CNN aired the documentary movie “Escape Fire” Sunday night (and they will rebroadcast it Saturday, March 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET and again at 11:00 p.m.) The movie looks at issues that need to be addressed to improve our health care system in the U.S., as evident in the movie’s full title, Escape Fire: The
The American Institute for Preventive Medicine published “101 Ways to Lower Your Health Care Costs.” Can you think of a few? Interestingly, discussing how asking questions is a good thing in health care, Thomas (Tim) Mitchinson, a friend and colleague of mine in Illinois, begins his article on the subject with a question. Asking questions:
Do you sometimes feel like a slave to disease? Or to its treatment? Or know someone who does? How do chapped lips, Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Kalamazoo, Michigan, and a case of poison ivy shed light on needed emancipation? Abraham Lincoln made only one visit to Michigan – to Kalamazoo in 1856. Why did he
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“There’s a different way of doing things that’s possible” according to the trailer for a thought-provoking movie by Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke entitled “ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare” that opens Friday, October 5. Our current system resists needed changes, perhaps fearing change, but the new ideas and alternative treatments, including spiritual ones, that will help rescue American healthcare can be considered and utilized without fear.
According to the movie’s website, “ESCAPE FIRE examines the powerful forces maintaining the status quo, a medical industry designed for quick fixes rather than prevention, for profit-driven care rather than patient-driven care.”
The inspiration for the title of the movie comes from an incident in Mann Gulch, Montana where a forest fire trapped a group of firefighters. Their foreman, Wag Dodge, intentionally lit a fire in front of him and then stepped into the newly burnt area. The fire went around that area since it was already burned. His crew couldn’t accept his unusual approach and went on ahead and, tragically, most of them were killed. Wag Dodge survived.
It seems that one of the big challenges lies in overcoming the fear of something new, something a little different than what we’re used to.
Albert Einstein reassures us with his perspective: “Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up.”¹
Why would a doctor limit the number of patients in his practice to 1,000 rather than 4,000? Dr. Rob Lamberts offers a different model where he takes fewer patients so he can provide them with more care. Lamberts prefers to live his faith rather than talk it: “I’d rather people see Christ in me than
Yours truly at the U.S. Capitol on a rainy day
“We don’t need to move to the left or to the right. We all need to go a little deeper.”
This from Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan according to a recent Washington Times article¹ by Patrick Hruby about Mr. Ryan’s interest in a form of meditation called mindfulness. Ryan has found it so helpful that he said, “This needs to be in the schools. And the health care system.”
There’s a lot of talk these days in the U.S. about health care, health care costs, and what role the government should play. Mr. Ryan’s interest in mindfulness seems focused more on health itself.
According to Hruby, research suggests that mindfulness helps with such problems as chronic pain, inflammation, high blood pressure, and stress. He quotes Mr. Davidson, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Lab for Affective Neuroscience, who said, “There’s a huge amount of suffering that can be prevented with healthy habits of the mind.”