Obesity Vanquished in Alberta

Tonight I listened to our health minister, Mr. Dave Hancock, expound on his vision of healthcare in Alberta and some of the solutions. I actually have heard all of this before but was quite surprised that he never once used the word “innovation”. Maybe he feels we have innovated our healthcare system into oblivion already and he should avoid the word. In any case, it would seem the solutions at present are the same as the solutions of the past: 1) Healthcare providers should be used in accordance with their training and 2) A greater emphasis needs to be put on “prevention”. As to the first solution he totally missed the point that one of the family physicians made, and that was in his practice, comprehensive care was already too complex for him in the community setting, and that an assistant would be more appropriate than “dumming down” the care givers. As for the second solution he pointed out that he was doing his part as health minister and had lost 75 pounds on his way to a healthier life style. This of course gave me a great idea as to how to beat obesity in Alberta; simply make every obese Albertan a health minister to give them incentive to lose weight. Sometimes solutions are so simple!