Time for Reflection and Reinvention.

December 31, 2023

By Annamarie Fuchs, Creator. Partners in Health | Conversations.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”

Confucius

Hello everyone! It’s been a while. 2023 has been a year of change at Partners in Health | Conversations. While the changes we’ve experienced have brought excitement and anticipation to our own lives, people in and around the health system across Canada continue to struggle. We’ve seen a continual decline in the stability, accessibility, and reliability of the healthcare system. We’ve seen healthcare providers burdened more and more under the demands of care that continue to mount. Budgets are straining under the rising cost of services, and patients are becoming more frustrated with the loss of access to reasonable care which was once believed to be a universal right. I believe there is more to health than accessing a system for illness care. Each of us needs to take responsibility to do what we can to improve and maintain our own health and wellness which I also believe will help solve the widespread healthcare crisis we are facing today.

In early spring my husband and I sold the home we had built 27 years ago to spend the summer in our holiday trailer watching as our lake front property acquired a beautiful new permanent home just a few feet from where we were ‘camped.’ In early June, a crane lifted our lovely small cabin from the property where it was ultimately transported to its new home and delighted new owners. Days later a huge excavator dug the basement and the process of building our home was officially underway. Nearby we had a new studio delivered where, in the spring of 2024 with completion of the interior, we will resurrect our hobbies as part time artists. We also created a dedicated sacred place for meditation and contemplation and a 40 ft X 60 ft fenced garden with a greenhouse, roses, fruit trees, berries, vegetables, and grape vines where our focus on blending permaculture techniques with no till gardening alongside development of our own version of a food forest has been underway for some time.

It has been a fascinating experience to watch the house and the property take shape. A summer break from many of my professional responsibilities allowed me the time I needed to refocus and think about my future as a consultant, a writer, corporate director, and health system advocate. So, after writing an article for Partners in Health | Conversations in July and participating in a Canadian Institute for Health Information Podcast https://www.cihi.ca/en/news-events-and-education/podcast it was time to take a hiatus from writing for the rest of the year to reflect on just that – the future.

By late autumn as we were preparing to move into our new home it occurred to me that we may not be spending enough time talking about what each of us can do to maintain our own wellness and avoid where possible, the onset of chronic illness. I am also convinced that many of us don’t fully understand the remarkable array of options available in our own communities or regions that can support our health and wellness. Perhaps, there may be more value in contributing to conversations about that side of the healthcare coin – that of the personal choices we can all make to improve our health and achieve greater overall wellness regardless of our stage of life or current circumstances.

So, in 2024 at https://www.partnersinhealth.ca/ we will do what we can to contribute to improving the system, one story and one personal decision at a time. We will begin sharing local and national stories of learning and innovation, resilience and restoration, personal agency, autonomy, choice, and more. We will reach out to people in the system and in our urban and rural communities who have stories to tell about resilience, strength, and restoration. We will talk about emerging approaches to managing health, to new technologies and new models of service delivery, and we’ll speak with business leaders and others who are bringing new and reimagined tools and strategies to the market. And perhaps, sharing stories of lived experience, innovation, and more will reinforce our individual capacity for wellness, improved health, and management of chronic illness. As Ashley Montague tells us, we should strive to “die young as old as possible.”

So, if you are a subscriber thank you for your interest and your patience. We are indeed still here and ready to begin a new year! Our regular contributions will begin again very shortly.

All the best for a satisfying, safe, and productive 2024 everyone. With gratitude,

Annamarie Fuchs, Creator.

Partners in Health | Conversations.