Bureaucrats Are Human Too

In case you missed it in the newspaper … oh, that’s right, you couldn’t find it in the newspaper. But …

Something really good happened at the County Board of Supervisors meeting on July 13, 2010. A veritable plethora of important regional players — from the healthcare industry and business to nonprofit agencies and community activists — were on hand to support the supervisors in launching their new health strategy agenda we call “Building Better Health.”

This exciting new initiative is a blueprint for improving the health of our community and the quality of our lives over the next decade. It’s a framework that will focus on a smarter delivery of services and helping San Diegans lead healthier lives. It is about enabling. It is about informing. It is about providing the tools we all need to help us make good choices.

One thing it is not about is spending money we don’t have. There’ll be no raising of taxes or borrowing from our kids. It is about spending the tax dollars we have in a more targeted, focused fashion.

You’ll be hearing a lot about “3-4-50” in the coming months and years. Did you know that three risk factors (tobacco use, poor diet, and physical inactivity) contribute to four of the most prevalent chronic diseases (cancer, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and respiratory disease), which are responsible for more than 50 percent of all deaths worldwide? It’s even worse in San Diego, where 57 percent of local deaths are attributed to those four diseases. The fact is the statistics for us granola-eating San Diegans are no better than for those fried chicken-chomping Kentuckians or those strung-out, stressed-out New Yorkers.

A study several years ago estimated the annual healthcare cost in our community just for these four chronic diseases at nearly $4 billion. That’s almost as big as the entire County budget this year. The County’s new health strategy is designed to do something about that.

We’re going to challenge you Marlboro-loving, French-fry-eating couch potatoes to at least think a little more about your health. We want to help you live a lot longer than you probably otherwise will. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t like government trying to tell me what I can and can’t do any more than the next guy. The health strategy is not about telling you which health provider you must use or what kind of insurance you have to have. (I think someone’s already working on that!) It’s about empowering each of us to take command of our own health.

I don’t smoke, but I do admit to occasionally forgetting about the importance of the five basic food groups. I don’t exactly eat carrot sticks while watching NASCAR races (yes, I do watch NASCAR races). And I have been known to spend most of a Sunday in the comfort of a La-Z-Boy. So I am not one to preach on this.

If you want to smoke … well, then go ahead and smoke. (Just don’t do it in restaurants, bars, outdoor patios, cars with kids in them, big buildings, small buildings, parks, beaches, mountains, apartment buildings, condominiums, or stadiums.) If you want chow down, then enter all the hot dog eating contests you want. (Just chew with your mouth closed, please!) If you want to wear out the cushions on your couch, by all means go ahead. (Our economy needs a boost, and Jerome’s could surely use the business!)

But the truth is, just because we’re allowed our bad habits doesn’t mean we should otherwise ignore the ramifications of our behavior. It seems to me that the County’s job as a public health leader in this region should be to provide you with objective information about what unhealthy habits do to your longevity, and then let you decide whether longevity matters to you. (I can tell you for sure it matters to me. I plan to do whatever is necessary to ensure I get to see my grandchildren graduate from college, even if it means I have to cut back on my bacon intake!)

If the health strategy agenda can provide the motivation for rethinking our behavior, we’ve not only helped add years to our lives, but we’ve helped control the exploding cost of healthcare. And, in the end, isn’t that what real healthcare reform should be about?

I hope I’ve piqued your interest a little bit in what we plan to do. We have much work ahead with our community partners and stakeholders to put flesh on the bones (that’s 96 percent lean flesh!) of our plan and to determine the best way to measure our progress. So stay tuned for more … and I’ll see you at the gym!

Until next time …