"Wealth & Health": A Simmering on the Profits of Wellbeing

(This is long overdue...I’ve been thinking about this topic now for about a month and I have been dragging around water-soaked notes. So, it’s time.)

First, it is incredible to me how SELFISH Humanitarians are! The nerve to think that we could actually HELP people with our Napoleon-like Passion!

But, I digress… a few weeks ago I attended a “Relay for Life” by the American Cancer Society at Emory University. I soon found myself staring at a table that had posters of little animals on it. As I got closer, I began to study the pins & stickers. One caught my attention, “If I were a rat, I’d already be cured!” I laughed out loud and said to the middle-aged attendant, “That is so true!” She replied, “Do you like the poster?” I looked at the poster that had caught my attention to begin with: I could see little rats running about, doing different things. They looked like the “Village People” with little tool-belts and stuff but I couldn’t make-out the full picture because of all the pins & t-shirts sitting on it. But I said, “Maybe they should have little human faces…”

That’s when the woman’s eyes got big. She said “Our Dept. at Emory takes care of them.” Then a man, whom I hadn’t noticed standing next to me chimed-in, “You better hope they don’t all get out & away!” The woman explained that he was the Director of their department and that even so, he talks & jokes like that. Then, without ever making eye contact, he explained that his Department has over 70 thousand rats & other animals that they care for after they have been used in the lab. (I forget how many MILLIONS of dollars he said it cost every year to do that!)

I responded, “Too bad they couldn’t be used for something else—like consumption if they weren’t diseased.” He said, “It would be nice if we could give them to Zoos, but they don’t want them. They have their own feeding programs.” He then said, “We have a $20 Thousand Dollar rat!” I responded, “What kind of GOLD does he have!” He said well a scientist will ask for a rat with such and such gene strand and someone will say “I’ll make him for you—for $20K!” “So, it’s a business…” I said. “Yes!” the lady added “the largest place that does it is called “Charles River”. I wrote it down and began to leave when he asked, still not looking at me “So what do you do here?” “Research” I said. “Humanitarian Research” and I thanked them both for "educating me" and walked away to let what they had said simmer down and to get some food.

Now, I’ve both had a “Health Scare” and understand the desperate needs for cures as well as have in my youth, marched the streets next to PETA activist dressed in blood-soaked bunny suits in protest of animal cruelty. And, as a researcher with MEMS (micro-electrical-mechanical-systems) I had to learn the value of destruction of our products in order to create better, longer lasting technology. Health is a serious issue and I find it hard to make good judgment calls as to the specific methods Medicine uses to find a cure--it is a contentious issue with an argument I am not able to make or ignore.

But there are cures and there are better ways to learn from those cures! A new group, Aggregating Outliers (AO) is looking at PEOPLE who have successfully beaten deadly diseases and life-threatening health issues to find out WHAT, WHY & HOW they were successful and then they are passing that info on to researchers. I think this model of looking at living, breathing successful human models can tell us much more than diseased animals from another species can. I also do passionately believe in prevention and in natural ways of SELFCARING and HEALTHCARING that involves others and love. (This approach, of course, if often minimized because they can’t make a ton of money from it.) Deemed "simplistic & unscientific" it APPEARS to lack that industrial profit. And any attempts—no matter how detailed—like the 2,419 + pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), “OBAMACARE” is maligned and numerous individual and state injunctions have been filed against it. (The Supreme Court heard six hours of oral argument on March 26–28, 2012, and is expected to issue its decision by the end of June.)

Yet, we all know deep down inside, that Healthcare in its previous form is DEAD. More and more people are standing up and demanding better personal care and more from their doctors. Recently, I met Dr. Jim Withers—Founder of “Street Medicine” from Pennsylvania who only treats HOMELESS PEOPLE under bridges. He partnered with street-savvy formerly homeless individuals and, initially dressing as a homeless person, began to make nighttime street rounds in the alleys and under the bridges of the city. From this initial outreach service other clinical volunteers joined in and Operation Safety Net was born. Today, Operation Safety Net is recognized as one of nation’s first, targeted, full-time street medicine programs. It continues to set the standard for this unique form of health care.

"The people we serve have taught us how to best address their needs in the context of their real lives. By developing trust and fostering deep, personal
connection with the individuals we serve, we are able to partner with them to find solutions."
I saw him give a little speech on “The Empathy Virus.”
(To be continued…Watch for PART 2- Profits of Wellbeing)