Go Lean Commentary
Be careful what you pray for. You just might be blessed with it.
This is the scenario to consider when campaigning to repatriate the Caribbean Diaspora. We just might succeed! And when we do, then we have to contend with the challenges of those blessings: the good, bad and ugly of the aging Diaspora.
Alzheimer’s disease is described as a “long goodbye”. It is one of those “challenges of blessings” that comes with an aging population.
Considering the attributes of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, this disease robs all three. But now, there is new hope, and some measurements for positive progress.
An eye exam that looks to detect plaque buildup in the brain is one of two new developments in the field of Alzheimer’s research.
These constitute New Hope. See VIDEO here:
NBC News Online Video – Retrieved 07-15-2014
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/new-hope-fight-against-alzheimers-disease-n155841
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death. It was first described by German psychiatrist and neuro-pathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906 and was named after him.[a]Most often, AD is diagnosed in people over 65 years of age,[b]although the less-prevalent early-onset Alzheimer’s can occur much earlier. In 2006, there were 26.6 million people worldwide with AD. Alzheimer’s is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by 2050.[c][d]
This subject matter aligns with the publication Go Lean … Caribbean, which serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean roadmap posits that expatriating to foreign lands should only ever be considered as a temporary measure. The book quotes (Page 144) the Bible examples of Jacob/Joseph emigrating to Egypt for refuge from the sever famine in their Promised Land of Canaan. Eventually the famine abated, and the Promised Land was “flowing with milk and honey” again. It was time to go home.
This situation parallels the Caribbean today. The region is arguable the best address on the planet. But so many of its citizens seek to flee because of the lack of economic opportunities. Something is clearly wrong, broken and must be fixed. The Go Lean roadmap specifies where we are as a region (with 70% brain drain among the college educated), where we want to go (elevation of Caribbean society in the homeland for all citizens to return and enjoy) and how we plan to get there. While the Go Lean book strategizes a roadmap for economic empowerment, it clearly relates that healthcare, disease management, and medicines are germane to the Caribbean quest for health, wealth and happiness. At the outset of the Go Lean book, in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 10 & 11 respectively), these points are pronounced:
Preamble: And while our rights to exercise good governance and promote a more perfect society are the natural assumptions among the powers of the earth, no one other than ourselves can be held accountable for our failure to succeed if we do not try to promote the opportunities that a democratic society fosters.
ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.
Alzheimer is pandemic, with the projections of 1 in 85 people globally by 2050. This scourge was not the motivation for composing the book Go Lean … Caribbean, but rather the bigger goal of elevating Caribbean society. The Caribbean Union Trade Federation has the prime directive of optimizing the economic, security and governing engines of the region. The foregoing article/VIDEO depicts the benefits that can emerge as a result of innovation in science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM).
Under the Go Lean roadmap, these types of developments will also emerge from the Caribbean. The following list details the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to optimize the region’s health deliveries:
| Community Ethos – Cooperatives | Page 25 |
| Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations | Page 25 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development (R&D) | Page 30 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Separation of Powers – Patent, Standards & Copyrights Office | Page 78 |
| Separation of Powers – Health Department | Page 86 |
| Separation of Powers – Drug Administration | Page 87 |
| Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change | Page 101 |
| Implementation – Ways to Implement Self-Government Entities | Page 105 |
| Implementation – Ways to Deliver | Page 109 |
| Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives – Diaspora Outreach | Page 116 |
| Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate | Page 118 |
| Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization | Page 119 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare | Page 156 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cancer | Page 157 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Entitlements | Page 158 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract | Page 170 |
| Advocacy – Ways Foster Cooperatives | Page 176 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations | Page 219 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care | Page 225 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Persons with Disabilities | Page 228 |
| Appendix – Healthways Model – Disease Management | Page 300 |
While dementia has been a constant among the elderly from the dawn of time, it does appear to be that Alzheimer’s disease is more prevalent today. Some studies have shown an increased risk of developing AD with environmental factors such as the intake of metals, particularly aluminum. [e] The quality of some of these studies has been criticized [f] and other studies have concluded that there is no relationship between these environmental factors and the development of AD. [g] Other studies suggest that extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields may also increase the risk for AD [h], but reviewers found that further epidemiological and laboratory investigations of this hypothesis are needed. [i] Smoking is undoubtedly a significant AD risk factor.[j] Lastly, systemic markers of the innate immune system are identified as risk factors for late-onset AD.
These questions/statements demonstrate that there is a need for more R&D on Alzheimer’s disease. Progress can emerge from anywhere around the world. In fact, the reports in the foregoing VIDEO depicted medical innovations fostered in the country of Finland. These innovations could easily have come from the Caribbean as well – for example, Cuba currently performs a lot of R&D into cancer, diabetes and other ailments. The Go Lean roadmap posits that more innovations will emerge as a direct result of the CU prioritization on science, technology, engineering and medical activities on Caribbean R&D campuses and educational institutions.
This is the heavy-lifting that the CU is designed to bear, with investments made in R&D. Such investments are designed to benefit those who suffer from AD and the many caregivers who love them. This then is serving the Greater Good.
Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
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Photo Credit: The Alzheimer’s Association … for care, support and research – http://www.alz.org/
References:
a. Berchtold NC, Cotman CW. Evolution in the Conceptualization of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Greco-Roman Period to the 1960s. Neurobiology of Aging. 1998; Volume 19 Number 3; Pages 173–89.
b. Brookmeyer R, Gray S, Kawas C. Projections of Alzheimer’s Disease in the United States and the Public Health Impact of Delaying Disease Onset. American Journal of Public Health. (1998) Volume 88 Number 9. Pages 1337–42. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1509089/
c. Brookmeyer R, Johnson E, Ziegler-Graham K, Arrighi HM. Forecasting the global burden of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2007 Volume 3 Number 3; Pages186 – 91. Retrieved 18 June 2008 from: http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=rbrookmeyer
d. 2007 Report retrieved 27 August 2008 from: http://un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/WPP2006_Highlights_rev.pdf.
e. Shcherbatykh I, Carpenter DO. The Role of Metals in the Etiology of Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2007;11(2):191–205. PMID 17522444.
f. Santibáñez M, Bolumar F, García AM. Occupational Risk Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review Assessing the Quality of Published Epidemiological Studies. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2007;64(11):723–732. doi:10.1136/oem.2006.028209. PMID 17525096.
g. Rondeau V. A Review of Epidemiologic Studies on Aluminum and Silica in Relation to Alzheimer’s Disease and Associated Disorders. Reviews on Environmental Health. 2002;17(2):107–21. doi:10.1515/REVEH.2002.17.2.107. PMID 12222737.
h. Kheifets L, Bowman JD, Checkoway H, Feychting M, Harrington JM, Kavet R, Marsh G, Mezei G, Renew DC, van Wijngaarden E. Future needs of occupational epidemiology of extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields: review and recommendations. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. February 2009. Volume 66 Number 2. Pages 72–80.
i. Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR). Health Effects of Exposure to EMF. January 2009 Retrieved 27 April 2010 (Page 4–5) from: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/docs/scenihr_o_022.pdf
j. Cataldo JK, Prochaska JJ, Glantz SA. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease: An analysis controlling for tobacco industry affiliation. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2010; Volume 19 Number 2: Pages 465–80.