Alternative Solutions to Health Care
Dr. Frank Lipman, author of the best-selling book How to Be Well, made a great point when he said, “When a plant’s leaves are turning brown you don’t paint the leaves green. You look at the cause of the problem. If only we treated out bodies the same way.” In the United States, healthcare often uses pills to “fix” health problems. In other countries, people look for the cause and set up effective, long-term interventions that do not result in addiction. My global learning experience taught me that in order to solve problems, you have to look below the surface and think outside the box. As a future public health professional, it will be important for me to no just put band-aids on healthcare problems, but to think of alternative solutions for long-term care.
When I studied abroad in Prague, Czech Republic during the spring semester of my junior year, I had no idea how to speak the local language. During the first two weeks of my study abroad experience, everyone in my program was required to take an intensive language course, Introduction to Czech language, before our classes started for the semester. By the end of this two-week class that was six hours a day, I was able to speak enough Czech to get by in the country. We learned a variety of phrases that would allow us to introduce ourselves, give and receive directions, order in a restaurant, grocery shop, etc. Although I had learned the basics of the language, I had to develop my problem-solving skills to live in a country with a language and culture vastly different from the United States. During my last month in Prague, I purchased a new transit pass. Unfortunately, I purchased the wrong and most expensive transit pass due to my lack of knowledge of the language outside of everyday scenarios. I could have kept the expensive pass, but decided a band-aid wasn’t the right way to solve this problem. I sought help from the head of my study abroad program, who told me that I had to go back to ask for a refund and the correct transit pass. So, I taught myself new Czech phrases. Then I thought outside the box and used hand gestures that I picked up from locals to communicate with the transit worker. After an hour of this broken communication, I was able to get a full refund and the correct transit pass. Artifact 1 is one of the reflections I wrote while abroad that contains details about this experience. This was one of many experiences that occurred when I was abroad that my language class could not adequately prepare me for. I had to be quick on my feet and think outside of the box in many unexpected situations during my time in Prague and traveling to other European countries. These experiences will not only help me live in other cultures and communicate with people through a language barrier, but will also help me in a future career in public health. It will specifically help me, because I plan to go into the Peace Corp as a health educator after I graduate and to dedicate a career in epidemiology where I will travel to third world countries. I can only be successful if I am able to communicate with people with a language barrier or/and in a different culture with the techniques I learned in Prague to handle everyday interactions with locals.
While in Prague, I took a class for my psychology minor called Alternative Culture. This class focused primarily on alternative styles of music and art in Prague. Most of the alternative music and art that we discussed directly related to historical events that have occurred in the Czech Republic. The class also focused on alternative methods of thinking, including the concept of alternative medicine. Artifact 2 shows notes I took on alternative medicine during our class discussion. Alternative medicine is very popular in Europe, especially in Czech Republic. It has been gaining popularity since the early 2000s, and now around 76% of locals use some methods of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The most popular kinds of alternative medicine that are used in this country are vitamins/minerals, herbal remedies, massage, relaxation techniques (yoga), and acupuncture. There is a Czech Sino-Biological Association in Prague, which teaches doctors holistic medicine. The Czech people were inspired to start alternative medicine practices from the popularity in the United States, but they take more advantage of the practice. They have thought outside of the box by using these alternative medicine techniques for prevention and treatment methods, instead of going straight to a doctor to be prescribed pills. They stay in tune with their body, and don’t just use a temporary solution that does not achieve long-term health.
The United States does not follow the same alternative medicine route as aggressively as the Czech Republic does, even though the Czech Republic adapted alternative medicine from the U.S. During my Health Promotion, Environment, and Behavior course during fall 2017, we discussed the opioid epidemic. The opioid epidemic was declared a public health emergency, but there has not been a stop to the exponential increase of the epidemic. In the late 1990s, the medical community was reassured by big pharmaceutical companies that the opioid pain relievers would not be addictive, leading to doctors prescribing at much greater rates. Instead of using alternative medicine to help with pain in patients, the U.S. decided to put a band-aid on the problem without thinking about the long-term consequences. Now there are treatment and recovery services being set up and established for the millions of people addicted to opioids, but there is no movement toward holistic medicine for patients in pain. The United States as a whole takes the easy and most convenient solution, instead of working harder to develop new strategies that are guaranteed to provide long-term solutions without negative side effects.
