Yesterday as I was finishing my shift, I was about to leave (had to make a meeting for the Medical Reserve Corp of DuPage County and this is going to be an interesting post so watch for it). I saw a chart that was next to be seen by the incoming doc but it was an ankle sprain for which I have a "Saguil Approach" of handling. I decided to take it for the thrill of seeing how fast I could guess the diagnosis and be correct before the tests came back (little game I play while working to keep things interesting-sorry...sounds conceited). Name sounded familiar and by the time I entered the room I figured out where the name was from. As soon as the curtain was drawn, I heard a big...."Dr Saguil!". One of my old patients from the Wheaton office, and her mom and dad were very fond patients of mine. We talked and I gave her an update but apparently her parents already knew I was back in town. Her mom and dad were such great patients. For the non medical person, a great patient is one that has made a lasting impression mostly for some kind of success that was achieved. I can say that the majority of my patients are great. I can usually get a patient to listen or try something I teach in the exam room, (should be called the lecture room since most of my time is spent teaching). To me, if a patient trys something once, then I figure they trusted me and that is a success. I was always a terrible salesman, during college years, I would usually end up giving things away due to some inherent guilt I felt when telling someone about a product I was representing. Anyway, as I found out the exam room gave me a captive audience for 10 minutes (according to medical insurance reimbursement), I decided to groom the way I presented myself when trying to "sell" a healthier lifestyle. Again I refer to the "Saguil Approach" that seems to work for the patients I see. I thought it was just my patient population in DuPage County but during my 18 months in Florida (that just happens to coorelate with a certain restrictive coventant a hospital lays down so as the doc leaving will not to steal all their patients), I applied the same concept and low and behold!....people got healthier and it wasn't just DuPage. May not have worked for everyone...but given another year, I would have had 50% of my population off of at least one of their medicines.
Sorry for the rambling, this one family was always so good about follow up and trying to exercise. The great news and point to this post was mom had lost 40+ pounds since I left! She had a few small short term goals that were easy to achieve and each one "sling-shot" her to the next level of losing.
That day, talk about positive attitude attracting more positive outcomes, I was listening to Paul Zane Pilzner give his ideas about the wellness industry. He's an economist who wrote several best sellers the latest is "The Wellness Revolution", I heard him spout a line that shocked me. He said a few decades ago, poverty was associated with being thin and having nothing, wealth was associated with being fat with alot to eat. Now with 25% (actually 33% with recent stats from the CDC) of america being overweight, the upper crust is thin, exercising and trying to preserve youth at any cost while the middle and lower classes are tipping the scales with a BMI of 30 or greater. (BMI refers to body mass index, read about it on www.diabetes.org). I just gave a talk in Florida and one of the topics was diabetes which is a growing epidemic in the US-mostly due to the high numbers of people falling into the overweight/obese categories. Next time you are at a public function, pick 10 people in one part of the room and look at how many "appear" overweight. It will be 3-4 friends, coworkers and loved ones. Some researchers will tell you the majority of the health issues in the United States are due to nutrition deficiencies. I agree and it is getting worse. Modern medicine is probably not helping due to the amount of training we lack in medical school and residency for nutrition. In addition with the short time we have to spend in the exam room, it is easier to write a perscription and talk of side effects than it is to evaluate and discuss nutrition and diet. And insurance doesn't pay for a dietician unless you have developed diabetes. One of the hardest things I found in private practice was balancing time, I had to see patients that called in with injuries, educate the sick on how to get better and stay healthy, run the office and make sure I was spending time with my family (my cornerstone). I would usually cut out sleeping and eating. Not a healthy way to set an example and one of the reasons I decided to leave the hospital.
Suffice it to say, I am now happy, spending time with my 3 year old, making up time with my 13 year old, and falling in love with my wife again. Not to mention I now fit into my highschool track and field uniform....(if you ever see a black warm up jacket with Eustace Track on the back...that's me!), never thought I would see my six-pack again. I always, always told my patients "a major lifestyle change has to be made or your health will fail"....I even spent extra time doing this to get my point across so hopefully they would see how important it was. That was all at the sacrifice of my own health and until just recently, I didn't even realize I was also a victim of the same poor nutrition, poor rest and lack of exercise. It took a CEO change at the hospital to get me to wake up and it will probalby take a major catastrophy to change the way US healthcare is today but why wait till then. By exercising right, eating right, sleeping better we can inspire others to want to do the same. Living healthy and happy is "infectious", find someone who watches their diet or fits exercise into a busy schedule and hang out with them, you may get "bitten" by the habit. We can all make the world a better place.
