ABIHM Board of Directors Member Daniel Friedland MD, CEO of SuperSmartHealth, joined wellness activist, Mariel Hemingway and Sallie Fraenkel from SpaFinder on Capitol Hill recently to meet with Representative Joe Pitts, Chair of the Health Committee, to promote the Wellness Week Pledge: 7 simple, powerful and evidence-based steps to optimize health and wellness. The components of the Wellness Week Pledge include the following:
- Change my breakfast
- Choose to move
- Hydrate
- Connect with nature
- Make my sleep a priority
- Embrace the power of touch
- Give myself the gift of silence
The next national Wellness Week will take place March 19-25.
Dr. Friedland has generously agreed to share the following full transcript of his inspiring speech. For more information about Dr. Friedland’s work, see http://danielfriedland.com/blog.
Daniel Friedland, MD – Wellness Week talk on Capitol Hill 2.9.12
We’re in the midst of a healthcare revolution and I can think of no better place to speak briefly about this than here on Capitol Hill.
Our sickness focused healthcare system of care has been buckling under immense costs. Just consider: 75% of the $2.6 trillion U.S. healthcare spend goes to treating chronic diseases, which research shows can largely be prevented through lifestyle changes and a focus on wellness.
So what you are seeing now is a much-needed revolution into wellness. This revolution is reflected in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act where Wellness is mentioned 98 times.
This revolution is also reflected in the rise of complementary and alternative care. More than 40% of individuals and more than 40% of U.S. hospitals engage in complementary and alternative medicine.
But this revolution goes beyond wellness, it reaches into wellness empowerment. More and more patients want to be able to make their own choices and drive their care toward their destination of health and well-being.
But for any revolution to be successful we need to have a clear vision. We need to be clear on what is this destination of health.
When I went through medical training in the late 80’s and mid 90’s I was taught that health is the absence of disease –this is the sickness model perspective.
A major part of this revolution is reframing this definition of health.
As you’ll see when we reframe this it invites everyone to play or role including in a major way the spa industry.
So I’m going to ask you a question. “What is the root of the word health?”
If you don’t you you’re in great company. In my talks to thousand of physicians around the country hardly any of them know…and we’re in the healthcare business.
The root of the word “health” does not come from Greek or Latin. It comes from the old English, H A squiggle L, HAL, which means wholeness. It’s “wholeness.”
What’s the root of the word “patients”? The patients we are or care for? This does come from Latin. It means to suffer.
So patients suffer from fragmentation of mind, body and spirit and our role as healer, same root word, is to support their essential wholeness, their health and wellness both before and after they get sick. That’s the journey.
But here lies the challenge in travelling to this destination. How do we best help patients getting there? There are big obstacles to navigate. Healthcare providers and patients alike are overwhelmed by scientific information, the complexities of the healthcare system and stress and uncertainty that fragment our sense of wholeness each and every day.
One of the solutions is evidence-based medicine. I wrote one of the first textbooks on this in 1998. It’s the way all doctors are now trained to navigate scientific information to make decisions on what works. Evidence-Based Medicine is also referenced multiple times in the Affordable Care Act.
But this is not enough we still need a vision on how to best incorporate Evidence-Based Medicine to empower patients in their wellness.
So three years ago, I created a website called SuperSmartHealth to offer a vision and tools to empower healthcare providers and patients to more fully partner in the pursuit of health and wellness.
The vision is framed by 4 principles:
1) You are the CEO of your health.
2) As the CEO you get to decide on your mission statement and definition of health and wellness.
I serve on the board of the ABIHM and offer for your consideration the definition the board uses. Think if you could live with this:
Optimal health – or wellness – is the conscious pursuit of the highest level of functioning and balance of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of human experience, resulting in a dynamic state of being fully alive.
This definition enables us to experience wellness in both the presence and absence of disease.
It also invites participation from broader group of stakeholders than the traditional medical system – including the spa industry that that has also had a long history of investing health seekers in their rejuvenation, vitality and wellness.
