Health Care System vs. Sick Care System

A guest editorial appeared in the March 2001 issue of Postgraduate Medicine entitled, "The case for an ancient cause".  Written by three medical doctors, it made the case for maintaining health and preventing disease as opposed to curing disease once it appears.  The authors stated that pharmaceutical and medical attention favors developing cures as oposed to preventing disease.  This attitude points to an ongoing problem in the United States that is apparently getting worse with no relief in sight.

A report by the World Health Organization stated that while the U.S. leads the world in health care expenditures, it only ranks 37th in overall health care performance.  The report evaluated and compared 191 countries in the world.  "Why such a disparity?"  the editorial asked.  The answer, the author suggested, is the lack of interest in prevention.  

The editorial mentioned that since the year 1900, life expectancy in this country has increased by a whopping 30 years!  But, only five of those years could be attributed to advances in acute medical care.  The other 25 years are directly related to public health improvements such as abolition of child labor, shorter work weeks, increased public education and awareness, and many other such measures.

In 1988, C. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General of the United States issued his report to the American people on health and nutrition.  Dr. Koop emphasized that chronic digenerative diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes must be prevented since the search for cures was fruitless and the treatment and rehabilitation cost prohibitive.

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Monday
9:00 am- 1:00 pm 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Tuesday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Wednesday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm 3:00 pm -6:00 pm
Thursday
11:00am -1:00pm 3:00 pm -6:00 pm
Friday
9:00 am -1:00 pm Closed
Saturday
By Appt. 9 am -11:00 am Closed 1st sat of the month
Sunday
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