Health Fair?

Warning! This is a bit of a rant.

Last Friday I dropped into the local mall to see a movie with a friend. When we arrived it was particularly crowded. There were many booths set up for a Health Fair that was scheduled to run through the weekend. Students and senior citizens had been bussed in to attend the event. Multiphasic blood testing, blood pressure checks, and balance screening were being offered. A couple of local chiropractic practices were offering free chair massages. These are all great services to the community and one could argue that they are important to health and wellness. However, there were many other booths that were more centered on disease, than health. Gruesome pictures of wounds that would not heal, diseased lungs, etc were on display. A number of surgical associates were promoting their services. One particularly ironic display was promoting laproscopic surgeries and had a display where you could play a game to try to find the piece of candy in the abdomen of the dummy - sort of like Operation, for those of you who remember that game. The technology on display was impressive. I was struck, however, by the fact that one would have to be decidedly unhealthy to be in the market for these services. I suppose many Americans find themselves needing to make decisions about these sorts of services everyday, but to see them marketed in a festive atmosphere seemed a bit bizarre to me. Maybe I am old enough to remember when health care was not a business and I just can't seem to make the adjustment to medicine as a consumer pastime. It seems to me that promoting health is a different venture than promoting critical care procedures. If that is my age showing, then so be it. In the meantime, I'll try eating and sleeping well, exercising intelligently, and staying engaged emotionally and intellectually, in the hope that it can stave off the need for most of the "health care" services I saw on display last week.