Something dramatic happened a few years back when an elementary school in DeKalb County began teaching students about nutrition, health and fitness. The children became interested in the quality of the food they were eating and in exercise. Soon, they were telling their parents what to put in their lunchboxes and dragging them to early morning fitness classes at school.
I think about this example every time someone asks me what we’re going to do about the obesity epidemic. The answer is, we must look to our youth to help us win this fight.
When children accept obesity as a norm, they’re picking up the wrong cultural signals. But it’s amazing how easy it can be to reverse that script and turn young people into leaders in the battle.
What’s happening in DeKalb County isn’t entirely new.
Children have been influencing lifestyle trends and decisions for years. But obesity researchers must learn how to use the excitement young people feel about living healthy lives as a weapon to fight chronic diseases. We must channel that enthusiasm — not just in primary schools, but in high schools, colleges and medical schools as well.
Here at the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), I work with the most enthusiastic, health-minded young people you’ll ever meet. They understand the urgency of preventing diseases, rather than trying to cure them in a crisis state. If we want young people to help us tackle obesity, we must support them with better medical infrastructure.
MSM is known for sending doctors into the field of primary care, which is the pillar of community health programs all over the country. Students flock here because they want to work with underserved populations. But there are obstacles and inequities that prevent us from building a robust primary care workforce.
Idealistic young doctors who go off to practice in rural areas rarely find that it is a path to wealth. Many struggle to pay off their student loans. Without a substantial income, what they give back to the school can be limited, reducing help to support the next generation of medical students looking to change the world.
According to a study in the journal Health Affairs, a cardiologist will accumulate roughly $5.2 million in “career wealth” from the time that person graduates until reaching the age of 65. Primary care physicians will accumulate less than half that sum. The U.S. government is not going to wave a wand and redress this imbalance.
So, at Morehouse, we’ve enlisted partners in the private sector to help close the gap. For years, companies like Coca-Cola have funded scholarships for Morehouse students who graduate and practice community medicine. Recently, they increased that commitment with a $1.3 million gift to provide eight students with full tuition.
I’m happy to report health care reform is starting to even out the value gap between primary and specialty care. A 2013 survey by Merritt Hawkins, a national physician search and consulting firm, showed the average net revenues that primary care physicians brought to their affiliated hospitals over the preceding 12 months was $1.6 million, compared to $1.4 million for specialists.
This is a big change from past trends, probably due to the spread of coordinated care programs.
With smart health care policies plus private-sector support for scholarships, we can capitalize on the enthusiasm young people bring to threat against obesity.
The young can teach the old – and I predict excellent lessons will be learned.
John D. Maupin Jr. is president of the Morehouse School of Medicine.
