“…our challenge is twofold: We have to find a way to cover all our people; and we have to figure out how to get better value for the US$2 trillion we currently spend on healthcare.”
— David M. Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University and Member of the Institute of Medicine -commenting on the US healthcare system.
Last month I was invited to speak for a week for The International Certificate Programme in Dual Diagnosis associated with Brock University under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Griffiths & Dr. Frances Owen. Work I’ve developed over the past several years on psychotherapy for people with intellectual disabilities has been implemented in the States and most of the countries with socialized medicine. The Canadians have a real flair and passion for this work, and I savor the opportunity to travel there to teach and train.
The night before I began I treated myself to a day on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Although my diet is mainly vegetarian, I often supplement with fish entrees when I travel. A restaurant with herb-crusted salmon special and organically grown vegetables caught my eye. The dinner was delicious.
But around 2 a.m. my stomach heated up and soon I was revisiting the herb-crusted delight. Naturally I thought it was a bad piece of fish, and vowed to mend my ways back toward vegetarianism.
I was better — but not well.