An Apple A Day...

In today’s society we are facing an increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, arthritis, respiratory diseases, diabetes, and high cholesterol. In 2005 approximately 133 million Americans were living with a chronic condition of some sort; that is nearly half of the American population! Even more staggering is that 78% of health care spending is devoted to people with chronic conditions; that is slightly over $1.5 trillion! These conditions are and will be increasingly prevalent due to; increased life expectancy, an aging society, and new drugs and medical procedures that convert once-fatal diseases to chronic, life-long conditions. A large portion of these health care costs can be avoided by teaching the patient how to better manage their health condition. This means that a patient with proper prevention and management techniques will significantly decrease costs and improve their quality of life.
Chronic disease is not just a plethora of statistics. While there are a variety of chronic illnesses they all impact ones quality of life in many ways. Learning to deal with the emotions, pain, communication barriers, lack of energy, frustration, and medication management can be overwhelming and continue in a never ending cycle. The main issue for one living with a chronic disease is learning how to cope with and control many of the above symptoms. Being diagnosed with a chronic illness does not necessarily mean that it will govern your life. People who choose to be a positive self-manager and undergo the best treatments offered by their health care professional along with being proactive in day-to-day management of their illness can achieve a healthy life.
Learning to positively manage all aspects of your chronic condition will make a significant improvement in your day to day life and many programs have been developed to teach you how to take control of your health and your illness. The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program developed by a group in the Stanford School of Medicine has been very successful and is now part of the Medicare systems in Australia and Canada and is offered all across the United States. Not only can such an approach improve your quality of life but can save you and our healthcare system a significant amount of money.
St. Anthony Hospitals Health Passport offers a series of classes on chronic disease self-management called Healthier Living. The objective of these classes is to give you, the patient, a wealth of knowledge and tools that will help you to positively manage your health condition. That means learning how to fight fatigue and frustration, control pain, deal with depression, communicate with your physician, manage medications, manage stress and relax, and starting a physical activity program. Participants learn how to rely on their self for controlling many of the symptoms associated with ongoing health conditions. Participants of this program, compared to non-participants, demonstrated significant improvements in exercise, cognitive symptom management, communication with physicians, self-reported general health, health distress, fatigue, disability, and social activities. For information about upcoming classes call Health Passport at 303-629-4921.

Root Root Root for the Rockies!

Health Passport has a special treat for anyone who loves baseball!

We'll be attending Rockies games every month until September. We have amazing seats on the first level along the third base line.

A ticket and transportation in our Health Passport van

costs only $10!!

Tuesday, June 16th 6:40 pm Rockies vs Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Sunday, July 26th 1:10 pm Rockies vs San Francisco Giants

Tuesday, August 25th 6:40 pm Rockies vs Los Angeles Dodgers

Friday, September 4th 7:10 pm Rockies vs Arizona Diamondbacks


Call the Health Passport Office for tickets and more information, 303-629-4921.