Healthy in the health business

Today, I had the fortune (good or bad...who knows?) of having to visit Kaiser Permanente, the place where I have my health coverage. And as I was sitting in the lab, waiting for service, I started thinking, and here's how my thought process went:

1. I've been working hard on getting in better shape. I weigh a lot less now than I did a few years ago, having gone from 204 (some years back) to 180, not that long ago, to 156-7 today. So, I'm proud of what I've done because I've been working hard on becoming healthier.

2. My doctor at Kaiser emphasizes health all the time, talking about how it can save your life.

3. I remember my friend Jason who a few years back really got into a healthy lifestyle, and he looks great these days. A great inspiration for all.

4. I remember lots and lots of people at Spectrum Health hospitals in the admin departments, constantly asking him how he lost the weight, which diet he was on, and all sorts of similar questions that never resulted in a "I think I'm going to do that, too".

5. I remember a lot of people in the admin departments of Spectrum Health being in really bad physical shape. I thought nothing of it at the time.

6. So, here I was at Kaiser, watching all of the employees, and most were admin people, but what I discovered was that 80 percent of all the employees were grotesquely out of shape. I don't mean a few pounds over, but unhealthy and dangerously close to situations that might put them in a very bad situation.

7. I looked at all the signage at Kaiser explaining how to become healthier. I remember the same signage at Spectrum. I then looked at both the customers and the staff, and I realized many more were way out of shape than were in shape.

8. I concluded, from my recent dabble in marketing communication, that Kaiser (and possibly quite a few hospitals) need to start really focusing on their own staff's health (not just recommendations) but actually do something about it, because I started thinking to myself that if the staff who are telling me to get healthy are less healthy than I am, what kind of message is that actually sending?

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