A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the strange disappearance of the already invisible Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Richard Carmona. One day, July 29, he was there. The next day, July 30, gone. Appointment not renewed. Did he jump or was he pushed? We don't know. Lots of commenters here thought that now he was "out from under" the Bush administration, he would do what he didn't do as Surgeon General: say something.
Yesterday we found out where he went in an article in the Wall Street Journal and heard what he had to say. Inspiring:
Richard H. Carmona, who served as surgeon general of the U.S. until July, is taking his message of healthy living to Canyon Ranch, an operator of health resorts, spas and wellness facilities.
Dr. Carmona, 56 years old, will become vice chairman of the company and chief executive of its health division and president of the nonprofit Canyon Ranch Institute.
"It's a position where I can continue my work as surgeon general to prevent, promote and advance the health of the nation," said Dr. Carmona, who was nominated as surgeon general by President Bush in August 2002. "We want to change the culture and move society in general to one embracing health, wellness and prevention." (Amanda Harris, WSJ, subscription only alas)
Nobody said changing the culture would be easy -- or cheap. Four-nights at Canyon Ranch will set you back $3280, although cheapskates can stay for $2340 off-season. But Dr. Carmona's courageous public health message can be now heard loud and clear, at least if you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal:
Ticking off U.S. health crises including obesity, diabetes and hypertension, Dr. Carmona says, "We can't sustain this. It will break the bank. We can argue over who pays for this, but we're all paying for this."
Some pay in early disease, disability and death. Some pay in dollars. Why argue?
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And, as Surgeon General of the United States, he might have been expected to know that obesity has a negative correlation with social class. He's not exactly striking at the root of the problem here.
What I don't get is how this company can be non-profit. Don't you need to have a defensible charitable mission? Giving rich people one more spa option doesn't seem like it.
Damn !
I'm shocked, shocked...
The baby boomers are retiring, and health care and resorts are future massive industries. He's pitching a double-header.
Oh, and they're selling their suburban houses. Just thought y'all should know.
I am getting irked at the continual rant about our nation's growing obesity epidemic which ultimately concludes that we need to blame the victim. It seems obvious to me that good health and nutrition habits are not really well-taught in school, nor really promoted much by government.
Yes, we get lip service. I will say that my son "got religion" in grade school about fats in foods, and embarked on his own exercise and eating program to shape up. But that's my own kid, and I know how he processes information like that. On the other side, his grandparents have difficulty making sense of all the tiny food labels on packaging, and are not familiar with what foods provide which vitamins. They are like most of the American public.
I read far too many opinions that "kids these days..." that refuse to recognize all the hurdles to overcome toward healthy eating. Parents buy the food they want to buy, and what they can afford. How many low-income families live in neighborhoods where it is safe to take long walks for exercise? For that matter, how many other things do they have to manage: work, day care, medical expenses, transportation, before they can give some priority to healthy food and activity?
We are all pummelled with fast food ads hundreds of times a week on tv, in print, on radio, billboards, and the purveyors themselves on every block in America. It really demands that we consciously avoid that kind of food, rather than requiring us to seek it out. That doesn't even begin to take into account the millions of dollars spent on crafting a taste that is familiar and pleasing. We have no equivalent public health information program to combat the food industry's worst products.
It's all well and good to demand that people take more responsibility for their food choices, but it seems obvious to me that there hasn't yet been enough done to help them become truly educated regarding those choices.
Wenchacha: true. Or to make sure that they actually have those choices. Healthy foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables are more expensive in lower income and minority neighborhoods than in higher income neighborhoods, if they're available at all. Some ridiculous percentage of bodegas/minimarts in the inner city don't even carry low fat or skim milk.
Add to that all the marketing designed to make us think things are good for us because they meet some arbitrary criteria my spinach used to be labeled low-carb, when that was the thing. But then so was bacon. Milky Way bars advertise being low fat. Honey Nut Cheerios tells you it lowers cholesterol, which it may, but it also spikes blood sugar.
We have a combination of nutritionally illerate to semi-literate people in this country, combined with pressures of economy and location that make it harder to eat healthy or get exercise. And we have a food industry whose only goal is to get us to buy more, and will do whatever they can get away with to do that. The problem isn't just all the people who eat junk. It's also the people who think they're eating well, because they're essentially being lied to.
A tremendous number of people in the US make a living wage, or more, or far more, from farming (for sale to food companies), producing, processing, manufacturing, advertising, promoting (to schools for example) selling, delivering and serving junk food.