Real Health Care in Canada

With only 2 weeks remaining in my clinical internship, and the timing of this federal election, I was paying greater attention to the politics of the profession and the vital role naturopathic doctors have in changing the course of "health care" in Canada.  I put, "health care" in quotations because what our politicians have not yet been made aware of is that healthy people are not the ones being taken care of in Canada.  Rather, our conventional medical system is in fact a disease care system of medicine.

I realize this is my bias, but I would like to see naturopathic doctors (ND's) be the primary care gate-keepers of the health care system since we have the widest scope of practice of any health care provider (and subsequently the greatest number of therapeutic tools).  When necessary, ND's would also know when and which specialist would be best for the patient to be referred to within the conventional and complementary health care systems.  I believe this would revolutionize Canada's health care system which is in a state of patient care deterioration and financial crisis.

Most people feel like they are too busy to write or ask their local member of parliament about what health care truly means to them or to let them know about the benefits of naturopathic medicine.  But, we can all quite easily talk to our friends, mention our vision for a true health care system on Facebook or Twitter.  Many small actions will build into a large movement!