Biotechnology: An Underappreciated Field

 

This past summer I was fortunate enough to obtain an internship for three months in Germany with a company called OCULUS.  It produces instruments for eye care procedures.  While abroad, I worked with the members of the Online Marketing department, and this past weekend I joined members of both the German and American teams at an AAO Convention (American Academy of Ophthalmology) to help out at their booth.

            Now I know a lot of my blog thus far has been pointing out the negatives of the current health care system, especially harping on the consequences of current technological advancements.  But I would like to make this post a little different and highlight the impressive qualities of a biotechnology company.

            The work that is conducted behind the scenes to produce and sell an instrument is truly remarkable.  Every single detail and piece of an instrument must be measured, cut, cleaned and tested multiple times to ensure absolute accuracy, especially when it comes to equipment that will be used for medical procedures.  It can take weeks to produce just a single lens or button.  To promote the sale of these instruments, marketing teams must not only come up with creative ways to advertise, but also analyze the most popular and cost effective media resources to get the message across.  It is also extremely challenging and time consuming to produce a web site.  The technology used to edit and upload imagery and text to a website is not as simple as copy and pasting.  The world of computer science is a complex web and in order for the website to look better and be more effective, the greater the amount of deciphering of the codified lingo that must be done.  Product managers, export representatives, sales representatives, and service technicians don’t have it easy either.  While at the booth, I was surrounded by thousands of different biotechnology companies producing similar instruments to OCULUS.  I saw the challenges that representatives must face in trying to persuade people to come to the booth and purchase or inquire about a product, meanwhile hundreds of other companies are producing an almost identical instrument.

The high and mighty health professionals of our health care system are seen as the superstars and those that produce the life-altering technology that allow them to do their job are severely underestimated.  It takes a lot of work to manufacture and sell just one product.  I have witnessed the hard work of the members of biotechnology companies like OCULUS, and I don’t think there are many people who appreciate what goes on behind the scenes of the medical world.  While some technological advancements come with considerable drawbacks, for example the invention of the automobile decreasing the use of more active modes of transportation, biotechnology instruments to conduct medical procedures are only beneficial.  Without them, no health care system would function and the remarkable strides taken in medical research could not have been.  I wish biotechnology companies, especially OCULUS, the best of luck and I hope health care professionals and patients can learn to appreciate the amazing work that they do.

Samsara: A Call to Break the Cycle

 

http://www.minds.com/blog/view/201538/quite-possibly-the-most-eye-opening-six-minutes-ever-on-film

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a video clip on Facebook.  It was entitled, “Quite Possibly the most Eye Opening Six Minutes Ever on Film.”  Curious, I clicked on it.  Let’s just say the title is quite accurate.

The video clip is an excerpt from an interesting documentary soon to be released called Samsara.  I encourage you to watch the video, but I’ll give you fair warning- it’s pretty graphic.  It shows the reality behind the food industry, from production to consumption and the results thereafter.  In those six minutes and fifteen seconds, viewers will realize change is needed, and it’s needed now.

Documentaries are a very effective way to get people talking and hopefully acting for social change in popular culture.  This clip raises topics of concern similar to those depicted in the famous documentary portraying the horrors of the food industry, Food, Inc.  But the directors and producers of Samsara have chosen to make their film a little bit differently.

The word Samsara is Sanskrit for “the ever turning wheel of life.”  The film is a series of pictures, taken as still frames or with a motion-control time-lapse camera, to capture images of the human culture.  From there, the pictures are set to meditative music.  The goal, in a sense, is for the viewer to experience a nonverbal, guided meditation reflecting on the truth of our culture through mesmerizing imagery.

I think this is a very innovative and potentially useful approach to get people to change their habits.  The six-minute clip clearly shows that we are a culture in constant need of immediate gratification, seeking the easiest and quickest way to complete tasks.  The lifestyle of human beings is deteriorating when it comes to health care, in large part due to the industrialization of society.  This is not to say the technological advancements that have been made in the past few decades are not extremely beneficial, but they do come with consequences.  Mass production in the food industry causes people to eat processed foods on a regular basis because they are easily accessible.  Obesity rates, sedentary lifestyles, heart disease, and cancer rates are all increasing at an alarming rate.  The film raises the question that every health policy advocate is wondering:  How do we get people to change?  Our culture is adopting a lifestyle with qualities that are not commendable, such as mass-producing food while exposing consumers to added chemicals, exploiting workers, brutalizing animals, and hospitalizing patients.  People are stuck in a cycle or system where the name of the game is beat the competition and satisfy wants as soon as possible.  The assembly line approach to everything in life is brainwashing society into a culture with less and less of a chance for change.

