Once upon a time, I was the owner of two health and nutrition retail stores. Owning those stores was the most wonderful time in my life. I had so many personal, honest, heart to heart conversations with so many lovely people. We all shared a common goal. A healthier life. Referring to them as customers seems inadequate.
There were many that came in to the store knowing exactly what they wanted, or were working with the type of doctor that helped them figure out what they needed and those customers were so fun to talk with. I really enjoyed those conversations. Talking about achieving better health and improving one’s quality of life are good conversations to have.
The conversations that were harder to have, well, those stick with me to this day. Listening to the distressing stories from my customers about their health were heartbreaking. Some of their distress stemmed from the relationship they had with their doctors, or lack of relationship would be more precise. Add to that a lack of understanding about how their own bodies work and you have a gap of information that can amplify those fears.
As an example: If you are told you have high blood pressure and then can’t tell me what your reading was that indicated it was high, that would concern me. Especially when most of those individuals would probably have an answer if I asked them what the mileage is on their car. They often would not know their number saying it’s just “high”, would not know what a healthy blood pressure number should be and many would not know if their parents or siblings also suffer from high blood pressure.
I believe that if that gap or lack of information can be filled, people would have more confidence at their doctor and ask better questions. Gathering solid information so they can see more clearly what actions need to be taken to have a healthier outcome and improve the quality of their life. I was able to help fill the gap in one on one conversations in my store with an individual person, but I wanted to help more.
I wanted to help the customers that didn’t speak up, but were suffering those same fears. I wanted to help the people who never walked thru my door. That is when I turned to the organizational format I was using for my own health and my family’s health. How could I make that more universal?
That is when The Smart Patients Healthcare Handbook idea was born. Developing the worksheets took a bit of time. Keeping in mind, some people are casual organizers and some are very detailed. I wanted to make the worksheets general but with the ability to make them detailed. So even if all someone did was fill in the worksheets as written and in the order the book is laid out, they would still have a good proactive health plan.
As I constructed the worksheets and continued to talk with customers the original idea grew to something a bit larger than I expected. My mission became to create an easy to use system that can help people develop more confidence with their doctor, create a more proactive approach to their own health, understand how their lifestyle and family history impact their health. It morphed into additional worksheet topics that seemed necessary to make the book complete.
Even now that The Smart Patients Healthcare Handbook is published, it feels like it’s not finished. I think that is because it isn’t finished. Not until you write in it, making it unique to you, your health and your quality of life goals.
0 Comments