Chaplain's Corner

This past summer a neighbour saw my wife and I sitting out one evening and wandered over to chat. As we caught up on what was happening in each other’s lives, she mentioned that her life had been little more than keeping up with one doctor’s appointment after another. In another encounter that I had as I was going about my work another gentleman shared that during the last year between he and his wife they had 110 medical appointments.

Until just recently, I couldn’t relate. But between the first of September and the end of the year I had 14 medical appointments. I have taken more time off work for medical appointments in the last three months than I have in the past 25 years. I understand just a tiny little bit what people with chronic health problems live with. They live in the cracks between their medical appointments and treatments.

Many people with chronic health problems don’t “look” sick. If you ran into a person with chronic health problems at Sobey’s or the local rink you wouldn’t know what that person lived with day in and day out. My, we take our health for granted and that’s what I would like to reflect on for a few minutes: taking our health for granted.

To take something for granted means to assume that you will always have something or to treat a something precious carelessly or with indifference. Health would certainly be one of those things that we take for granted. How many times do we live with the assumption that we will always feel fit and strong and well? Take an afternoon and come to a Personal Care Home and chat with some of the residents about their health. You will hear story after story about how these folks long for those days, now gone by, when they were fit and strong and well.

Think about the way we treat ourselves physically, how often are we careless and indifferent about the way we treat our bodies because we assume that we will always be fit and strong and well. Those of us who are well generally take our health for granted. But this is the way we live in general, most of the things that we value, we take for granted. We take our families for granted, we take our jobs for granted, we take the freedoms that we enjoy as Canadians for granted. We live carelessly and with indifference towards the precious things that we assume will always be there. BUT – we can lose our heath so quickly.

I can not tell you how many times I have cared for a person who had gone to the doctor because they were feeling a bit off and within weeks they are being told that they have cancer and have only months to live. This past year I cared for a man for just a little while. He had retired recently, he and his wife had gone on a long anticipated vacation and while they were away be began to feel ill. They cut their trip short, saw a doctor upon their return, and within a couple of months he was gone.

Or the times I have been asked to come to the Emergency Department to support a family who had just learned that Dad died of a heart attack at work. The morning started so normally. The same routine, up early, breakfast, off to work without a doubt that he would be home for supper then – gone!

Or the people I have cared for who can not remember the last time they felt decent, let alone good. Doctor after doctor, test after test, diagnosis, treatment, “I’m sorry, we are doing everything we can for you.” But everything seems so paltry, so pitiful; health once taken for granted is gone with little or no hope of ever feeling good again, this side of eternity.

You have known the same kinds of situations, the same kinds of people, and have been touched by the same kinds of experiences, yet we seem to just keep living as if nothing like that could ever happen to me – we just keep assuming that we will always enjoy good health so we are carless and indifferent in the way we care for our bodies. Now, please, don’t misunderstand me. I am not advocating that we all become neurotic about our health. Worrying about our health is not the proper response to taking it for granted – being grateful for our health and taking care of ourselves is the proper response.

Lately there has been a lot of talk in the news about “Primary Health Care”. It is not a new term; in fact in 1978 the World Health Organization adopted this approach as the most effective means of providing health care. According to an article written by Rob Calnan and Dr. Ginette Lemire Rodger which was presented to the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology the concept of primary health care rests on five principles: 1) Accessibility or as we know it in Canada, universal health care; 2) Public Participation or the public are encouraged to participate actively in making decision about their own health; 3) Health Promotion or the promotion of those practices that enhance health such as health education, nutrition, sanitation, maternal child care, immunizations etc. ; 4) Appropriate Technology or medical care that uses the appropriate medical technology, by the appropriate medical professional in a  timely manner; and 5) Inter-sectoral cooperation or recognizing that every aspect of life impacts health – education, housing, employment, culture, etc.

Not taking our health for granted then calls each of us to think about these principle of  primary health care. We need to take responsibility for using our universal health care system responsibly, for partnering with our doctor in maintaining our own heath. Did you know one of the most frustrating things for our doctors is that so few of us comply with their instructions? Studies of this are alarming indicating that only 25% of people follow their doctor’s directions in relation to taking their medication.

Not taking our heath for granted also means that we actively take responsibility for our own heath. Simple things like having an annual physical, keeping our homes clean, practicing good hand washing, learning and following some simple principles in food preparation, cooking and storage can go along was to enhancing our health.

One of the challenges of a universal health care system is getting the right treatment, by the right health care professional in a timely manner. We have all heard about and many of us have experienced the “wait times” involved with certain tests and procedures. This is more a challenge of resources than desire. Both we and our doctors would love to be able to get tests done quickly and begin treatments ASAP, but despite spending a large percentage of our Provincial Budget on health care each year, the resources necessary to provide speedy diagnosis and treatment are often not available. We can help though, but using hour health care responsibly, choosing the right facilities for the right needs.

You know, in six weeks, any one of us could have lost our health and be caught in the vortex of Doctor’s appointments, diagnostics, treatments, medications and just plain feeling lousy. It might just be time for each of us to stop taking our health, whatever degree of it we presently have, for granted. I know my own experiences since September have caused me to pause and be grateful for the health I do have and think a bit more carefully about doing what I can to protect and preserve my heath. What about you?