Samsara appears to be an intriguing documentary, and I appreciate the producers’ bold risk in portraying the film with meditative music.  I think it could be a good way to get the message across to people both consciously through imagery and subconsciously through the music.  Perhaps this style of filming could be more influential than the typical movie.  The uniformity in our present culture is frightening, especially in regards to health care.  Life is not meant to be so rushed and processed.  If people would just stop for a second and be aware of the realities surrounding them, perhaps positive change could take place and the human lifestyle could be improved.

Worksite Wellness Programs are not a BURDen

Last Monday our Health Care in Popular Culture class had the privilege of viewing the documentary Escape Fire:  The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare.   I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and really learned a lot.  It gives you a lot to think about not only our health care system, but the American people as a whole, and it’s definitely worth watching.

I was most moved by one of the last segments of the film about the company Safeway, and the ideas of its CEO at the time, Steve Burd.  In the film, Mr. Burd states that he believes behavior should drive health insurance premiums for his employees.  At Safeway, Mr. Burd initiated an incentive-based healthcare plan in which employees will receive a discount on their premiums for health changes.  This provides financial incentives for healthier behavior.  So if you don’t smoke, don’t have diabetes, aren’t obese, etc., there’s a discount for that.  If you do fall under one of the “unhealthy” categories, Safeway provides a gym with cardio and free-weight equipment, as well as cheap, healthy choices for meals.  These resources in turn provide a better quality of life for the employees and allow them to pay less money for their health insurance.  Mr. Burd had a wholisitic approach in mind, with a positive feedback cycle.  The better quality of life his employees have, the more productive they will be, the more the company will benefit, and the happier employees will be.  I thought Mr. Burd’s ideas were ingenious, moving, and an example for other businesses to follow.  Until I did some further research.

As this article from The Atlantic, linked to on the Escape Fire Movie’s website, explains, “only 11,000 of Safeway’s 200,000 employees participated in Healthy Measures. The produce managers, deli counter workers and cashiers that make up the majority of Safeway’s workforce didn’t have access to the gym, cafeterias and other amenities at company headquarters.”  Other critics have argued that Mr. Burd’s intentions were not for his employees’ well being, but for the financial benefit.  In a second article from the San Jose Mercury News, Morgan Downey, editor of the Downey Obesity Report, explains that the people whom Mr. Burd is charging higher premiums are the ones who need the health care benefits the most.  Downey reportedly says, “Safeway employees could end up paying up to $1,500 a year more for failing to meet what he calls arbitrary health targets.”  Safeway’s initiative under Burd appears to have failed.  While at first reducing healthcare cost by 12.5%, it then proceeded to climb as most of the employees could not gain access to the resources available.  In addition, not only were employees frustrated by Burd’s “penny-pinching” as Heather Somerville calls it of the Mercury News, but shoppers were too.  Because supermarkets were led to cut labor costs, Safeway was ranked third worst among retailers in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.  Unhappy and few employees led to dissatisfaction in service among customers.  Burd’s idea has led to worksite wellness programs to be promoted by Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

With all of this being said, I think Burd’s idea is a great one, it was just poorly executed.  I think worksite wellness programs are an ingenious way to get people to live healthier lifestyles.  The underlying question of the twisted American health care system is this:  How do we get people to change?  For people to change, two things need to happen:  they need to be motivated to carry out the change, and they need the resources available to them to do it.  What gets people motivated?  Money.  So the idea of providing a financial incentive to get people to exercise and eat right makes sense.  Providing the resources of a gym and subsidized cafeteria with healthy options at a place of business if phenomenal.  But people need access to those resources.  You can’t give people a gym and healthy menu, but then not give them the time or access to use it.  One of the current problems with worksite wellness programs that Celine Gounder points out in the Atlantic’s article is the lack flexibility in time at lunch and on breaks to be able to exercise.  In order to get people to get moving, eat right, and be healthy overall, and to improve the statistics of healthy lifestyles in America, it is going to have to come through some kind of “force.”  Past healthy care campaigns against obesity and sedentary lifestyles have not been successful even though people have been provided with the messages, warnings, motivations, even resources to use.  People need to literally be made to use them.  This can be successfully carried out in these worksite wellness programs if the employees can actually use the resources on site.  I would have to disagree with Ms. Downey’s argument that the unhealthy people who need the health care the most suffer the most.  Honestly, face the facts people.  The goal of this whole initiative is to improve your well-being.  If you are going to complain that you have to pay too much money for your health care, then get on the freakin’ bike and start peddling.  You don’t have to pay exponential fees for you health insurance, all you have to do is walk a little and eat your fruits and veggies.  The resources are available to you so you don’t have to be giving back your whole paycheck for health care, so use it.  And guaranteed you will feel better, be more productive, and be happier.  With this being said, a complication does arise for those whose unhealthy behavior is a result of an inherited trait.  Perhaps some leeway should be given to those who are more genetically inclined to obesity or diabetes, but who’s to keep anyone from arguing their condition is genetic?

