Crazy Sexy Cancer

I met Kris Carr at Donna Karin's Urban Zen Conference last spring.

No, not just met her. Experienced her. Experienced her documentary clips in giant screen surround sound, holding my breath, laughing, shaking with held-back tears, and in the company of a couple hundred holistic professionals of diverse modalities from all over the nation, all as shaken and inspired as I was (and still am!).

Kris Carr, actress and filmmaker, was diagnosed with an incurable cancer a few years ago. She immediately began journaling and filming her entire experience, exploring alternatives as her only options.

Her documentary is airing in a few minutes for the first time tonight on The Learning Channel. I am so glad the world will see what I witnessed - this gentle, strong, sweet, raw, angry, accepting, joyful, sexy woman with the courage to say out loud what many whisper only into their pillows.

I hope you will be watching. Her book, "Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips" is available everywhere, and hopefully soon on our website as well.

Over the last year, while conceptualizing United HPA and building it, I have had literally hundreds of conversations with people in fear about their health - fibromyalgia, heart disease, depression, cancer and much more. They have turned to holistic options out of desperation, unwilling to believe the doctor's verdict that their options were limited.

It is for them that United HPA was founded. It is for everyone that has not yet been diagnosed with something incurable. It is for everyone who wants to prevent the worst case scenario for themselves and their families. It is for everyone, like Kris Carr, who believes beyond any shadow of a doubt that the best resource for one's true health is oneself.

You are already whole and healthy, no matter what your circumstances. Integrated health practitioners will always respect your innate wholeness, valuing you as the most important ingredient in your best health recipe.

I'd love to hear what you think of Kris' documentary tonight. http://www.crazysexycoolcancer.com/

In peace and health,
Norreida
http://www.unitedhpa.org/

Sending Back the Doctor’s Bill

Comments on Sunday's New York Times article.

Don’t you hate it when you walk out of an examination room with no answers as to when you will feel better, then you stop at the reception desk and sign your life away on the bill?

Sunday's NYT article points out that one of the many places that the healthcare system is broken is the way that doctors are paid. There are financial incentives in the healthcare system to keep people sick. I highly recommend you read the article – your blood pressure might rise, so be sure to have a nice cup of soothing green tea while you are reading it.

Unfortunately, it is not until the end of the article that the author throws a bone to the real problem, a problem that highlights why integrated medicine is the true answer to lowering the costs and fixing our broken healthcare system, especially in the area of incentives.

Conventional medicine is currently based, and has been based for decades, on an Allopathic model.

Allopathic medicine is focused on why a person is sick. It studies dead bodies for answers. It looks at conditions and symptoms in a piecemeal way, addressing each piece separately.

Integrated healthcare is focused on why a person is well. It studies healthy people for answers. It looks at the whole person, seeks root causes, partners with and empowers the patient/client, and prioritizes prevention and maintenance, utilizing Allopathic resources when necessary, but not necessarily as a first choice.

At the end of today’s NYT article, there is an example of a diabetes patient. The doctor is paid to examine the patient’s feet, but not to make sure he exercises.

Doctors might say “well, that’s not my responsibility. I can tell a diabetes patient why exercise is an important factor, but I can’t the patient do it.”

There is no partnership in the Allopathic model. The Integrated model, however, is the opposite. An Integrated health practitioner understands that, ultimately, it is up to the patient to be responsible for being and staying well, however – given our busy world – people could use some help with this huge task. Integrated health practitioners utilize a pedagogical approach with clients – a mentoring, “walk with me” method on a client’s healthcare journey. The client-patient need never go it alone in the Integrated healthcare model, yet will be given the resources to empower her to make healthy decisions on her own when she is ready.

Not so with the Allopathic model. Doctors are expected to know everything and patients nothing. “So what” if the patient has intimate knowledge of her body for her whole life, while the doctor has known her for a 15-minute examination? Americans choose to put doctors on a pedestal, and that has hurt our ability to be a healthy nation.

The article tells us that American doctors are paid way more than other countries, but here in the U.S. we like the idea that there are high paying jobs out there to aspire to, and medicine is such a respectable field that we don’t begrudge the salaries. (My mom was a Flower Child, yet even she has said to me once or twice – why don’t you find a nice doctor and settle down?)

But the article goes on to point out that doctors are paid per task, not salaried. This provides an incentive to do more tasks, i.e. more tests, more examinations, more surgeries, more, more, more.

And to top it all off, they get paid whether or not you get better.

One of my board members has had this important conversation with me frequently (Ken Goewey). When you take your car into the shop to be fixed, you expect it not to break down again the next day or you’ll demand your money back.

In fact, the healthcare industry is the only industry where people walk in “broken” and – although they hope to get better – they pay their money and say thank you to the medical professionals whether or not their problem has been solved.

Americans would never take that kind of treatment from any other industry. Why do we take it from the healthcare industry?

The article suggests putting doctors on salary. Pay them by diagnosis instead of by task. And if it’s the wrong diagnosis, they don’t get paid. We can pay a doctor so much for appendicitis, a certain amount for ulcers, a certain amount for sinus infections, etc. They can perform however many tests is necessary for the diagnosis and treatment, but they don’t get paid for anything but a recovery of the diagnosed condition.

Of course there would need to be something worked out for chronic and terminal conditions, but generally speaking, the NYT article is correct – we need to have a good hard look at the incentives in the healthcare industry and make serious changes there.

This is not to say that doctors are purposefully performing more tasks so they can make more money. I believe most doctors are in the profession because they truly want to help people. I really want to believe that.

However, I also believe that a doctor is very likely to order/perform all kinds of extra tests and procedures from a basis of “better safe than sorry,” especially when there are no incentives NOT to take those extra steps.

