This week Lakes District News covered the story of Emily Ellen Beadman, a Burns Lake resident who is preparing for a 200-km bike ride from Vancouver to Seattle.
The ride is intended to raise money for cancer research. Beadman was diagnosed with lymphoma about two years ago, but thanks to her treatment and willpower, she has been cancer free for over 15 months. Beadman recognizes that although lymphoma is a treatable cancer now, this certainly wasn’t the case 25 years ago. With her newfound respect for science and medicine, she is committed to raising $2500 to assist the B.C. Cancer Foundation and support leading clinicians, scientists and researchers. To help Beadman reach her goal, donate at conquercancer.ca It’s really fascinating to see how far medicine has already come.
Every time I watch movies set in the 1920’s, I fantasize of how cool and sophisticated life must have been back then. I picture myself wearing a fashionable hat, having a cigar at a jazz club in Paris and talking about art with another cool and sophisticated 1920’s human. But the fantasy is quickly ruined when I imagine how painful and difficult simple medical procedures must have been back then (and also because I don’t know anything about art).
We are definitely lucky to have been born after anesthesia could be safely used. But medicine is advancing faster than we can even imagine. In fact, some scientists believe children born today are likely to live until they are 150!
Technology applied to medicine is not only increasing our life span, but also the way we relate to our own health, and shaping the traditional health care system.
A Forbes Magazine article called ‘Tech trends shaping the future of medicine’ discusses how technology is changing the health care system and the way we interact with it. According to the article, health care is moving beyond the hospital, and shifting towards “patient self-knowledge and empowerment,” where patients are becoming equal partners with their caregivers.
With so much information available online, physicians no longer hold the key to knowledge. What used to require a trip to the doctor’s office can now be solved with a simple Google search. Technology is starting to help us monitor our own health and finding a diagnosis with the touch of a button.
I know this will certainly be tricky (and dangerous) for a lot of people. Every time I google symptoms online I worry that I have every imaginable disease. But if you’re not as paranoid as me, then technology might be helpful.
I was recently watching this TED Talk where a physician-scientist called Daniel Kraft discussed the future of medicine and how it is quickly advancing. He says that in a not-so-distant future, we will be able to look in the mirror and it will analyze our health (this doesn’t sound like a great way to start the day though; imagine being told you have diabetes as soon as you wake up; but it’s fascinating nevertheless).
Another change that is already taking place is telemedicine. Technology is allowing doctor-patient connectivity where it had not been previously possible. At the new Lakes District Hospital and Health Centre in Burns Lake this is already becoming a reality. Doctors can communicate to other doctors via teleconference, and patients can communicate to specialists in the Lower Mainland without having to travel nearly 1000 km.
Robotic-assisted surgery will soon enhance the skills of surgeons and allow for less invasive procedures. With so many changes, Forbes Magazine says the role of physicians will shift to “guiding patients in participating in their own care.”