THE REAL PROBLEM WITH TODAY'S HEALTH SYSTEM IS THE DRUG INDUSTRY, NOT AN AGING POPULATION

Are you kidding me? I was talking to someone today who said more long-term care beds are going to solve our health care woes. Anyone who thinks another 64 beds for the sick and the elderly (which we desperately need and deserve) is a solution to the biggest health care challenge we face in today's world is kidding themselves. It's a start - but it's not what we ultimately need.

For the record - this week's announcement that the City of Timmins is getting $2 million a year to operate more long-term care beds is wonderful news. We are fortunate in Timmins to have one of the most tenacious, hard-working, and effective health-care lobbyists in Ontario - Jean-Paul Aube. I've often wondered where our health care "system" would be if we didn't have the likes of Jean-Paul.

The additional LTC, (Long Term Care) beds will reduce the strain on our local hospital but it won't be enough.

All of us, everyone across North America, have to wean ourselves off drugs. A study released in British Columbia this month pointed out that 1 out of 9 emergency room visits are caused by ADR. Never heard of ADR? It stands for Adverse Drug Reactions and it is the single, and most sinister element in today's world of health-care delivery and the debate over what to do about "the system".

Recently, the American Medical Association called for a moratorium on the advertising of new drugs. Drug companies create sickness where it doesn't exist. They create demand. They create markets for drugs. Doctors across North America are deluged by patients who walk in to hospitals and clinics and doctors' offices demanding the latest pill they saw on television because they "self-diagnosed" and came to the conclusion "That's what I've got" and the pill is the answer.

Drug companies, driven by profit, budget more than $10,000 per year PER PHYSICIAN to "get their message across".

Here's what you don't know. Drug company salesmen (and saleswomen) are powerful people. Here's how one physician's spouse described it to me one day: Drug pushers (drug company sales reps) walk into a doctors' office and offer golf vacations, computers, weekend getaways and other "perks" as a way of thanking physicians for their never-ending devotion and love affair with their prescription pad.

Is it any wonder the average doctors' visit lasts 5 minutes? The average patient gets 30 seconds to describe how they are feeling while other patients are double and triple-booked out in the waiting room where they browse through magazines like Readers Digest that are loaded with full-page ads for ... the latest drugs! Spend a couple of hours watching CNN in the morning and you'll be bombarded with more drug advertising and warnings that sound like "don't take this pill if you are pregnant, thinking about getting pregnant, have high blood pressure, kidney problems, liver problems, hangnails, earwax, or pimples on your nose - this pill may cause dizziness, vomiting, stomach irritation, and in rare cases, death."

By the time noon rolls around you'll be sick!

Here's what else it may cause;: unnecessary lineups at hospital emergency rooms, overcrowded hospitals in general, and a massive drain on health care resources in every Canadian and American city from here to Tulsa.

What can you do? Put your doctor on the spot. (If you have one). Ask him or her what she knows about alternatives to taking drugs. It's a thing called "lifestyle change" or nutrition, or maybe a regiment that involves temporary, short-term drug use coupled with a plan to make you drug-free and healthy.

How many prescription drugs are you on? How about your aging parents?

What do you think? Click on the Message Board link above left and give me your opinion. When you're done, come back and check this out .

P.S. I've been listening to ads on the radio recently for a new "happy pill" for dogs. Is Fido barking too much? Does Princess jump up and down constantly in your presence? Give her the happy pill and everything will be all right. Just ask your doctor