When it comes to chronic disease, I think prevention is important, but I think as health professionals we need more intervention programs that help and teach people how to deal with behavior change. As we have all probably learned, changing a person's behaviors is very difficult and the process is long and lengthy. Especially when it comes to diet, physical activity, and lifestyle changes....we really need to work with the community and make them believe that it is an important issue. I think it is also really important to get insurance companies to fund more preventive health screenigs and provide more education within the healthcare community.
Chronic diseases is a tough problem to tackle because these conditions, disease often begin developing years before the impact is really large and life changing.

Prevention

Arguably, our health care system has done a good job on treating chronic diseases. If they don't find a cure for something they find ways to delay the development of the disease. However, this has lead to an increase in length of life with a chronic disease as opposed to a long healthy life. This costs our health care system a lot as the expensive treatments now go for much longer periods of time. I believe that thus far we have been looking for a solution in the right direction. Prevention is key to avoiding the high expenses. Nevertheless, a stronger effort needs to be made in the area of policy. If we look at the past, we'll notice that some of the greatest victories against unhealthy behaviors has been through policy... think of smoking, for instance. Many people in our society think very little of the effects their current health behaviors will have on their future. That's why policy becomes our greatest weapon, as it automatically leads these people in the right direction towards healthy behaviors.

chronicles of narnia

chronic diseases are really going to be bringing our costs up.  there are many things that people have already addressed in the previous posts, in which i feel have sufficiently been voiced.  if the chronic disease is something that is in the hands of the individual, i think that we need to advocate health behaviors to the public that will help steer them clear of the adverse health behaviors.  what we really need to do is get the higher echelons of government to get behind these preventative issues, even though results are not always seen immediately, action has to be taken to save the future of our country.  it is in our hands.  we need to make the world realize that they will be responsible for their own actions, and their health, and the welfare of our future generations is in their hands.  a burden of that stature should not be taken lightly.  if you have a secret locked closet in your house, and you tell your friends not to try to get in there, there is a possibility that some of your friends will get curious and then want to try and get inside.  however, if they see the consequences and show them a video of the last set of friends who opened the closet and died from a ray of light that shines as soon as you open it, they will surely be less likely to try and get inside.  we need to show the world that video.  we need everyone to realize what will become of our future if we stay on the path that much of our society has chosen to follow.  our world has reached a fork in the road.  red pill or the blue pill? 

this one's a tough one...

Prevention is key, of course, to those that have the ability to prevent exacerbations in health. . . but it is also safe to say that our current lifestyles will develop chronic diseases for those that cannot take preventive measures with the progress of their symptoms, so how can we have a preventive approach to an inevitable occurrence? In addition, the questions posed by Professor Stevens are so difficult to answer, because I begin to think about our discussion on all contributing factors to prevention and health care complications (i.e. the intermixing of SES, race, education, and access – to name a few).

As a preventive method: connecting patients, their families and healthcare providers to the right information at the right time (education). This would result on patient empowerment and control of their health.

We need to evaluate the quality of life in this country and make it a priority over money. Prevention sounds ideal, but like it was mentioned by our lecturer the day we watched Sicko, “Public health is key to good health”
In addition, “let a person live 90 years of good health and not crappy but immense effort in the last 6 months”. This can be through, prevention, education, and maintenance/control before it’s too late.

This is a definite tough question to answer. Too many factors are associated…

Prevention, Policy, and Managment

Chronic diseases are burdensome on our current healthcare system because they usually persist throughout life, are increasingly prevalent, and are poorly managed. Many chronic diseases occur as a consequence of lifestyle. Unlike, many other health problems many chronic diseases CAN be easily addressed through non-medical measures, such as diet and exercise. The key to reducing the burden of chronic diseases is through prevention. This prevention can be achieved through preventative medicine approaches, such as increased screening and guidance on lifestyle issues by primary care doctors. Additionally we must enact policies that support healthier lifestyles. There are many that already exists, such as smoking restrictions in public places and the requirement of nutrition labels on foods. However, it is evident that these policies still fall short. We must enact policies that further promote healthy lifestyles, such as school-based nutrition and physical activity programs and mandates to primary care doctors in regards to preventative care.

In addition to the prevention of chronic conditions we must also improve our current regimen for how we manage these conditions. Unfortunately, too many patients don't full understand the implications of their conditions and make very little effort to improve their health. When they ultimately suffer the consequences of their inaction our healthcare system suffers as well. Many of the later stages of chronic conditions involve very costly treatments and procedures. 

The best example of this is the burden of diabetes. Many individuals that develop diabetes have the opportunity to avoid this disease through lifestyle changes. If they are screened while pre-diabetic there is a window of opportunity to motivate them to change their lifestyle and avoid diabetes. However if this fails and they develop diabetes they are now in a new category of disease management rather than prevention. Tight control of blood sugars in diabetic patients is key to preventing or delaying the onset of more costly complications. However, when this too fails we are left with patients that have few lifestyle options left to improve their health and we must manage them with more costly treatments, like dialysis. 

Fear Factor

Translation: You're a dead man!

I know this sounds a bit dramatic (and maybe controversial), but fear is something that works and is not used enough in influencing personal decisions in managing individual health. Subduing, managing, and potentially eliminating chronic diseases takes will. That will must sustain from a powerful source in order to survive throughout the process of living that healthy lifestyle. Looking at some of the results from the anti-tobacco ads that highlight mortality as a key theme, we can see that positive results are probable. There is no greater humility than realizing one's mortality, and understanding that certain behaviors may contribute to an untimely death. Having healthcare professionals, public health media campaigns, and even friends and family emphasize an individual's vulnerability to going 6 feet under sooner than they'd like may not be such a bad thing for that individual, or for the friends and family that care for and love that individual. There's nothing that gets things going like a little "tough love." The U.S. has been overly sensitive in being able to use this type of message: one that not only gets through that individual, but is very real and tangible.

Chronic Disease in America

The CDC says that chronic diseases in America are most common and extremely expensive, but that they are also the most preventable. Much of the chronic diseases in America can, at the very least, be reduced by adopting healthier behaviors. Simple lifestyle changes like eating healthier, exercising, and avoiding harmful substances can reduce risk and improve health. However, our culture and environment are often obstacles to making these changes. Positive health choices are difficult to make when there are fast food restaurants on every corner and other unhealthy activities in our immediate environment. I think that in order to really make an impact in reducing chronic disease, the government needs to enforce policy, implement health initiatives, and raise awareness. Places like schools are a good place to start because Americans would be reached at a younger age. Education on healthy behaviors can help stress the importance of prevention and offer tools to empower people to lead healthier lifestyles.