COMPLAINT The Self-Help Approach Dependence upon doctors and hospitals for health care has conditioned consumers to avoid caring for themselves. Professional providers monopolize the field and consumers either become ignorant of their own bodies or even afraid of asking questions about disease symptoms or alternative forms of treatment. Self-help approaches can provide an opportunity for consumers to become more self-reliant in health care while reducing their dependence on professional providers. ance. The tenets of self-help are well-known. First is health maintenThis is basic to self-help and involves a balanced diet, physical exercise, and sufficient sleep to keep the body operating efficiently through daily routines. Second is preventive medicine. This involves such procedures as checking for high blood pressure and watching for signs of heart disease or diabetes to prevent further development at an early stage. Third is competence in self-care. Families and friends are among the natural networks to aid consumers in caring themselves. Others are organized around particular health conditions. Alcoholics Anonymous, Mended Hearts (for those who have undergone open heart surgery), and Daytop Village (for drug addicts) are examples. Others deal with rape, emotional stress, sexuality, and contraception. Consumers should consider forming a self-help group in their community. Consumers could: Sponsor educational forums. Forums on topics ranging from Form discussion groups. These groups can answer immediate Schools can offer a wide Open a self-helf school. Provide other self-help resources. Individual instruction is The belief remains that major improvements in health will not come from more high technology equipment but from the competence of ordinary people to care for themselves. M WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Glossary Annual Implementation Plan A yearly document that sets out CAT Scanner Cranial computerized tomography unit. A diagnostic technology that transmits cross-sectional images of internal body structures by sending an X-ray beam through a crosssectional layer of body tissue. Certificate of Need Laws varying in each of the 30 states with enacted legislation to insist that "public need" be demonstrated before expansion of health facilities or services can take place. The Comprehensive Health Planning and Public Health Services Amendments of 1966. State CHP "A" agencies and local CHP "B" agencies were to monitor facility construction and provide a forum for providers, government, and consumers to discuss health planning. Consumer A recipient of health care services who cannot be considered to be a provider of health care services, either directly or indirectly. Health Maintenance Organization A group of doctors and health institutions in partnership to provide fundamental and supplementary health care services to people enrolled in the group's program. Health Systems Agency Planning agencies created by PL 93-641 to (a) gather and analyze local health data, (b) formulate local health plans, (c) educate the public, and (d) hold down the rising cost of health care. Health Systems Plan A description of health needs and resources in the area with long-range goals to be implemented. Ombudsman An agent employed by an institution (such as a hospital) to investigate and resolve complaints against the institution. The ideal agent is independent, free to act as he deems proper, and endowed with power to resolve the complaint. PL 93-641 The National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974. This law stipulates that a majority of health care consumers be elected or appointed to serve as HSA board members planning for local health care. Consumer majorities are required at the local level and can comprise up to 60 percent of local board composition. Project Review Manual A required HSA document which contains the criteria, procedures and standards for Certificate of Need. Provider SAC An individual whose primary current activity is the provision of health care to individuals or the administration of facilities or institutions in which such care is provided. Subarea Advisory Councils Advisory councils established by HSAs Self-Help A practice whereby individuals seek to administer physical or mental care to themselves without dependence on professional providers. Statewide Health Coordinating Councils which approve State Health Plans, review budgets for HSAs, and advise state agencies. Each consists of at least 16 members, appointed by the governor, of whom 60 percent represent HSAs. At least half must be consumers. composed of HSPs for health State Health Plans that will be State Health Planning and Development Agencies are state-level equivalents of HSAs. SHPDAS are required to assemble health plans of HSAS within the state to formulate an integrated state plan. They also administer and have final decision-making authority in Certificate of Need programs. 11 Texas ACORN A court ruling Texas Acorn vs. Texas Area 5 Health Systems Agency interpreting the phrase consumers must be broadly representative of the social, economic, linguistic, and racial characteristics of the population" in PL 93-641 to mean plus or minus 10 percent of the actual numbers of people in a given HSA. EXTRA Publications Ted Bogue and Sidney M. Wolfe. Trimming the Fat off Health Care Costs: A Consumer's Guide to Taking Over Health Planning. Washington: Health Research Groups, 1976. Boston Women's Health Book Collective. Our Bodies, Our Selves: A Book By and For Women. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. Rick J. Carlson. The End of Medicine. New York: Wiley, 1975. CHAN. The newsletter of the Health Research Group. 2000 P Street, Wayne Clark. Placebo or Cure? State and Local Health Planning Agencies in the South. Atlanta: Southern Regional Council, 1977. Lenard Cohen. The County in Health Planning. Washington: National Ehrenreich, Barbara and John. The American Health Empire: Profits, and Politics. New York: Random House, 1971. Power, Barry Ensminger. The $8 Billion Hospital Bed Overrun: A Consumer's Joan Flanagan. The Grass Roots Fundraising Book. Chicago: The A Guide for Compiling a Consumer's Director of Doctors. Washington: The Health Care Consumer. Newsletter published by the Association of Health Perspectives. Published by the Consumer Commission on the |