Physician, heal thyself! (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Physician, heal thyself!

3:35pm Wednesday 21st February 2007

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Q: "What is the definition of an alcoholic? A: Someone who drinks more than their doctor."

Ok, it's an old joke but it only works because at some point - way, way back in the past (probably) - it had an element of truth about it.

And my husband (who being only a shade older than me, isn't really old at all despite appearances) remembers that as a boy his family doctor conducted consultations puffing away on a fag.

That's the problem with public health messages - they keep changing and anyway some people just don't like being told what to do by people who could, for all they know, be smoking 20 B&H a day behind closed doors, washed down by umpteen units of alcohol.

Life being what it is carries no certainties - so for some people it doesn't matter how many times they are told, or in how many different ways that something is bad for them - they will infuriatingly continue to exercise their free will.

I bet the food police were choking on their Mung bean salads when it was revealed that Aida Mason, of West Yorkshire and Britain's oldest woman, who died recently aged 111, put her longevity down to nothing less than daily meals of dripping sarnies with lots of salt!

A statement like that can put back the public health campaign years.

At a recent primary care trust meeting in Bradford, one of the places where public health doctors ply their trade, a discussion on how to get more people to sign up to stop smoking courses, led to the question being asked: "Do we know how many doctors and nurses smoke in the district?"

The person enquiring thought the sight of NHS staff huddled together on the edge of hospital or surgery premises having a sly drag was sending out quite the wrong message.

No one knew the answer but it got me thinking about a wedding I went to last summer in Preston where I found myself sat at a table with a few people who had hitherto been strangers.

All of them were interesting, but one person who sticks in my memory is a doctor who divulged that he worked at a hospital, local to this district, as a chest specialist.

A slight misunderstanding arose when one of the guests (who obviously wasn't counting his units that day) asked a question about grand masters.

"No, not chess - chest," he said and an interesting discussion ensued about the sort of patients he treated.
Of course, they were mainly people with distressing lung and respiratory conditions, the sort cigarette packets warn of.

So imagine the general air of surprise when he proceeded to mark the end of each course by departing outside for a well-earned cancer stick.

Despite spending day in, day out seeing the damage caused by the evil weed he was in fact a chain smoker.
He was young enough to have grown up all his life with the knowledge smoking was not only bad for the health but a killer and more than that, he regularly had the evidence in front of him, not something everyone struggling to become an ex-smoker can say.

I don't know if he still smokes, or if he wants to quit, but doesn't that illustrate what a mighty tough job the people who promote public health messages have if even their own colleagues aren't listening.

So when the ban on smoking in public places comes into force in July just spare a thought for the poor souls huddled outside in their little cancer cliques.

Don't sneer or look down on them - they probably don't want to die anymore than you do but sometimes leading and maintaining a healthy life-style can be tough - just ask your doctor.