Overall, I would have to argue that Mr. Burd’s idea was a success.  It’s getting people talking.

Improvements Made to Dine at PC

Last week upon entering Ray Cafeteria with the expectation of having yet another mediocre dinner, I came across a pleasant surprise.  A table was arranged at the entrance with a “Make-your-own-trail-mix” bar.  Bowls of dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, homemade granola, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds filled the tiny table, with eager and hungry students crowding around.  In case you weren’t aware, trail mix is easily in the top 5 foods of at least two groups of students on any college campus:  those students who spend ridiculous amounts of hours studying in the library and want something healthy to munch on, and those members of the track team.  Trail mix is notoriously the most treasured snack of runners.  I fall into both of these categories, and of course proceeded to make myself multiple baggies of the delicious mix.

While shoveling spoonfuls of granola, I was introduced to Ms. Sarah Hines, the new Registered Dietician for PC.  She cheerfully informed me that she had recipe cards for the homemade granola, and that she was available for any questions or concerns students might have about eating right.  She also told me that she would be setting up her own blog, diningatpc.wordpress.com, where I could find recipes or post suggestions.

The Dining at PC blog is very informative and students should definitely check it out!  Ms. Hines’s credentials are incredibly impressive, and I had no idea how demanding a curriculum it is to become a Registered Dietician.  It is very encouraging that the college is taking such measures as hiring experienced and well-trained employees like Ms. Hines to look out for the student body’s well being.  And there is no question that over the past 4 years that I have been at PC, that Ray Cafeteria has improved its options and become more health conscious.  The newly renovated salad bar is bigger with more choices of healthy vegetables and toppings.  Dietary needs are being met with a new Gluten-Free section as well as lactose-free and vegan options offered at every meal.  Side dishes are being cooked in oils instead of butters.  Nutrition calculators and an app called MyFitnessPal help students track their diet.  And PC’s new dining services not only address concerns with what can be eaten on a daily basis, but issues with diets, weight loss, and eating disorders too. I know many students complain of the food at Ray and that it becomes repetitive or unappetizing, but I think with the new staff and ideas being implemented PC’s dining halls are really making a conscious effort for improvement.  Sometimes you need to get creative with making your meals, but the healthy options are certainly available and if students put in the effort I think they could come up with meals they can really enjoy.

The Inaccessible Care Act

http://http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/10/14/obamacare-sign-up-cohen-newday.cnn.html

OK, so there is no way for me to have a blog about Health Care in Popular Culture without creating a post about Obamacare.  After its recent launch on the first of October, there is already plenty to say.

CNN has recently posted an article entitled “5 Things that have happened since Obamacare launched.”  All five, have to do with unexplanatory technical glitches.  Under the new law, those without health insurance must enroll in a health care plan by December 15^th to receive coverage by January 1^st.  If any American does not have health insurance by March 31, 2014, he or she will have to pay a penalty fee.  Of the five things that have occurred since the launch, there is one that is particularly poignant. In an attempt to aid people to sign up for health care, the government has created a website called HealthCare.gov to open the insurance marketplace for citizens.  Yet many Americans are growing frustrated because the website fails to load.  Helpline telephone operators are stating the problems are due to the high volume of those trying to register.  I think this reason is totally ridiculous.  How are people without health insurance expected to get the care that they now MUST have, if the website in which to purchase it is not working?  How can a website designed to meet the needs of Americans nation wide not be able to handle the large influx of applicants?  People are also having issues with entering usernames and passwords, and receiving inaccurate information that their passwords are not longer valid.

The CNN reporters point out that registration by telephone or snail mail is still an option, but in this day and age, the dysfunction of a website looking to carry out the demands of a federal law is totally unacceptable and quite frankly embarrassing.  Those members of the federal government in charge of this Affordable Care Act need to get their own act together and actually help the Americans they are threatening to fine.  So far, this law predestined to aid millions of Americans is only causing more frustration and anxiety.

