Chewing the Fat on Cutting Fat

One thing I do not do is writing. I knew I couldn’t write in junior high and high school. All of my assignments looked and sounded like a fifth grader wrote them. I
do love to read and enjoy the writings in this journal, so the literary contributions are here for you to enjoy, most toward the back of the magazine. Personally, I have never shot elephants, drunk Ernest Hemingway’s whiskey, nor had any adventure to base such a tale on, but I love to read about it and am glad it is there. Thanks, Scott.

In fact, I always knew I would never preach to anyone, would rarely give speeches, and would never be politically inclined. I guess you could say that that just didn’t work out for me. I now find myself getting ready to embark on a tour of all the component societies and to represent MSMA at the state capital and in Washington. This is
as foreign from my character as I can imagine but, in a funny sort of way, I look forward to it. I guess I am looking forward to it because
I believe in us, in what we do, and the nobility of it. Additionally, if someone entrusted me with this profession then I should do my best to protect and preserve it for our children and grandchildren.

Besides the site visits and political aspect of serving as president, I have the opportunity to write this page each month. In the slow months of summer, I find it hard to come up with anything that I am not planning to write about later in the year when activity picks up. Therefore, I am going to take this opportunity to elicit your support in the public health area of our activities.

During the last annual session, I introduced a resolution (which passed) to form a committee dealing with the obesity crisis and we are now working on it. We are beginning to talk to prospective members and welcome anyone who may have an interest.

The reason for this committee is twofold. First, we need it. You know all the statistics concerning obesity in our state and the projected cost to the health care system in the future. I am not going to repeat them here. However, when we look at these numbers we all have to realize that we are treating numbers and not people. When we treat a disease, we know that we do not cure the disease until we get rid of the source of the disease which rests in actual people and not numbers. That is for politicians. Second, the state Legislature passed this measure, but Gov. Barbour vetoed it. I agree with him. There is no need to saddle the state with the cost of such a large and bureaucratic monster (see the original legislation); we should have the expertise to offer such guidance to schools and parents where we need such intervention.

We want committee members who are concerned with the health of fellow Mississippians and not someone wishing for economic gain. The “cure,” as we all know, is not telling an overweight person to stop eating so much. If your practice
is like mine, all my obese patients tell me they do not eat more than the amount of food between two fingers anyway. This generational thing has its roots in the parents, schools, and way of life of our next generations. If we are going to save them, we have to do it now!