3) The third principle of SuperSmartHealth is that you are able to recognize resources to support your mission statement of health and wellness.
Here you recognize the value of the traditional medical system as well as complementary and alternative medicine, the intersect of which is known as integrative medicine.
But both within integrative medicine and beyond it, core to wellness is good air and water, health food, exercise, sleep, love and compassion, and a connection with nature and whatever you define as your deepest source of inspiration.
Which makes wellness week and the wellness week pledge so very important here today.
4) The 4th and final principle of SuperSmartHealth is that you are empowered to harness these resources toward your definition of wellness.
3 key skills are needed to do so:
1) You need to know how to navigate science to know what’s likely to work.
2) You need to know how to navigate the health and wellness system to get support to implement what works, and
3) You need to know how to turn inwards to find meaning motivation and purpose to take action on what works.
If you know how to do all 3 you have thoroughly mastered wellness empowerment.
With the vision and support of Susie Ellis, President of SpaFinder and Sallie Fraenkel, the Spa Industry has endeavored to empower all the of these areas.
When it comes to navigating science here’s where knowing how to access the evidence-based medicine resources that doctors use are very important to make decisions.
Last year I had the great pleasure of working with Susie and Dr. Ken Pelletier and Dr. Marc Cohen to create first ever evidence-based portal for the spa industry. It’s called SpaEvidence.com. It brings together the scientific research from trusted sources to make evidence-based decisions so you can know what’s likely to work around the most commonly used spa-related wellness therapies.
When it comes to navigating the broader wellness system, Wellness week invites you to explore the range of service the spa industry offers to provide you the support to implement what works.
Finally, when it comes to inspiring you to take action on what works, we have the wellness Week pledge – 7-simple, powerful and evidence-based steps to empowering your mission statement for optimal health, well-being and vitality!
And Mariel Hemingway will be sharing this with you in just a moment.
It’s been a great pleasure and privilege to be here with you today.
I wish you well. Thank you!
Bill Manahan, MD, ABIHM
Being an ABIHM Diplomate gave me the knowledge and assurance that what I did in my practice on a daily basis was based on a body of knowledge approved of and validated by a cohort of my professional integrative holistic medicine colleagues.
ABIHM Board of Directors Member Daniel Friedland, MD Speaks on Wellness on Capitol Hill
ABIHM Board of Directors Member Daniel Friedland MD, CEO of SuperSmartHealth, joined wellness activist, Mariel Hemingway and Sallie Fraenkel from SpaFinder on Capitol Hill recently to meet with Representative Joe Pitts, Chair of the Health Committee, to promote the Wellness Week Pledge: 7 simple, powerful and evidence-based steps to optimize health and wellness. The components of the Wellness Week Pledge include the following:
The next national Wellness Week will take place March 19-25.
Dr. Friedland has generously agreed to share the following full transcript of his inspiring speech. For more information about Dr. Friedland’s work, see http://danielfriedland.com/blog.
Daniel Friedland, MD – Wellness Week talk on Capitol Hill 2.9.12
We’re in the midst of a healthcare revolution and I can think of no better place to speak briefly about this than here on Capitol Hill.
Our sickness focused healthcare system of care has been buckling under immense costs. Just consider: 75% of the $2.6 trillion U.S. healthcare spend goes to treating chronic diseases, which research shows can largely be prevented through lifestyle changes and a focus on wellness.
So what you are seeing now is a much-needed revolution into wellness. This revolution is reflected in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act where Wellness is mentioned 98 times.
This revolution is also reflected in the rise of complementary and alternative care. More than 40% of individuals and more than 40% of U.S. hospitals engage in complementary and alternative medicine.
But this revolution goes beyond wellness, it reaches into wellness empowerment. More and more patients want to be able to make their own choices and drive their care toward their destination of health and well-being.
But for any revolution to be successful we need to have a clear vision. We need to be clear on what is this destination of health.
When I went through medical training in the late 80’s and mid 90’s I was taught that health is the absence of disease –this is the sickness model perspective.
A major part of this revolution is reframing this definition of health.
