HEALTH PORTFOLIO (H-Portfolio)
Health = Wealth
Fund Your Health by Preventing Infections
The H-Asset You Want to Acquire: Family Wealth
The H-Investment You Need to Make: Infection Control Techniques
Right now–in fact, at any given time—one out of every 25 patients has an infection related to care they received in a hospital, according to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. These infections cost our health care system billions of dollars and worse, they can be deadly. In 2011, approximately 722,000 hospital-acquired infections were reported in the U.S., resulting in the deaths of 75,000 people. Even if an infection doesn’t kill you, it can mean very arduous and expensive H-Repairs, and I don’t want you to become a H-Statistic!
Here is my H=W (Health = Wealth) formula: Infection control is an easy-to-make H-Investment. Just as you need to invest in the “essentials” for your financial portfolio, or make sure you have the “essential” pieces in your wardrobe, you also need the “essentials” in what I call your H-Portfolio. As a licensed physical therapist and acupuncturist, I am certain this essential H-Investment is worth every cent because I know that hospital-acquired infections are very common and can occur in all age groups. I don’t hesitate to speak up if my own healthcare providers aren’t following infection control techniques, and as a result, my own H-Portfolio has improved significantly.
What you can do to Fund Your Health:
Handwashing is the single most important practice to reduce transmission of infections and save lives. And yet according to the CDC, doctors and other healthcare providers do this simple yet crucial task less than half the time that they should. Always make sure that your medical practitioners wash their hands before they examine or treat you. If you don’t actually see them lather up, ask them to! And ask anyone who comes to visit you in the hospital to wash their hands, too.
More tips for preventing infections:
- If you’re scheduled to have surgery, you’ll probably be given or asked to pick up a special soap called chlorhexidine and be instructed to shower with it for three to five days before your surgery. If your doctor doesn’t recommend this, ask about it.
- Avoid shaving in the area that will be operated on. Even the tiniest nicks in the skin can cause bacteria to enter.
- Know your risk for infections. For example, advanced age, diabetes, poor health, and having a compromised immune system, all put you at greater risk for infections regardless of preventative measures. If you have one of these risk factors, it’s crucial to discuss it with your doctor.
- Quit smoking. Smokers have increased risk of infection and slower recovery time.
Preventing illnesses before they begin and preventing infections when you are being treated can positively impact your overall health and wealth—even save your life. Such measures could save nearly two million lives and nearly $4 billion dollars a year!
I cannot express the importance of building an H-Portfolio that includes this important H-Investment. This is just one more way to pay your health forward by adding smart H-Investments to your and your family’s H-Portfolio. It is never too early or too late to invest in your health.
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LEARN HOW “H-INVESTMENTS” CAN MAKE A HEALTHIER YOU
What you invest in your health IS an important decision, and Dr. Lisa Williams can help you organize, prioritize, and maximize your H-Investments, using her unique Health=Wealth concept that will create health and balance, and empower you to invest and manage your own H-Portfolio. Take that first step and invest in your health and Contact Lisa today to schedule a free 15-minute phone, in person, or Skype consultation to discuss your individual health concerns. For over 30 years, Lisa has been helping people successfully overcome and manage a wide variety of ailments and conditions such as sleeping problems, stress management, digestive problems, sports injuries, orthopedic issues and musculoskeletal problems, among others.
About Lisa’s Fund Your Health Blog
Lisa developed the Fund Your Health Blog to inspire people to achieve their health and wellness goals, by sharing what she has learned throughout her career and from her own personal journey. With Lisa’s relentless pursuit to restore the natural healing process, she reviews specific health assets (H-Assets) and recommends sound health investments (H-Investments) for building health dividends (H-Dividends) that are the key to a healthy lifestyle and will pay off in years to come. Yes, it is all about the H’s in her Health Portfolio. Using her approach will empower you to find your own solutions for a healthy lifestyle.
About Dr. Lisa Williams
Lisa has developed a business culture of health equals wealth and a core philosophy that bridges the gap between health and wealth using what she calls H-Portfolios (Health Portfolios), which leads to overall health. Lisa’s quest for health answers began nearly 30 years ago, when she needed to start building her own H-Portfolio, and this led her to create a multi-pronged approach to health and wellness, and pursue other areas of medicine and attain her acupuncture license. Lisa has managed several health clinics and consulted in multiple corporate, health and wellness industries and branches of medicine. Her areas of practice and experience have included corporate wellness, fitness, health and beauty, internal medicine, neurology, pain management, pediatrics, rehabilitation, schools, scoliosis management, sports injuries, and weight loss clinics.
References
Center for Disease Control (CDC). (2016). What you should know before your surgery. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/features/safesurgery/
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). (2017). Health care-associated infections. Retrieved from: https://health.gov/hcq/prevent-hai.asp
Reduce Infection Deaths (RID). (n.d.). Fifteen steps to reduce your chance of infections. Retrieved from: https://hospitalinfection.org/protect/patients
Photo Credits: Lisa Williams
Disclaimer: This material is provided for informational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Information on this site is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. Doing anything recommended or suggested on this website/blog must be done at your own risk.
