Is Prevention That Important For True Health Care Reform?

That is a quotation from Time Magazine from 2003.  Seven, count ‘em, seven years ago.  This is not new news; in fact, it is intuitively clear and inherently obvious to the most casual observer that prevention is worth more, “pound for pound” – no pun intended – than a cure.  Wasn’t it Ben Franklin who quipped “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?”  That was not seven years ago, but more than 200 years ago.

Sadly, prevention in our culture has meant an annual exam paid for in full by the insurance companies.  Well, as a health counselor, my answer to that is Depression is not a Prozac deficiency nor is a Pap Test a cure for cervical cancer, and a colonoscopy doesn’t prevent colon cancer.  We, our society, have to get way out in front of those annual exams pawned on us by the insurance companies as “preventive maintenance” and begin to address what really ills us and that is; 1) the food we eat, and 2) the lack of exercise or physical activity so prevalent in our culture.

When questioned by a group I’m asked to speak to regarding health and wellness, my answers are usually met with guffaws and knee jerk disbelief and rejection.   What are those answers?   Let me preface my remarks by saying, I’m not advocating that everyone join a gym, though being in the business as a fitness coach and health counselor, I wouldn’t be against that; but my goal for most of the general public who generally is not inclined to engage in a regular exercise regimen is that it is EASY to incorporate more physical activity in our daily lives.  Frankly, that’s what a fitness coach does.  When asked “how can I be more active,” my first response being in suburban New Jersey is to disconnect the garage door opener or only use it ONLY in foul weather, or to park in the farthest spot at the shopping mall, or to take the stairs instead of the elevator if you live or work in an elevator building.  These are simple and small steps people can take to increase the total of physical activity in one’s daily life.  The personal and corporate implications associated with inactivity and poor nutrition is substantial.  Exercise and/or physical  activity coupled with proper eating is critical for optimal health, yet 60% of Americans do not engage in any  regular physical activity, and more than 80% do not eat correctly.  Nutrition is essential for health and well-being of employees, corporations and schools.

Consider These Facts

1. Regular physical activity reduces the risks of premature death from heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and many forms of cancer.

2. Inactive employees are 2x as likely to suffer from premature death

3. Fit employees have 55% fewer medical claims.

4. There is a direct correlation between CAD and CHD and people who live and/or work in elevator buildings.

5. Exercise & Sound Nutrition enhances

a.  mental health,

b.  fosters healthy muscles, bones and joints,

c.  helps maintain optimal performance.

6. Well fed, active students perform better and are less likely to be discipline problems

7.Upwards of 60% of medical claims are lifestyle related.

8. When school budgets are cut, more often than not physical activity programs are at the top of the list with art and music programs.

9.The bulk of spending on physical activity is spent on inter-scholastic teams.  My answer to that is: “if a parent wants their son to play on the football squad, pay for the uniform, training, coaching, and insurance.”  The bulk of the expenditures go towards a very few students in your average high school.

This last item was proven in spades in a Wisconsin or Minnesota school district.  Visit www.twoangrymoms.com a Connecticut based organization.  In the experiment, poor performing school students from a school district were segregated into a separate facility, and the only thing that was changed was the food given to them in the cafeteria.  Well, wonder of wonders, deportment problems decreased, academic performance improved.  The students were happier, the staff was happier, the teachers were happier, the administration was happier, and most of all the parents were happier.  They had reached Education Nirvana. Thanks to the USDA surplus food program, we are in effect treating our kids like human waste receptacles feeding the left-over food [and I use that term lightly] from over production.   I often start a presentation to school administrators and teachers with what some may view as a shocking introduction, and mind you, I’m speaking figuratively here:  “We feed our children sugar and chemicals, then when they become poor performers, we put them in classes for slow learners, when they become deportment problems, we attempt to beat them into submission, and when we can’t beat them into submission we assign them a disease, ADHD, and then what do we do?  We give them more chemicals!”

Parents:  I challenge you to see what is being fed to your children in their school; take a look at the vending machines in the schools.  I bet you’ll be surprised to find that most of it is sugar, fat, and chemicals.  Of all the children born in the year 2000 1:3 will develop Type II diabetes by the time they reach adulthood.  Heck, when I was a child, that disease was referred to Adult Onset Diabetes because it usually occurred into older over weight adults who developed insulin resistance.  In minority populations that ratio is 1:2!  We are now raising the first generation of children in our country who have a shorter life expectancy then their parents.  It’s a sin, and something we as a nation ought to be ashamed of.

In the Corporate World

Well fed employees are more productive and sick less often.  Here is a list of what companies can expect from a comprehensive wellness program:

1. Reduce workers comp costs
2. Reduce absenteeism
3. Reduce “presenteeism” a term I picked up for the state an employee is in when he or she is on the job but feeling ill or worrying about a family member who is ill.
4. Reduce use of health benefits
5. Reduce injuries
6. Improve morale & productivity
7. Lower Health Care Costs
8. Enhance Mental Capacity
9. Provide a venue for team building

Sadly, corporations have been made to think that they do not need to spend money on health and wellness programs.  All too often many non-profit organizations come in, do a free “lunch and learn,” and then are gone never to be heard from again or until the next cycle in their schedule calls for a visit to company “A.”  I in no way mean to malign those non-profits who do a great service, but frankly, they remind me of Sea Gulls flying up and over leaving something behind, and then are gone.  I’ll let your imagination wander to think upon what that something is.  In order for a comprehensive health and wellness program to work, it has to last about 6 months for it takes that long for habits to change.  Both schools and corporations need a comprehensive, hands-on, individualistic treatment of health and wellness.