As you’ll see when we reframe this it invites everyone to play or role including in a major way the spa industry.
So I’m going to ask you a question. “What is the root of the word health?”
If you don’t you you’re in great company. In my talks to thousand of physicians around the country hardly any of them know…and we’re in the healthcare business.
The root of the word “health” does not come from Greek or Latin. It comes from the old English, H A squiggle L, HAL, which means wholeness. It’s “wholeness.”
What’s the root of the word “patients”? The patients we are or care for? This does come from Latin. It means to suffer.
So patients suffer from fragmentation of mind, body and spirit and our role as healer, same root word, is to support their essential wholeness, their health and wellness both before and after they get sick. That’s the journey.
But here lies the challenge in travelling to this destination. How do we best help patients getting there? There are big obstacles to navigate. Healthcare providers and patients alike are overwhelmed by scientific information, the complexities of the healthcare system and stress and uncertainty that fragment our sense of wholeness each and every day.
One of the solutions is evidence-based medicine. I wrote one of the first textbooks on this in 1998. It’s the way all doctors are now trained to navigate scientific information to make decisions on what works. Evidence-Based Medicine is also referenced multiple times in the Affordable Care Act.
But this is not enough we still need a vision on how to best incorporate Evidence-Based Medicine to empower patients in their wellness.
So three years ago, I created a website called SuperSmartHealth to offer a vision and tools to empower healthcare providers and patients to more fully partner in the pursuit of health and wellness.
The vision is framed by 4 principles:
1) You are the CEO of your health.
2) As the CEO you get to decide on your mission statement and definition of health and wellness.
I serve on the board of the ABIHM and offer for your consideration the definition the board uses. Think if you could live with this:
Optimal health – or wellness – is the conscious pursuit of the highest level of functioning and balance of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of human experience, resulting in a dynamic state of being fully alive.
This definition enables us to experience wellness in both the presence and absence of disease.
It also invites participation from broader group of stakeholders than the traditional medical system – including the spa industry that that has also had a long history of investing health seekers in their rejuvenation, vitality and wellness.
3) The third principle of SuperSmartHealth is that you are able to recognize resources to support your mission statement of health and wellness.
Here you recognize the value of the traditional medical system as well as complementary and alternative medicine, the intersect of which is known as integrative medicine.
But both within integrative medicine and beyond it, core to wellness is good air and water, health food, exercise, sleep, love and compassion, and a connection with nature and whatever you define as your deepest source of inspiration.
Which makes wellness week and the wellness week pledge so very important here today.
4) The 4th and final principle of SuperSmartHealth is that you are empowered to harness these resources toward your definition of wellness.
3 key skills are needed to do so:
1) You need to know how to navigate science to know what’s likely to work.
2) You need to know how to navigate the health and wellness system to get support to implement what works, and
3) You need to know how to turn inwards to find meaning motivation and purpose to take action on what works.
If you know how to do all 3 you have thoroughly mastered wellness empowerment.
With the vision and support of Susie Ellis, President of SpaFinder and Sallie Fraenkel, the Spa Industry has endeavored to empower all the of these areas.
When it comes to navigating science here’s where knowing how to access the evidence-based medicine resources that doctors use are very important to make decisions.
Last year I had the great pleasure of working with Susie and Dr. Ken Pelletier and Dr. Marc Cohen to create first ever evidence-based portal for the spa industry. It’s called SpaEvidence.com. It brings together the scientific research from trusted sources to make evidence-based decisions so you can know what’s likely to work around the most commonly used spa-related wellness therapies.
When it comes to navigating the broader wellness system, Wellness week invites you to explore the range of service the spa industry offers to provide you the support to implement what works.
Finally, when it comes to inspiring you to take action on what works, we have the wellness Week pledge – 7-simple, powerful and evidence-based steps to empowering your mission statement for optimal health, well-being and vitality!
And Mariel Hemingway will be sharing this with you in just a moment.
It’s been a great pleasure and privilege to be here with you today.
I wish you well. Thank you!