THATGUYNURSE.COM
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THATGUYNURSE.COM
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“To Live A Long Time and To Die Healthy”
It is now possible for the first time in history to live to the full human life-span of ninety to ninety-five years. The challenge is to live in good health throughout that time. This means learning about and understanding the conditions of health. It also means assuming a whole new dimension of personal responsibility. Within the lifetimes of many who are still alive advances in medical science have virtually eliminated may of the historical causes of death. Many diseases once lethal either no longer exist or are easily treatable. Trauma care and surgical interventions have advanced to the point where injuries and systemic failures which were once invariably fatal can now be remedied. The medical system of hospitals, clinics, physicians, nurses and technicians is not, however, a real “health-care” system. It is, rather, a “sickness-care” system.’ Few of the billions of dollars invested in medical care today go to the creation and maintenance of health. The primary focus of medical care is to keep patients alive. It is up to each individual to do what is necessary to build and maintain health and wellness. This program examines the impacts of the medical system and how it has extended life expectancy in the United States from fifty-four in the nineteen thirties to nearly eighty today. It emphasizes the critical fact that the American medical system provides medical practitioners no financial incentives for health. It is a system designed to cure sickness and to repair trauma and to keep patients alive. The challenge and opportunity of living in good health thus falls to each individual who through personal life-style decisions has primary responsibility for the maintenance of health through the full human life-span of ninety to one hundred years. The American medical system must also change. In the twenty-first century patients and physicians must become partners; working together and sharing knowledge. The American medical system will become a true “wellness system.” only when patients assume responsibility for their own health and learn to utilize the skills of physicians, nurses and others in the medical system as vehicles for health rather than as mechanics who fix the things that go wrong. The focus on the new system will be on prevention of disease and trauma and the maintenance of health.
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