Imagine the Next Normal -- Our Physical Health & Access to Health Care
Part #1 of a series focused on creating healthier and safer communities for all
I am pushing back HARD against the desire to return to normal.
Instead of wanting to return to what was pre-COVID, I am stepping into the future — the NEXT NORMAL — with the hope that we can create healthier and safer communities for all. Returning to 2019 normal is unacceptable. PERIOD. It is unacceptable because we have all changed, grown, and learned so much living through (read: surviving) a pandemic.
I invite you to explore this NEXT NORMAL with me in the 10-part blog series (yes, I am fired up, inspired, and really excited).
I’d like to start with a story (unrelated to COVID)… three years ago I woke up on a Saturday morning with some serious pain around my tailbone (yes, literally a pain in my a$$). In the days to come, I would learn that I have a cyst on my tailbone (benign) that likely developed as a result of complications birthing my youngest kid (he was 10 lbs and posterior). And (FYI) in the midst of some serious pain, I learned that cysts, like mine, can become infected/form an abscess. Within 36 hours of the pain starting, I was in a lot of pain. I also had an evening review session scheduled with my Epidemiology students that I (thought I) needed to attend. As I was prepping for the review session, this is the conversation I had with my sweet husband —
Me (crying): I’m going to take the car to campus. And then after my review session, I am going to go to the ER. Something is really wrong and the pain is becoming unbearable.
David: Are you kidding me? Since this is an emergency, you should cancel the review session and go to the emergency room NOW. I am serious, GO NOW!
I share this part of the story because I, like so many of you, have been conditioned to work through illness. To get the work done first and then take care of yourself. To prioritize the needs of others even if it means neglecting your own health.
This needs to STOP. Right now.
We cannot continue to put our work or the needs of others before our own health. We need to stay home when we are sick and seek care when it is needed; not put “visit ER” on our to-do lists and get there when/if we are able. We need to use our sick leave and access the healthcare system when we need to be taken care of (note: we need to prioritize ensuring that everyone has sick leave and access to care - more to come).
(Back to my story) After a hot-second of reflection, I took David’s advice. I canceled my review session and went to the ER. At the ER (thanks, Dr. Smith) I learned that I had a serious localized infection and was at risk of developing sepsis. I was given some strong antibiotics and told to come back to the ER if the pain got worse or I developed a fever.
(You can see where this story is going…) Two days later (after I had taught 3 classes and a lab, given an exam, met with my student researchers, and attended a parent-teacher conference) my fever was getting close to 104* and I knew things were just not right. And still, I had the following text exchange with my doctor (note: I was trying to argue that the flu was causing the fever and that my pain was not connected to the fever).
I was septic. I was admitted to the hospital (again, thank you, Dr. Smith). I spent a week as an inpatient getting my wound taken care of (TMI: they had to drain the abscess) and receiving nearly $10,000 worth of IV antibiotics. I was in wound care and had a home health nurse for the next five weeks (more TMI - abscesses need to heal from the inside-out). Thankfully, I made a full recovery. And I am fully aware that if I had been born before antibiotics were available this infection would have killed me. As my physician in the wound clinic likes to say —
“Becky, you worked your a$$ off to get healthy. Stay the course.”
I share this story for so many reasons — first, to normalize talking about our health. Infections happen. Cysts form (sometimes on unusual/embarrassing parts of our bodies). While we work to prioritize our health, we also need to make it normal, comfortable, and acceptable for others to prioritize their health. We also need to clearly articulate when we are unhealthy and are unable to work, travel, visit friends, participate in sports, or share a meal with family.
Additionally, we all need access to health care, including a PCP (primary care provider) who knows us and can provide preventative care across our lifetimes as well as advice during acute illnesses/emergencies.
Health care CAN NOT be something that is available to only those with an adequate insurance policy, who are employed, or can afford to pay $10,000 for antibiotics following an infection of unknown origin.
If health care is not available to EVERYONE then we need to fight to make it so.
In rural communities (like my hometown), we need to recruit and retain physicians. Across the country, we need clinics that are open in the early mornings and late into the evenings. And we need a system that encourages (rewards?) PCPs to invest time getting to know their patients and being available to provide life-saving advice in the midst of an emergency. On the flip side, this system needs to ensure that our PCPs are also healthy. The system must include checks and balances to prevent physician burnout and ensure that our physicians are prioritizing their own health above the health of their patients.
This is a tall ask.
There is no clear or simple solution. But if we put a man on the moon (and to be clear - a group of amazing women put a man on the moon!), we can create a healthcare system that provides access for all and protects the health of the providers. It will require strong leadership, creativity, willingness to try new things, some failures, and a financial and sustained commitment from all levels of government, from experts in the field, from non-profits, from communicators, and from each of us.
Ultimately, we need a system that supports and a culture that encourages us all to heed the safety lecture on airplanes — where they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first before helping others.
Fixing the wicked problem of providing access to health care for all will take a lifetime or two. But in the words of Will McAvoy from The Newsroom (which I have quoted often) —
“The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.”
Our healthcare system is unjust. It needs to be reimagined and then rebuilt.
In the spirit of reimagining, I would also love to us all embrace a spirit of loving thy neighbor as we think about and work to improve our health in the NEXT NORMAL.
A love thy neighbor approach to physical health would look something like this…
I do all the things — eat well, exercise, get plenty of sleep — to ensure I am healthy so that I can take care of my neighbors Being healthy allows me to make beautiful things, practice civility, feel deeply, build family, and work hard every day (my core values). I stop smoking cigarettes because second-hand smoke is dangerous to my neighbor. I limit my alcohol consumption because if I get behind the wheel of a car intoxicated, I could kill my neighbor. And I promote, practice, and advocate for safe sex because sexually transmitted diseases can rob individuals of their ability to have children as well as cause cancer. I am healthy in order to love my neighbors and make the world a healthier and safer place. And my neighbors do the same in return.
What a wonderful world it would be…
if we all approached being healthy as a way to love our neighbors.
By taking care of ourselves, we can protect AND take care of ourselves & others.
And while living through a pandemic caused by an airborne respiratory virus, we can also love our neighbors by —
Staying home when we are sick (to prevent spreading disease to others)
Wearing a mask if you are unable to stay home while you are sick
Seeking out diagnostic testing and treatment when we are sick (even if it is just the flu or a mild case of COVID)
Getting vaccinated (for all of the diseases)
Acknowledging our health is intimately tied to the health of our neighbors.
As I imagine the next normal —
I believe that individually the greatest gift we can give to our families, friends, neighbors, communities, and (ultimately) the world is being healthy.
And when we are all healthy, we can work together to reimagine and recreate/rebuild a healthcare system that values, protects, promotes, and sustains us as healthy individuals.
For me, this work to be healthy is sacred and holy. The words of William Penn, the Quaker leader and namesake of my home state of Pennsylvania are fitting —
“Healing the world is true religion.”
The work that we have ahead of us — from adopting a love thy neighbor mentality to creating a healthcare system for everyone — involves each of us. And while the public health officials, clinicians, and policy experts can lead this work, this work has been assigned to each of us.
We are all public health.