Food Heals

Food is the strongest mediator of hormones in the body that modern medical science knows of.  It’s that simple.  For all the good work that the pharmaceutical companies do, in fact, they do NOT know how the vast majority, dare I say all, of the preparations they sell work in the body, and what metabolic pathways are invoked in achieving their aim.  They just know, through testing that they work.

That may sound odd on the surface, as we in America have been conditioned to believe that medicine heals, and it does.  Hippocrates who lived around 400 BC and is considered the father of medicine said “let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food,” yet the modern medical establishment seems to have forgotten that.

The aim of the current health care system overhaul and the bill passed by The Congress, the discussion has centered on reducing overall costs.  No one can argue with that when you consider that one third of health care costs are administrative.  Americans pay the highest price in the world for health care yet fare far worse than some third world countries in areas like infant mortality and disease outcome.  What then is wrong?  Wellness is not early intervention, not an annual physical as I mentioned above.  Frankly, it’s already too late when a test taken during that annual physical comes back with negative results.  No one can argue against the benefits of early intervention, but consider how with lifestyle changes, one can make those annual physicals result in only positive results for the employee and the employer.  In a perfect world, we could reduce our health care costs nationally by upwards of 70%.  Alas, we don’t live in a perfect world, but would you be satisfied with half of that number?

Lifestyle is the decisions we make in food and activities.  We tend to think of food and its effect on the body in terms of thermo-dynamics; that is, put fuel in the tank, and the engine runs.  Food is more than just calories: it is information.  The food we eat every day mediates hormones, it “talks” to our DNA; it becomes us.  There is truth in the expression you are what you eat.  What we eat starts in our mouth, works its way through our stomach and intestines, broken down to the molecular level it is absorbed through the intestinal wall into our blood stream, and literally becomes our cells; our blood, our organs, our bones, etc.  To illustrate the notion of the “conversation” our bodies have with food, I have my clients do experiments on different foods, recording how they feel immediately after the meal and then two to three hours later.  The results are eye opening.  Disease doesn’t just show up on our doorstep, it just becomes apparent at some point on a continuum between healthy and dead.  What we tend to do when symptoms become apparent is give a condition a name, then treat the name with pharmaceuticals, therapy, or an invasive procedure.  These are all expensive means of treating the problem.

Cheap Food

I heard a lecturer once say:  ¼ of what you eat keeps you healthy, and the other ¾ keeps the doctor healthy.  This is not a slur at the medical profession.  I have a high respect for medicine and those who pursue it as a profession.  My question is given the current situation we see our physicians on average for about 10 minutes to 15 minutes for the hour or so we spend in the office.  It’s not their fault, it’s the system’s fault.  Wouldn’t you like to get the attention you deserve when you visit a doctor?  My position is that we either pay the doctor for rushed care giving or pay a little more for our food.  I’ll opt for a full hour with my physician when it calls for it, and pay a little more for the food.

It Just Makes Business Sense.

In closing, as a corporation or a school system, as a society we must know what the return on our investment in preventive care as I’ve defined it will be.  That’s a slam-dunk so far as I see it, because analytical evidence shows that for every $1 invested in Corporate Programs, a $3 - $8 return on that investment is realized by the investor.  This is not a number just pulled from the air, it has been shown to be true by companies who have embarked on wellness programs, who are way out there in front of the head lights so to speak, and who have seen through cost/benefit analysis that It Does Just Make Business Sense.

About The Author

Nicholas Merolla is the owner of New Millennium Wellness, and is a Certified Health Counselor, a Certified Fitness Coach, and a former Athletic Competitor.

Nick worked in for Fortune 100 companies for a good part of his career.  He decided to become a health counselor to fulfill his passion of working with men and women of all ages to improve their health and family life.  Nick is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the American Council on Exercise.

Nick received his health counseling training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City and the National Education and Training Association.  He is board certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and the State University of New York, Purchase College as a Health Counselor.

Nick and the whole team at New Millennium Wellness have spent time in the corporate world and have been teachers so we are attuned to the needs of both environments.  Couple that previous experience with our training as health counselors and fitness coaches we believe make New Millennium Wellness the optimal choice for designing and implementing a Corporate or School Wellness program for individuals, groups, your school or corporate institution of all sizes.

Nick and the whole New Millennium Wellness team have spoken before small groups, schools, and corporations, and is also available for speaking engagements. Call for details.

Nick produces a monthly article for www.CorporateWellnessMagazine.com, and a monthly newsletter.  Email Nick if you want to be included in his newsletter distribution.

Nick can be reached at 201-488-3236 or by email at:

nickm@newmillenniumwellness.com

Visit the New Millennium Website at:  http://www.newmillenniumwellness.com