Session 9: Taking Action on Health Issues

After a rousing wake-up from Michael Ward-Bergeman’s New Orleans squeezebox, Day 3 of ideacity got down to brass tacks with some straight-talking about health. André Picard led off by sharing his prodigious knowledge about the current state and history of our health care system – and borrowed some wisdom from the great philosopher Yogi Berra (!). Picard pointed out that the problem is not delivery of health care but access to health care, and that the source of much of this dissonance is the fact that our system was designed in the 1950s for acute care, and now our predominant need for care is in chronic illness.  Picard suggests we look to Europe for a good model of healthcare, the right mix between public and private and systems that have far less inequity. He gave some good concrete suggestions for how to improve the system, beginning with creating a mission statement that is not written by accountants.

Dr. Marcus Laux has spent his career studying a vast range of natural healthcare practices. He agreed that the major healthcare issues used to be acute illness and now involve chronic illness, and he went on to explain why we have started to age badly when we in fact have the ability to regenerate at every age. He showed us in detail how to maximize our DNA destiny, through his 3 M’s: menu, movement and motivation.  Take charge or take a number, was his take-away advice – being healthy is a choice.

Dr. Mark Liponis, also a holistic practitioner, then gave us some fascinating tips on how one can personalize ones healthcare. A number of family and personal history factors, and  inexpensive home tests can help us determine what risks we face and will allow us to take early preventative measures. A message common to all of the speakers, and to many of our speakers thus far, is that we need to take action. Picard put it well – we have mastered the inquiry in lieu of action. Let’s all take that away: some really brilliant ideas have been tossed around here. When we all go home and back to our busy lives, let’s think about ways to put these ideas into practice both personally and in our wider social and political activities.