By David Martin, President and CEO of VeinInnovations
Summer is almost here. Stuck in winter doldrums, exercise is a bleak task. Now that the weather is warm, we’re staring out office windows and envious of school children with months of vacation ahead. Back in January, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta made national headlines with their Strong4Life campaign. Childhood obesity is an epidemic in Georgia. We are second only to that oft-scapegoated state, Mississippi, with almost one million children unhealthy from extra weight. With that many children suffering, many Atlantans appreciated CHOA’s shock-and-awe campaign.
The medical community knows that fighting high rates of obesity is essential. Type 2 diabetes afflicts 25.8 million children and adults. That’s almost 10% of the population, and the number is growing. In 2007, the total cost of diabetes in the United States was $218 billion.
There’s been some controversy over preventative care in medical circles this year.
Exercise, good diet, and enough sleep are examples of preventative care we can all agree on. Health care professionals also need to talk to their patients, something heavier doctors are wont to do. There’s a lot of talk right now about lowering the cost of health care, and healthier bodies should be the first step.
