ESCAPE FIRE: Healthcare transformation need not be feared
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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
