Holistic Health - Health is Wealth

Health is wealth in an aging society.

We can all likely recall that familiar slogan drummed into us by our health class teachers in school that “a healthy mind and a healthy body” were essential ingredients for doing well. We kept it in mind, sort of, during our working lives.

But as we age we’re realizing just how important it is to be healthy both physically and mentally. Becoming ill and requiring health care, whether in a retirement home, long term care or acute hospital care setting, is an expensive proposition.

Health services are among the fastest growing personal services and there is a “new age” health services market that extends beyond the parameters of illness and hospital care and is personal wellness focused under the label of holistic health.

Holistic health is an approach to life that considers multidimensional aspects of wellness. It encourages individuals to recognize the whole person: physical, mental, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual.

New age holistic health services are job creators. There are now more than 30 self-regulated health professions that are health and wellness focused.

A number of the “new age” the health/wellness professional services providers have health related doctor designations. For example, there are doctors of chiropractic medicine and doctors of naturopathic medicine (DN). Both entail four years of rigorous graduate professional education that is equivalent to four years of medical school. Then there are the self-regulated complementary alternative medicine (CAM) professions; prominent among them being massage therapists.

Moreover, the traditional doctor/nurse relationship is undergoing a dramatic transformation in the holistic health environment.

Nursing has gravitated from the paraprofessional category where they were always reporting to a doctor, primarily in the critical care hospital setting, to an autonomous self-regulatory status. Nurses with baccalaureate degrees and relevant work experience can enrol in graduate degree programs and attain Advanced Practice Nursing designations.

Nurse practitioners (NPs) are registered nurses who have attained graduate degree status. They are authorized to practice independently in stand- alone wellness clinics as primary care providers in one of three streams, family, adult or pediatrics.

They all function much like the family physician with one important distinction. Unlike doctors who bill the government for patient services on a diagnosis task basis nurse practitioners are paid a salary by governmental health authorities and practice in publicly funded wellness centres.

Nurse practitioners can and do spend however much time it does take to conduct a comprehensive health and wellness examination of a patient and refer patients to medical specialists or hospitals when appropriate.

I’m a boomer and I’m endeavouring to “live life to the fullest” in an active retirement mode. That requires me to be physically fit and in good shape.

I do exercise daily with a 45- minute power walk. I need my body to be properly positioned and my muscular system to be nimble. In short, I need to be well. I have monthly appointments with my chiropractor to align my bone structure with my natural body shape and correct the posture problems I developed from a professional career that required me to sit at a desk. A monthly massage loosens muscle tensions.

Holistic health does entail a wellness relationship with a medical doctor I do have a semi-annual session with my family physician. She checks my heart rate, monitors my blood pressure, completes physical exams and has me submit samples for analysis. My doctor is aware of and supportive of my wellness relationships with a chiropractor and massage therapist. In recognition and acknowledgement of holistic health her clinic is labelled as a wellness centre.

Unfortunately, depending on where you live, governmental health policies and public funding have yet to embrace wellness. Most often, publicy funded medicare is limited to illness and acute health care provided by family physicians and medical specialists. Individuals wanting to access wellness professional services need to do so through private health plans or pay out of pocket. This can be very expensive and often not affordable making it out of reach for many.

Wellness and holistic health can contribute to our overall health and well being. Rather than being viewed as a non-essential service I believe that holistic health should be integrated and funded as part of our health care system.

About the Author

John Kelly was a law professor and professional services consultant in Toronto for 35 years. Like many Maritimers who retire, he’s “come home” to historic Saint Andrews by the Sea on the Bay of Fundy. John is the author of  “Meaningful Memories (Friesen Press), that recounts how rekindling his first attempts in learning (F.A.I.L.s) in his youth enabled him to ignite his passion and live life to the fullest in his professional career and personal life. John has embarked on an “encore career” in active retirement and has launched a web site (www.johngkelly.ca) to mentor and guide millennials and boomers on how to embrace active retirement and live life to the fullest as they “come of age in a new age”.