model our behavior, we could positively impact the world.

In this "radical" world there will still be McDonald’s, just maybe not on every other block. Certain types of companies could flop, jobs may be lost. But it doesn't have to seem so scary. This just means new companies will grow to replace these jobs, companies that produce products that actually benefit people. Trading assembly lines for crop lines shouldn’t seem extreme. Health-conscious fast food shouldn’t be such a crazy concept. Doctors that actually give a shit about you shouldn’t be a rarity.

We deserve a health care system that actually promotes health.  

Change is never easy and implementing a model like this is sure to bring its fair share of obstacles, but I ask you—how well is what we have in place now working for you?