Hope for Caregivers

While home this Columbus Day weekend, I found the latest October/November issue of the AARP Magazine lying on top of the household stack of magazines.  Flipping through, I came across a brief article by physician and broadcast journalist, Dr. Nancy Synderman.  After caring for her ill and aged parents in 2005, Synderman has recently co-founded a company called CarePlanners, Inc.  Curious, I explored their website.

 

Caring for a chronically or terminally ill patient of any age is no small feat for a caregiver, but especially if the patient is elderly.  Diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are just as much of a challenge, if not more, for the loved ones caring for them as it is for the afflicted.  “Caregiver burnout,” as Synderman calls it, is very real and very serious.

 

CarePlanners offers internet and telephone assistance to caregivers trying to deal with the stresses of coordinating their own lives with dealing with their suffering loved ones along with managing physicians, insurance, medical bills, and hospital visits.  There is no question that the American health care system is daunting and complex with many flaws.  It is not fair for the healthy caregivers to make themselves ill by giving their love and affection.  CarePlanners aims to make things simpler.  Online tools help to organize and schedule the necessary care, and healthcare, financial, and legal advisors are available for consultation.  The company wants to ensure that caregivers are not alone, and that a team is available to support them every step of the way.

 

I think that the ironic stress that accompanies caregiving is severely underestimated, and really cannot be understood until experienced for oneself.  It is encouraging that such a company as CarePlanners exists, and I am hopeful for its success.  Too many horror stories exist of both the toll disease takes on caregivers, as well as the inadequacy and crime of hired caregivers.  CarePlanners offers well-certified and genuinely concerned advisors to help caregivers with their problems.  I think this is a great resource for loved ones to use, and should be broadcasted further.  Like in any stressful situation, people need to know that the necessary support is available to them, and that their personal obstacles won’t stand for long.

A Movement to Improve Girls’ Self-Esteem

 

It is truly a shame in today’s society of the amount of emphasis placed on physical appearance.  The amount of young people with disordered eating habits, distorted body image, and drug addictions in order to “improve” their outward appearance is mind-blowing.  Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City has just launched a new public health campaign called the NYC Girls Project.  The campaign looks to combat the “unattainable notions of beauty” in popular culture of unrealistically thin bodies and to boost girls’ self-esteem by proving they are beautiful the way they are.  The description of the campaign is encouraging, as Bloomberg and the project director Samantha Levine use multiple types of media.  The campaign uses mainly bus and subway advertisements like the one above , as well as a Twitter account, YouTube public service announcement video, pilot program for schools, and offering of physical fitness classes.  For any public health campaign to be successful, I think, the message needs to be portrayed across several easily accessible forms of media.  I also appreciate how the advertisements use girls of different races, sizes, and hobbies, and none of them are models.  A list of all the posters the campaign uses can be seen here.

Also of interest, this campaign is unlike Bloomberg’s other public health campaigns in that these ads use a more positive and optimistic approach.  I agree with this strategy choice.  I don’t think using tactics to frighten or revolt as used with the campaigns against smoking and soda-drinking would work as well for a message to promote self-esteem.  Simply pointing out how dangerous it is to be anorexically thin does not do much to encourage girls to be who they are. The campaign does not and should not focus on what girls shouldn’t be as much as what they should want to be.  Positive imagery promotes a positive message.

While reading this article, I was surprised to find out that the target audience is girls from 7 to 12.  I would have thought that promotion of beauty and body esteem would be directed to an older teenage audience.  And then I read the statistics the campaign presents, and I was horrified.  As the website and this New York Times article point out, “over 80% of 10-year-old girls are afraid of being fat and by middle school, 40-70% of girls are dissatisfied with two or more parts of their body.”  Young girls are wearing body-shaping undergarments or getting plastic surgery.  Girls as young as 7 and 8 begin to have body image issues.  When I was 7 years old, my biggest concern was if I ripped my overalls and scuffed my knee because I fell off my bike, not whether or not I had a muffin top.  The surveys conducted on female self-esteem reveal statistics that are absolutely disgusting.  Only a mere 2% of women describe themselves as beautiful.  That says a lot about what our society has come to.  How can we have made so many revolutionary changes for the female sex over the course of history, and yet still have such terrible self-confidence issues?  And how could girls that young even know that such issues exist?  Granted the ultra-thin model image of the fashion world can be seen everywhere, but I don’t think there are many 7 year-olds reading Vogue or watching Project Runway.  Perhaps the early idea of distorted body image is being repetitively overheard from their mothers and female relatives with their own issues.  Perhaps comments like “Does this make me look fat?” or seeing their older sisters spend hours in front of the mirror in preparation for an event are causing more harm than realized.

