From 'sick care' to 'health care'

 The American healthcare system is one of the world’s most expensive, yet health outcomes frequently are no better than other developed nations. Why is this happening? 

The key issue is that we have a medical system that is designed to successfully treat disease, rather than a system invested in maximizing the wellbeing of individuals prior to illness. As chronic diseases are on the rise, we’re seeing the current system fail to accommodate today’s medical climate which increases the burden of illness on individuals and society as a whole. So it begs the question, isn’t it time we shift our mindset and health care system to meet the needs of today’s patients?  

Currently, the health care system is based on a reactive approach to illness. We wait until people are sick before we treat them and focus on symptoms and disease treatment, rather than proactively addressing their overall health and wellbeing. This is referred to as a “sick care” mindset. While this seems like an appropriate way to approach your health, it’s no longer working for today’s climate of managing illness and disease. 

We need to shift our mindset from ‘sick care’ to ‘health care’. A health care system incorporates a proactive and preventative model to health that focuses on preventing issues from occurring again, or even in the first place.  

New hope for Alzheimer's patients

The first U.S. experiments with "brain pacemakers" for Alzheimer's are getting under way. Scientists are looking beyond drugs to implants in the hunt for much-needed new treatments.
The research is in its infancy. Only a few dozen people with early-stage Alzheimer's will be implanted in a handful of hospitals (as of Mid January 2013). No one knows if it might work, and if it does, how long the effects might last.More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's or similar dementias, and that number is expected to rise rapidly as the baby boomers age. Today's drugs only temporarily help some symptoms. Attempts to attack Alzheimer's presumed cause, a brain-clogging gunk, so far haven't panned out.The new approach is called deep brain stimulation, or DBS. While it won't attack Alzheimer's root cause either, "maybe we can make the brain work better," said Dr. Douglas Scharre - Ohio State neurologist.Similar experiments are reported at the University of British Columbia and John Hopkins University.The procedure requires implanting electrodes in the brain and send puses from battery-powered generator near the collarbone , sending the tiny shocks up patients neck and into their brain.


See  another related article about the effect of Cycling therapy for Parkinson's.