Paradigm Shift in How We Look At Our Health

Posted by Ken on December 6, 2012 in Belief systems, Healthy Community, Ken's Blogs

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It’s coming. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Can you taste it? Can you smell it?

Weird questions? Maybe, maybe not.

I was at an event last night, a gathering of board members for our local hospital. I sit as a Director on the Foundation Board of the hospital. Our group got together with members of the Governing Board of the hospital in a social setting. I was talking with two of the folks from the Governing Board and one of them asked me what I was doing with my life. Being in a setting of highly educated folks that are passionate about health care in our community, I figured it was “safe” to make the following comment. “I’m working with colleagues to facilitate change in the health care model in Canada and the U.S.”. After a couple of blank stares, one finally responded with the somewhat dismissive and doubtful look, saying “You?” and “Good luck”. I explained that I wasn’t trying to do this alone, and that I was working with a community of folks that had similar beliefs and passions. I further explained that I knew of way too many people that had been cleared of diagnoses of diabetes, MS (multiple sclerosis), cancer, etc. by looking at and changing their diet and life style. At this point, the other fellow jumped in and told a story of someone he knew that had changed their life and healed from a diagnosis. The first person became a bit more engaged, but I’m not sure that the dismissive, doubtful look went away.

I find it kind of funny. Here is a group of highly educated members of a health care community. They understand and read all the press clippings about how there is an alarming increase in the outbreak of dis-ease, that the funding of the health care system is escalating at a skyrocketing rate and that there is a dire need for change. Yet when one of their own community members comments that they are working toward creating a change, it’s met with skepticism at best. To them, it seems so far away. It seems like the obstacles are so big. They can’t see that the shift is coming. They can’t feel it. They can’t taste it. They can’t smell it.

When I think of what it will take to create a change in our health care system, I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes.

“In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the existing and problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.” — R. Buckminster Fuller

I believe that we have become very complacent in our approach to the care of our own personal health. Generally speaking, when we are not feeling well or are experiencing symptoms, we go to the doctor and ask for help. So far, so good. I know there are many of you reading this post that no longer do this, or never did, but in a lot of cases, we sit in the chair, hand over all of our power to the person on the other side of the table and say “fix me”. The doctor listens, asks a few questions about the symptoms, then comes up with a diagnosis and makes a recommendation, which is often a prescription for a pharmaceutical drug. There are no questions about life style, there is rarely any discussion about the (lack of) quality of the foods we’re eating, there are no recommendations for seeking advice from alternative care practitioners. There are few discussions about healing from what might be making you sick, the discussion focuses on dealing with the symptoms.

This is the existing paradigm. This is how the system works. And it has worked that way for so long that we don’t really question it. News flash! This paradigm is no longer working. People seem to be getting sicker and sicker, the occurrences of autoimmune and other dis-eases is skyrocketing, as are the healthcare costs associated with treating them. In Canada, our health care system covers most of the costs for prescription drugs so people aren’t out-of-pocket for very much money when they go to the drug store to pick up their prescription. But that’s only masking the problem. Our focus in health care isn’t on making people well, it’s about treating the symptoms. We don’t have a health care system, we have a dis-ease management system.

A colleague of mine from California, Dr.Lissa Rankin, (if you haven’t heard of her, check out her TEDx talk), wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about her vision to heal the health care system. I highly encourage you to check it out here. In my opinion, it is an amazing vision that is very attainable, one that is very much in line with what I believe needs to be done with the health care systems in Canada and the U.S. Like the R. Buckminster Fuller quote above suggests, this vision isn’t about trying to fix a problematic model, it is about creating a new model that makes the old one obsolete.

When I think back to the discussion last night, I can see that many people think that the obstacles to creating change are big. I see them looking at me with doubtful, dismissive looks when I suggest that I’m not satisfied with the status quo, and plan to make a difference. They don’t seem to get that if everybody always looked at problems the same way, with the ideas that the problem is too big to change, or that somebody else will do it, then change will never happen. I don’t see things that way.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead

I may only be one man. My story may only reach a few readers. But I am part of a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens. And we share the same visions. And we are part of a paradigm shift in health care.

It’s coming. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Can you taste it? Can you smell it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comments section below. If you’d like to be part of a community that is making a difference, let me know by e-mail or in the Comments below.

Namaste, Ken

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Written by Ken

Ken Jaques describes himself as a Health Care Evolutionary, Community Builder, and Speaker. True healing begins when we treat root causes instead of just masking symptoms. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2008, Ken has experienced many facets of the health care system. As “the only patient who ever lost their hair on this low of a dosage of chemotherapy” – as spoken by his rheumatologist – Ken has been on an amazing journal of self-discovery, a journey of true healing. In his blog, Ken shares stories of how his beliefs have changed over the past few years, and how they are still changing. Is it possible that our bodies can heal themselves? Do we really have to live without hope after we receive a chronic illness diagnosis? These are the types of questions that Ken encourages people to ask themselves as they embark on their own physical or emotional healing journey.

Ken is creating a platform to connect People, Patients, Practitioners, Partners and Promoters, enabling a collaborative effort to help shift the focus on health from I-llness to We-llness. Check out the pilot at www.myHealthyCommunity.ca.

“When ‘I’ is replaced with ‘we’, even I-llness becomes WE-llness” ~ Malcolm X