I have high hopes for this campaign, and wish that women will receive its positive message.  I think the campaign is a great idea and a smart investment to address a clearly critical issue.  I also feel, though, that the message of true beauty needs to come from the home and parents.  It is important that children are constantly receiving messages about their worth and potential.

Profiling the Mentally Ill

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/19/us/politics/mental-health-again-an-issue-in-gun-debate.html?ref=health&_r=0

What are the first words that come to mind when you hear the phrase “mentally ill”?  Are they words like “unfortunate,” “underprivileged,” or “unlucky”?  What about “dangerous,” “violent,” or “crazy”?  You have to admit, when told that someone is “mentally ill,” it does not yield a positive connotation.  Media coverage of stories involving the mentally disabled highlight the crimes they commit, especially those reported in newspapers.  As Otto F. Wahl explains in his essay, “Stop the Presses,” the only stories ever covered by the papers include mad bombers and psycho shooters.  When was the last time you read a report about a person with schizophrenia rescuing a cat out of a tree?

This negative media coverage of destruction by the mentally ill has influenced the wider attitudes in popular culture, and those members of the federal government are no exception.  This article published in The New York Times last week explains how the mental health of individuals has become one of the central arguments in the gun control debate.  The authors write there is, “the need to give mental health providers better resources to treat dangerous people and prevent them from buying weapons” (Peters and Luo, 1).  News reporters and members of the federal government fully adopt the discriminatory view of the mentally ill in today’s culture by assuming they are “dangerous” and “violent.”  Tragic shootings and bombings are not always caused by a person with a mental illness. In this second article, Margot Sanger-Katz reports for the National Journal:

Researchers estimate that if mental illness could be eliminated as a factor in violent crime, the overall rate would be reduced by only 4 percent. That means 96 percent of violent crimes—defined by the FBI as murders, robberies, rapes, and aggravated assaults—are committed by people without any mental-health problems at all. Solutions that focus on reducing crimes by the mentally ill will make only a small dent in the nation’s rate of gun-related murders, ranging from mass killings to shootings that claim a single victim. (1)

The possession of weapons and firearms should not be so focused on those owned by the mentally ill. It looks like Senators Kelly Ayotte and Mark Begich need to get their facts straight when they declare there is a “clear connection between recent mass shootings and mental illness” (Peters and Luo, 1).  Congress needs to take off the tunnel-vision goggles, and look at the broader picture.

James Alan Fox expresses in his opinion column for USA Today that concern for mental health aid is encouraging, “but for the wrong reasons” (1).  The media’s portrayal of violent crimes by the mentally disabled and the federal government’s sudden frenzy to act on gun control after the Washington Navy Yard tragedy are not the reasons to promote mental health treatment.  Those suffering from mental illness were always in need of increased treatment.  An additional opinion column of USA Today, explains, “The number of psychiatric beds today is less than one-tenth the 500,000 available in the 1950s, and the overburdened, underfunded system fails to treat millions of people with severe mental illness” (The Editorial Board, 1).  I agree with Fox in that the mentally ill need increased treatment options because their well-being is suffering from disease, just like any other struggling patient.  They do not need our help because there is a slight possibility they will go on a killing rampage.

Gun control is absolutely necessary and Congress needs to start taking action and making constructive decisions.  I don’t think it is possible to accurately describe the terror and tragedy that those directly affected by incidents like the Washington Navy Yard shooting, the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, or Boston marathon bombing must feel each and every minute of every day.  They are incidents of horrible devastation, and my heart goes out to them.  There is no question that weapons restrictions are necessary, but the debate should not be all about locking up the mentally ill.  They are not the only ones carrying weapons and ruining lives.  I am not saying that a person with psychosis should have a gun, but that a person with psychosis shouldn’t automatically be assumed to be a gunman.  As the column published by the Editorial Board for USA Today writes, locking up 11 million mentally ill is not going to end mass shootings.  Comments like the one made by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre to NBC’s Meet the Press, “If we leave these homicidal maniacs on the street, they’re going to kill…They need to be committed,” (The Editorial Board, 1) are completely ridiculous and need to stop.  A person with mania has rights that need to be respected by both government officials and the general public.  Are there people with mental illness who commit violent crimes?  Yes.  Are there people without mental illness who commit violent crimes?  Yes, and in fact, more so.

Today’s culture needs to stop associating the mentally ill with violence.  Perhaps this is why Congress is taking so long to take action on the gun control debate.  It seems American citizens are members of a culture of fear, avoiding the topic altogether by diverting attention to a common misconception rather than taking action and helping those in need.