An Ounce of Prevention

Getting from fall to spring every year while not getting a cold, the flu or Covid can be a bit like running the gauntlet.?Based on conversations I've had with flocks it seems that few of us will make it through to spring without falling victim to one or more of these nasty bugs, me being one.

I thought I was doing fairly well; I had a bout of covid in April that knocked me off my feet for a few days but then sailed through summer and fall until the first of January unscathed. Then, the second week of January I “caught a cold”, not a big deal, I’ll shake this off in a couple days and we’re good to go, I thought.

Apparently the virus had other ideas. After about 8 days of hacking, coughing and very little sleep I was convinced by Kimmy that perhaps it might be a good idea to visit Saint Joseph Hospital to get a "professional" opinion, one that may possibly challenge my “it’s just a cold” diagnosis.

I won’t say that I went kicking and screaming because at this point I was beat. We arrived at Saint Joes sunday afternoon and I went through the normal processing: Medicare registration, take a seat in the “isolation room” and wait. After about 15 minutes I advanced to the next phase where a nurse took my temperature, pulse and blood pressure. The nurse then ushered me a small examination room and said the doctor will be in to see you soon.

?As I sat there I decided this would be a good time to get caught up on the news and my email. Shortly after I got settled in the door opened and a balding 50 to 60 year old, average height, stout doctor entered the room.

His first words suggested to me that he was originally from Eastern Europe, the Ukraine, Russia or one of the several Slavic counties. He asked a series of questions that allowed him to narrow down the nature of my sickness.

As the examination began he said with a thick accent: “Hum, your ears are plugged with wax, I will flush”. Away he went and returned with a small metal tray, a syringe and some water. He then instructed. ”You hold tray on left ear”. Next a blast of water that felt to me like a fire hose entered my ear canal, a couple more blasts and the tray revealed a rather large chuck of ugly ear wax.?

A man of few words he then offered “Now we flush right ear” Same process with the same results. I responded with: “Now I can hear; maybe you can fix my eyes as well”. The good doctor stood back and replied with his deep Slavic accent; “You give me some of your hair and I fix eyes” and continued unabated with the examination. After a few minutes of: “breathe in and breathe out “instructions while he probed with his stethoscope I was advised that I had a right lung infection, our highly efficient doctor disappeared and shortly after arrived with a prescription for antibiotics and a puffer. The doctors final words; ”You take for 9 days and you be fine” and as quickly he entered he left.

From the time I entered Saint Joes to leaving Saint Joes I had been there perhaps a little more than an hour. During a time when, hospitals, doctors, nurses and staff are taking a lot of heat I felt the least I could do is write about MY personal A +?rating hospital experience. On way home Kimmy asked about my experience and what the doctor was like. After thinking about it for I bit I replied. “I would call him the Danny Joyce of the medical profession. Kim laughed as if to say, no further explanation required.???

Over the past couple years we’ve all heard that our Healthcare system is breaking at the seams and that we need to invest more and more into the healthcare system.?I , for one, don’t believe throwing more and more money at our Healthcare system is going to solve the health-care issues.

In 2004 Dr. Dennis Furlong (the N.B. Minister of Health) published a book entitled “Medicare Myths” He believed that unless we as a province are prepared to embraced an “ounce of prevention” instead of a “pound of cure” approach eventually the healthcare budget would consume, as a percentage, more and more of the overall provincial healthcare budget.?By an" ounce of prevention" he was advocating the promotion of a healthy lifestyle that would include exercise and healthy eating for all New Brunswickers.?

So now, in 2022, how does New Brunswick’s population rate in terms of adopting a healthy lifestyle?

According to Stats Canada in 2017 over 70% of adults in New Brunswick were either overweight or obese, with over 61% of New Brunswickers battling at least one chronic health condition including and not limited to: High blood pressure (hypertension), high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, or high levels of triglycerides (dyslipidemia), type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease. (Source 2019 New Brunswick Medical Society).

In 2018 an average of $1,539 per person was spent on children aged to 14, whereas an average of $11,301 was spent for those over 65 in Canada. Since New Brunswick has an aging society,(New Brunswick median age 45) we can safely conclude that the lion’s share of our provincial healthcare dollars are being consumed by our graying population.

As of 2022 New Brunswick’s healthcare budget was $3.2 billion dollars, an increase of $178.5 million dollars. As someone who has passed my “best before date” I would strongly suggest that "we" as New Brunswickers have a responsibility to adopt healthy living practices otherwise, increasing New Brunswick’s Healthcare budget year after year will clearly be a case of subscribing to a “pound of cure” as opposed to “an ounce of prevention”.

Think about it