Sorry if it seemed as though I was directing any frustration at you. I agree with everything you said and no doubt we are coming from the same place. Holistic and intelligent prevention are the key to overall health. This forum could not contain the information that either one of us could expound upon.

There were two populations that I personally saw as a provider that I felt were grossly underserved and mistreated - veterans and the elderly. The topics concerning their lack of appropriate preventative care, misdiagnosis, polypharmaceutical status, and lack of support, are all areas that I unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you see it, am well acquainted with. Often my positions on these subjects put me at odds with employers and colleagues - sometimes even the family members of my patients. I did manage to keep my head down with the state board however. They can't shoot at you if they can't see you.

I am now semi-retired but I still keep my ear to the ground and help others try understand the deadly minefield called "health care." In some ways I am grateful that I am out of the insanity. The current system for me is unrecognizable from what is was years ago when I started. What is has become, is not what I signed up for. AI protocols and the digital data collection that builds it has taken over. More and more, the critical thinking required for patient care and management are overridden and sidelined by the digital bean counters hell bent on removing humanity from the equation. Pure insanity.

I lost my job at the VA for being a patient advocate and calling them out on their crap. They spend a lot of money and spin a lot of plates that do not necessarily translate into actual patient care. In fact, most of the money they spend is not on direct patient care. It is spent managing the bureaucracy. Some of the stuff they do defies any and all logic. I do believe the Almighty put me into that situation and pulled me out of it for a reason. I needed to see it. Both my entry and my exit were sudden. Old habits of defending and advocating for the abused and oppressed can get me going and often in trouble. ; )

I have worked in medical research, public health, and private practice. All of it was done with a bent towards trying to call out the BS of the system and shine some truth about real health care and not just dis-ease management. Having worked in these various genres has given me a unique perspective due to having an inside view of how the cake is baked. However, despite the aggravation of dealing with a medical system geared towards ill health, my biggest frustration at times was dealing with the patients themselves and their indoctrination of dependence upon someone else for their well being. They can spend money on a new car, vacations, clothes, big screens, and almost anything else other than their own health. They have this crazy idea that someone else is supposed to pay for the most precious gift they have - their own life and health. Without health, all the other trappings are pointless.

I still try to help where I can. There will be a need for healers and others like us in a parallel or entirely new system. We will have to take care of each other. My only regret is not spending more time learning how to grow and process herbals and essential oils - a lifetime of experiential knowledge that I don't possess. But, there will still be a need in a new system for one that can suture a wound and set a bone. Skills that my grandparents and their ancestors all knew how to do - so I guess my apple didn't fall too far from that tree.

God bless you and yours fren. Thank you for the conversation.