KNOWLEDGE
IS POWER…Particularly when it comes to your Health
Care
By Harry
Matheis
As a fitness professional,
knowledge is power and its delivery is the basic foundation
of your industry. To deliver the value of your craft to
clients, whether in a personal training session or group
setting, the implementation requires knowledge, training
and most importantly, excellent delivery skills given client
attitudes towards their own fitness. The value proposition
for the client is solely dependant on the ability of the
fitness professional to process the knowledge, apply strategy,
application or counsel, while helping the client towards
a desired outcome or goal.
Similarly, in personal heath care, knowledge is power for
professionals delivering care, and of equal importance,
knowledge is also becoming an integral and powerful tool
for the patient or end user during prevention, treatment,
and most importantly actual access to care. Although the
first responsibility for understanding health has always
rested with the individual, the paradigm is shifting and
finds Canadians now also responsible to acquire the knowledge
of how the changing health care industry works and how to
gain reasonable access to care in a timely manner. Often
the true challenge is found in the ability to navigate the
medical gatekeepers’ channels towards access to care.
Medical testing, treatment, therapies, care, knowledge and
access to information has enjoyed quantum leaps in recent
years, yet the same has not held true for access to care
for many Canadians.
With speed and access to information at our fingertips,
we often find ourselves immediately on the internet, after
a visit to the doctor or walk-in clinic browsing a medical
information provider and double-checking or researching
that new medication or recent diagnosis. Sometimes we even
find ourselves at the doctor’s office or walk-in clinic
confidently having completed a full on-line self-diagnosis
of our current disease state. The main purpose of this visit
to the doctor is only to confirm our personal diagnosis
and obtain a written prescription that we have already researched
as the possible cure. Knowledge at the self-diagnosis level
may become a problem for individuals and to some extent
has become a bane for doctors.
Traditionally, the medical care model begins with a visit
to the doctor who asks probing questions and administers
a number of general tests to gain more information. If the
medical condition is complex, further tests are required
and if the problem persists, specialist consultations are
usually scheduled. As the months pass in between tests and
specialist appointments, the individual gathers information
and the experiences of others to further assist with an
understanding of the current condition.
For most Canadians, access to health care information is
always improving with traditional sources of print, electronic
media, support agencies and similar organizations readily
available. However, access to medical care continues to
be a major stumbling block within the industry itself as
well as for patients actually seeking care. This disconnect
is found in wait times at emergency facilities, specialist
consultations, scheduled and re-scheduled surgeries, hospital
beds and important therapies. For many individuals needing
care, the barriers to access may be found in the location
and availability, the access to transportation, family,
finance, along with simple access to the actual gatekeepers
of such care, the doctors themselves.
To summarize, care and treatment has improved, information
is more readily available in a variety of mediums yet the
access to the delivery of care seems to be moving in the
opposite direction. One may conclude that the table is set
for our universal health care system to finally acknowledge
and surrender to the realities of a free enterprise two-tiered
model of health care. Public opinion is mixed, yet many
Canadians, especially in some provinces, will agree this
is the case.
What should we be doing to help ourselves along the health
care path of life?
WELLNESS AND PREVENTION
Knowledge is Power: do not rely on self diagnosis alone,
seek professional advice, begin by taking a preventive wellness
approach and committing to a balanced, healthy lifestyle
of regular exercise, diet, family time and rest….
“Everything in moderation including moderation”.
Understand your health care system and make regular, full
physical check-ups with your walk-in or family doctor an
integral activity in your health style program.
ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE & PERSONAL RISK MANAGEMENT
Knowledge is Power: ensure that you have a network that
provides you with access to health care, and the resources
available to aid you in convalescence and recovery; this
access point begins with a family doctor or walk-in clinic.
Guarantee your access to care by enrolling in a supplementary
health care benefit program such as the Can-Fit Pro Health
& Dental Care Benefit Program; these are excellent programs
designed for the fitness professional with your choice of
enrolling in an individual program or a group plan if you
are a member of a group, club or fitness facility. Either
program is a smart decision for tax efficient use of your
health-care dollars.
Additionally and very important, review your needs and,
with the help of a personal risk professional, obtain valuable
critical illness and income insurance coverage now, designed
specifically for your situation. Get coverage now while
you are good health as it will not be available when you
are not!
Note, when you are sick, or recovering from an accident,
you will have more than enough time to think about how you
are feeling;
The five realities you think about while you are trying
to get better:
1. How long before you get better and things return to normal?
2. Your personal finances may cause you to feel even more
ill.
3. How will you make your financial ends meet?
4. What you should have, could have, or shouldn’t
have done to insure your peace of mind prior to this incident.
5. Will you be able to return to your current profession?
Sometimes while you are getting better or convalescing,
the crippling financial challenges become greater than the
emotional health challenges and your life may seem to be
upside down.
As a fitness professional, the delivery of your knowledge
is power for you and your clients. Your ongoing personal
responsibilities require that you maintain a strict level
of excellence and professionalism within your field while
constantly increasing your knowledge.
In fitness as in the medical world, knowledge only becomes
power when delivered by qualified professionals. The knowledge
process and access to medical or fitness care when understood
makes Canadians better consumers of these valuable benefits.
As you impart your knowledge through programs to help your
clients become better consumers of your fitness and health
services, take a moment and apply the same strategy to your
personal situation – are you an informed consumer
of your personal health, wellness and personal risk strategy?
Do you have a plan?
Get the knowledge and act on your plan with advice from
a professional and apply it to your personal situation,
it will:
• Result with you ensuring that your personal wellness
approach is sound for your age and life stage;
• Your access to a medical care network is established
and understood and you have a plan;
• You have guaranteed your access to supplementary
medical care, through a sound benefits program while protecting
your income and ability to recover in health and lifestyle
from an unexpected serious illness or accident.
Become informed!
For further knowledge and power, please contact your Can-Fit-Pro
Benefits Programs experts, Matheis Associates, at 1-800-760-3848
or info@matheisassociates.com.
|
