ately see the benefits of that program. Plus the volunteerism for that is so great – it continues to be volunteer-driven, and that’s because they themselves feel the results and they also see the results for others. We’re all amazed at the end of a month of healthy eating. Every person, to a T, stands up and says “This is what happened to me, and I feel so much better, and my family’s paying attention!” It’s hard not to be excited about it. I’m sure many [PAFP members] are doing public health on different levels, whether they’re involved with bike clubs or they’re involved with bigger projects, and they’re all to be congratulated. The mode of family practice is not just to take care of the person, but to take care of the person within their family, within their environment, so the very fact that they’re in family practice, they’re reaching out. We’re all doing something. They’re to be congratulated. Every time a disease seems to be on the increase – obesity, diabetes, hypertension – we come up with a pill for it. There isn’t the emphasis on the environmental changes and the healthy eating and the activity. We talk it, but it’s just not pushed at all to the same degree. We too easily fall back on the pill solution and we don’t fight for our time in the office and time with the patient to talk about the other things. And we don’t fight for time outside of the office, to be given time outside of the office to do this kind of program. So I feel, as individuals and as the PAFP and the AAFP, that is one thing that we could really work on and make a difference with. WWW.PAFP.COM
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