Crisis Care Solutions for Health and Wellness Problems -- Does it Work?
Are emergency rooms getting busier? Are waiting times getting longer and longer? Is this an indication of the state of the system or further evidence of using flawed thinking when it comes to health?
The current health care system is designed to treat a crisis or disease. It’s designed to handle emergencies and illnesses usually requiring medications or invasive measures. If a truck hits you or if you have a life-threatening condition, the system in place is excellent. Well-trained doctors take good care of us in times of crisis.
Perhaps you have a condition that isn’t so dramatic or serious. You occasionally experience some indigestion or you notice tingling in your hands after working on the computer for a while. When you enter to the current medical system with these complaints, the same principles for a crisis or disease will be applied to these comparably minor problems. The main tools available are medications and surgeries. What if you don’t have symptoms or you simply want to improve your health?
Quite often these crisis or disease-focused procedures are not effective for minor issues. They can, in fact, do harm. It’s time to look at health problems from a standpoint of “Is this a crisis or not?” If it is, then the system is well designed to care for it. If not, a new level of thinking is needed. Rather than reaching for those “heroic” measures --standard medical and surgical procedures -- first, let’s look at the whole person.
Could that indigestion be a response to living in a stressful environment and the tingling in the hand be due to a structural problem? Are there simpler means of addressing these problems your experiencing? What about the person who has no symptoms and wants to make improvements? Are there ways of promoting your health so that you lessen your chances of entering the crisis care system, thus saving the system money as well?
Unfortunately, there are no quick-fix answers to mending our health care system. There are some strategies that we ourselves can put to work immediately. We can:
* Educate people to appreciate the benefits of approaching health
from a maintenance and promotion perspective
* Work on your health when you have it rather than waiting for a problem to arise.
* Become more responsible as individuals for our own health.
* Utilize other health care providers who have means of helping improve one’s health.
* Create incentives for individuals to use and access these providers, ultimately improving health and saving money in the long term.
The Premier of our province has challenged the Regional Health Authorities to be innovative when it comes to solutions for our health care needs and rising costs. It’s time we shift our thinking around the principles of our health care. Crisis responses to quality of life issues are dangerous and expensive. The challenge is ours. Let’s make a difference.
