Atlantic Complementary Blog

Whenever we try to encourage healthy behaviors, it’s important  to look at the practical aspects of a solution.  Remember the challenges health care workers in Third World Countries faced with compliance when they introduced drugs to HIV patients? It’s tough to take drugs on time without clocks.

Education is, of course,  very important.  However, nutritional education alone won’t insure that people will eat more fruits and vegetables.  In many parts of New York City, fresh produce is simply not available.

“In low income neighborhoods, we know that it takes more time to build supermarkets.  But we can get the carts on the streets right now” said Karen Karp, the food policy coordinator for the Bloomberg administration.

And the city is doing just that. The New York City council has approved a plan to put 1,000 vending carts in neighborhoods that have lacked access to fresh foods.  There are already 200 carts on the street. The plan will ultimately provide 1,000 new jobs and allow residents of neighborhoods which have been called “food deserts” a healthy, cost effective source of fresh produce.

Let’s keep thinking outside the box.  There are wonderful solutions to many of the challenges we face if we just see the big picture and think outside the box.

Customers Prove There’s a Market for Fresh Vegetables

My husband is a dentist,  Peter A. Thomas, DMD, here in Hampton, NH, who routinely screens for sleep apnea in his patients.  He has probably saved lives already by identifying and treating this widespread disorder.

Now I see that the prevalence of obesity in our children is putting them at risk.

How can each one of us make a difference in promoting health and wellness?

Childhood Obesity and Sleep Disordered Breathing

The mission of my company, Atlantic Complementary Medical Solutions, is to encourage the use of Evidence Based Complementary Medical Modalities with Western Medicine to promote wellness and healing while reducing the cost of health care.

When I first reviewed literature about the value of preparing patients for surgery using hypnosis CD’s, I was blown away. In my naivete I thought  “Wait until the health insurance companies get their hands on this!!”  Would you like a to invest $17 and reduce the bill of a surgical patient by $2,000 on average? And, by the way, the patient can feel more relaxed, have fewer complications, quicker recovery.

Judging by the luke warm response my work has received from health insurance companies, I’ve come to realize that medicine is too often driven by profits.

Atul Gawande, the surgeon from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston wrote a long article for the New Yorker about the town of McAllen, TX which has one of the most expensive health care markets in the country.  In 2006, Medicare spent $15,000 per enrollee here, almost twice the national average, $3,000 more than the per capita income.

Dr. Gawande contrasts the medical model where health care providers collaborate to provide great care to the patients vs. the model where the patient is a cash cow.

“In the sharpest economic downturn that our health system has faced in nearly half a century, many people in medicine don’t see why they should do the hard work of organizing themselves in ways that reduce waste and improve quality if it means sacrificing revenue.” (bold is mine)

The Cost Conundrum