EP160: We Can do Better (A Call to Action)

This week I spoke with a few nurses and these conversations shed light on the state of our countries health, the hospitals ability to handle a never ending supply of patients, and a profession that is seeing people leave in droves. One hospital, for example, was short staffed 8 nurses for a shift. The job by itself is a tough one. Nurses have to deal with lack of sleep, stress, death, illness, conflict and a bunch of other things associated with that kind of work. When work is fully staffed, it is a very demanding job. When short staffed, the demands grow exponentially and eventually you get to the point where nurses are overworked and beyond stressed. I remember seeing a headline at the height of the pandemic that read "90% of nurses contemplated leaving their jobs". This workforce is the backbone of every hospital, one in which we should be mindful to take care of!

As fitness professionals, it is our job to get people healthy. It is our job to keep people out of the hospital and do everything in our power to help aid whoever we work with to live a long, disease free life. But, to put this simply, we are failing big time! 

We are living in a country where 88% of the population is either diabetic, pre-diabetic, or has high blood pressure. This same country has a population of people where over 70% of adults are overweight or obese. 4 out of 5 adults, and 3 out of 5 kids, don't get enough daily physical activity. Even when people get excited about their health, it often doesn't last. Take in note what you see every January in gyms where over 80% of new enrollees quit within five months of signing up. 

If we can decrease the burden that hospitals are facing, quality of care will increase and an important workforce (nurses, family doctors, etc.) will not be feeling burnt out. A lack of quality healthcare professionals is a concern of mine considering the rising number of those in ill-health.