The article does not take so idealistic an approach. It suggests that doctors, when faced with an option of two different tests that could bring back the same results, will choose the more expensive test so as to add more money to the doctor’s pocketbook. The article suggests that doctors will perform unnecessary procedures, because why not? It’ll bring them more money, and the patient wouldn’t know any better anyway.

In fact, Medicare patient procedures have steadily increased over the years compared to HMO patient procedures. The article tells us that Medicare does not like to second-guess doctors, so they rubber stamp doctors’ orders. No wonder Medicare costs are skyrocketing.

I am grateful for the many good doctors who have been in the lives of me and my family, and I completely appreciate the hard work and dedication of medical professionals and research scientists in the Allopathic and pharmaceutical fields. My point is not that doctors and drugs are bad, but that they are not the end-all, be-all of my healthcare, or anyone’s healthcare. They are a component, that’s all.

I compliment the New York Times for bringing healthcare system incentives to public notice, but I certainly wish they’d taken the time to go more in-depth. I believe that if the author kept digging, he would have come to the same conclusion that those of us in Integrated healthcare already know – Allopathic medicine is an option, but not an answer.

United Holistic Practitioners Association is dedicated to changing public healthcare to an integrated and participatory model, which will better serve healthcare consumers. To find out more, please visit http://www.unitedhpa.org/ and scroll down to the lower left of the home page to sign up for our free enewsletter, The Triple Bridge Journal.

Integrated health makes good common-sense. When done on a large scale, it will lower insurance premiums, reduce hospital stays, and shrink family pharmaceutical costs. Isn’t it time for you to take control of your health, rather than let it control you? Why not take a moment to review our website, visit our practitioner directory, and sign up for our free enewsletter today? You’ll be relieved you did.

Here is today’s NYT article:

The Nation
Sending Back the Doctor’s Bill
By ALEX BERENSON
Published: July 29, 2007
Fixing the health care system may require a difficult conversation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/weekinreview/29berenson.html

Welcome to United Holistic Practitioners Blog!

You and I are much alike. We have daily hopes and challenges, people we care about, bills to pay, teeth to brush, and demanding schedules that make it difficult to prioritize our health and happiness.

I tell you this because it is important for you to know that I am not a healthcare guru. I struggle with healthcare concerns just like anyone else, but I am lucky enough to be surrounded by a wealth of resources to help me find the best healthcare options for me and my family.

On this blog, I’ll be working through those options here with you, out loud, frankly sharing what it is like to explore an integrated healthcare model.

We’ll talk about the news, our environment, kids, parents, and share stories from all those thousands of people out there who have changed their lives just because they had the courage to say to their doctors – wait a minute, let me see what else is out there before I pop that pill or take that surgery.

I did that. Twenty-five years of life peppered with violence had turned me into one of those lab rats that shake in the corner of a cage, unable to make a decision because everything seemed to lead to a shock. I have a summary of that story listed in the About Us pages of our website. Choosing something other than a pill was a very good decision for me. It might or might not be a good decision for you. There may be some of you who would do better with pharmaceuticals, but you will feel better about that choice if you consider your less-invasive alternatives first. It’s so much better to choose pills or surgery from a position of knowing your alternatives, rather than feeling you have no choice. An informed consumer is an empowered one, and empowerment is a healthy place to be when making important decisions.

So, I am not a guru, but I am an empowered consumer. What’s next on my healthcare plate, now that my sleep is untroubled, my life is safe and happy, my kids are doing great, and I love my job?

My weight. Like many Americans, I carry more weight than what is good for my body. During my unhappy years, I hit a high of 222 pounds at only 5 feet 4 inches tall. I tried all kinds of diets, joined Bally’s, but nothing worked. Why? I was too unhappy. To reward myself and feel worthy, I really thought that I deserved that cheesecake or Cherry Garcia. As often as possible. One bite, slowly savored, transported me away from harsh reality and into a world of emotional bliss.

Now I know that an abundance of cheesecake is a punishment, not a reward. I don’t deserve to have my life shortened or to not have enough energy to keep up with my 9-year-old. Funny how happiness changes one’s definition of reward. As tasty as cheesecake is, I’d much rather have a spare hour with my fingers on a keyboard, weaving my great American novel with a steaming cup of jasmine tea scenting my efforts, rather than ten minutes with a dessert. I deserve time to write. I’ve earned it. Writing is my personal reward.

The discovery of who I am and what I want out of life has made a huge impact on the decisions I make every day. I dropped twenty pounds by doing nothing more than noticing what I really love to do, and rewarding myself with that reality rather than the temporary escapes. It took a year, but it was a permanent weight drop.

On this blog, I’ll share the other integrated health strategies I am using to reach my ideal weight, but for now it is most important to realize who you are and what you truly want out of life. How your personal stress level and happiness impacts your health and overall decision-making. Moreover, it impacts the people around you, too. The United HPA online directory includes many practitioners that can help you through personal discovery: psychologists, life coaches, social workers, hypnotherapists, and more. It's an important first step to weight loss, and to healthier living generally.

It is a rainy Sunday afternoon, and my Daisy has just brought me a poem. At 9, she is also taking the time to explore what it is she really likes to do, and on a rainy day, she likes to draw and write. So I’ll leave you with a Daisy Original, and wish you a healthy, happy rest of the day.

“Rain comes from the sky,
Sometimes makes you want to cry,
Pours to the ground,
And puddles all around.
It slowly comes down
And dissolves on the ground.
The grass has dew
But who creates this – you?
No, it’s Mother Nature.
She loves you
And you love her.
Mother Nature.”
Written by Daisy, July 15, 2007.

Be well, be wise, be ready,
Norreida