Through my global experiences, I have been able to gain insight that I can use towards a future career as a public health professional. The Czech Republic is not dealing with an opioid epidemic in part due to their use of alternative medicine in healthcare. The United States needs to look to countries like the Czech Republic to come up with solutions for healthcare that does not cause another epidemic. I hope to help lead the U.S. in thinking outside the box on health problems with the insights I have gained abroad, so something like the opioid epidemic does not occur again. As health officials, we need to take the time to develop solutions that will lead to positive long-term health instead of doing what is easiest.
When I studied abroad in Prague, Czech Republic during the spring semester of my junior year, I had no idea how to speak the local language. During the first two weeks of my study abroad experience, everyone in my program was required to take an intensive language course, Introduction to Czech language, before our classes started for the semester. By the end of this two-week class that was six hours a day, I was able to speak enough Czech to get by in the country. We learned a variety of phrases that would allow us to introduce ourselves, give and receive directions, order in a restaurant, grocery shop, etc. Although I had learned the basics of the language, I had to develop my problem-solving skills to live in a country with a language and culture vastly different from the United States. During my last month in Prague, I purchased a new transit pass. Unfortunately, I purchased the wrong and most expensive transit pass due to my lack of knowledge of the language outside of everyday scenarios. I could have kept the expensive pass, but decided a band-aid wasn’t the right way to solve this problem. I sought help from the head of my study abroad program, who told me that I had to go back to ask for a refund and the correct transit pass. So, I taught myself new Czech phrases. Then I thought outside the box and used hand gestures that I picked up from locals to communicate with the transit worker. After an hour of this broken communication, I was able to get a full refund and the correct transit pass. Artifact 1 is one of the reflections I wrote while abroad that contains details about this experience. This was one of many experiences that occurred when I was abroad that my language class could not adequately prepare me for. I had to be quick on my feet and think outside of the box in many unexpected situations during my time in Prague and traveling to other European countries. These experiences will not only help me live in other cultures and communicate with people through a language barrier, but will also help me in a future career in public health. It will specifically help me, because I plan to go into the Peace Corp as a health educator after I graduate and to dedicate a career in epidemiology where I will travel to third world countries. I can only be successful if I am able to communicate with people with a language barrier or/and in a different culture with the techniques I learned in Prague to handle everyday interactions with locals.
While in Prague, I took a class for my psychology minor called Alternative Culture. This class focused primarily on alternative styles of music and art in Prague. Most of the alternative music and art that we discussed directly related to historical events that have occurred in the Czech Republic. The class also focused on alternative methods of thinking, including the concept of alternative medicine. Artifact 2 shows notes I took on alternative medicine during our class discussion. Alternative medicine is very popular in Europe, especially in Czech Republic. It has been gaining popularity since the early 2000s, and now around 76% of locals use some methods of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The most popular kinds of alternative medicine that are used in this country are vitamins/minerals, herbal remedies, massage, relaxation techniques (yoga), and acupuncture. There is a Czech Sino-Biological Association in Prague, which teaches doctors holistic medicine. The Czech people were inspired to start alternative medicine practices from the popularity in the United States, but they take more advantage of the practice. They have thought outside of the box by using these alternative medicine techniques for prevention and treatment methods, instead of going straight to a doctor to be prescribed pills. They stay in tune with their body, and don’t just use a temporary solution that does not achieve long-term health.
The United States does not follow the same alternative medicine route as aggressively as the Czech Republic does, even though the Czech Republic adapted alternative medicine from the U.S. During my Health Promotion, Environment, and Behavior course during fall 2017, we discussed the opioid epidemic. The opioid epidemic was declared a public health emergency, but there has not been a stop to the exponential increase of the epidemic. In the late 1990s, the medical community was reassured by big pharmaceutical companies that the opioid pain relievers would not be addictive, leading to doctors prescribing at much greater rates. Instead of using alternative medicine to help with pain in patients, the U.S. decided to put a band-aid on the problem without thinking about the long-term consequences. Now there are treatment and recovery services being set up and established for the millions of people addicted to opioids, but there is no movement toward holistic medicine for patients in pain. The United States as a whole takes the easy and most convenient solution, instead of working harder to develop new strategies that are guaranteed to provide long-term solutions without negative side effects.
Through my global experiences, I have been able to gain insight that I can use towards a future career as a public health professional. The Czech Republic is not dealing with an opioid epidemic in part due to their use of alternative medicine in healthcare. The United States needs to look to countries like the Czech Republic to come up with solutions for healthcare that does not cause another epidemic. I hope to help lead the U.S. in thinking outside the box on health problems with the insights I have gained abroad, so something like the opioid epidemic does not occur again. As health officials, we need to take the time to develop solutions that will lead to positive long-term health instead of doing what is easiest.