One solution to the national health care crisis: ‘Don’t sit on your fanny’A bumper sticker currently circulating in traffic reads: "New National Health Care Plan: Don’t Get Sick."That certainly would solve our national health care crisis, if only more people understood the importance of good health before they lose it.Last week I interviewed two Luverne women (both almost 90 years young) who recognized early on the importance of active, healthy living.Grace Loose and Kay Franklin may not have fully understood the long-term benefits of exercise as young adults in the early 1940s, but they’re reaping the benefits today.Grace played basketball on her 1930s Luverne girls team, for example, and continued to play sports through her adult life. Up until last year, she golfed, bowled and climbed the stairs to her apartment.Kay, when asked what advice she’d give to retiring seniors today, said, "Don’t sit down on your fanny." At nearly 90, she’s proud to shovel her own driveway when necessary and maintain her Estey Street town home.They both admit they’re fortunate to have their health, but I’d bet fortune had less to do with it than their life-long commitment to taking care of themselves.The bumper sticker telling America not to get sick is obviously an oversimplification of a serious national crisis. But if more of us took our lifestyle cues from Grace and Kay, it’s likely that nearly half of our health care problems either wouldn’t exist or at least wouldn’t be as serious.Granted, health conditions are often diagnosed by no fault of the patient, but more and more ailments are now linked to poor lifestyle choices.Here’s how we can all contribute to the national health care solution: oPut more green food on our plates,oDon’t smoke or abuse alcohol, and,oin the words of Kay Franklin, "Don’t sit down on your fanny." … We can all get out and get some exercise.The inspiring stories of Kay Franklin and Grace Loose appear in the Mature Lifestyles special edition inserted in this week’s Star Herald.
