Reader’s Share: Make Health Last

by Relando Thompkins-Jones · March 9, 2013

Here’s a video that was shared by N.A.H. Reader Anum Syeda via LinkedIn.

It’s a promotional video for the Heart and Stroke foundation in Canada.

I thought the video was really powerful and telling in how it presented two ways of living, and their potential outcomes. In thinking about my own life, I’m definitely hoping to be more like the person on the left, and watching this has helped me to think deeper about myself, as well as have important conversations about health with loved ones.

As I was telling a friend yesterday, when thinking about the things that we can control, sometimes we might not always see the results of the choices we make today. This video reminded me of how important it is to make better choices now, so that those chronic consequences don’t creep up later.

Whether you’re in the U.S., Canada, or otherwise, if you manage to visit the Make Health Last website advertised in the video, you can have the opportunity to use an assessment tool to complete a series of questions to help determine your risk for heart disease or stroke. The results even offer suggestions of things you could do to help prevent heart disease and stroke in your own life.

One of the questions I came across when I completed the survey myself asked about access to healthcare which caused me to think of the fact that all of us do not have the same access to healthcare, and there are some serious health disparities that exist which lead to more tragic outcomes from preventable diseases and ailments for people living in poverty, people of color and those from other marginalized groups.

What did you think of the video? What are some ways that you “make health last” in your own life?

Grace & Peace,

From Aspiring Humanitarian, Relando Thompkins, MSW

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