Nipawin - March 21, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis
paper vision	Former health minister Louise Simard released the paper "A Saskatchewan Vision for
	Health(1)" as the blue print for the impending health reform. We know that her reform
	turned Saskatchewan Health to become the "Mississippi Burning of the Year 1964(2),"
	and that the most valuable contribution of this paper vision was the reference to the 'on
	the other hand' definition of health by the World Health Organization. I quote this
	definition of health as mentioned in the first page of Louise Simard's paper vision:
well-being	Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
	well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
	infirmity. It is the extent to which an individual or group
	is able, on the one hand, to realize aspirations and satisfy
	needs, on the other hand, to change or cope with the
	environment.
definition of health	So, after spending few million dollars, One-Man Commissioner of Health Ken Fyke
	has rediscovered this definition of health among the mountains of paper he has
	accumulated in the course of his health research. In fact, Fyke has recently stated that
budgets	bigger health budgets may actually undermine people's health.
	That's because health care spending is putting the squeeze on
	other programs, such as education, environment, economic
	development and housing(3).
whole truth	Congratulations to Ken Fyke for rediscovering the simple whole truth that our health is
	more than spending more health money.
------------References/endnotes:
	List of relevant political and economics articles http://ensign.ftlcomm.com
1. -	A Saskatchewan Vision for Health, The Honourable Louise Simard, Minister of Health, Government of Saskatchewan, August 1992
2. -	Saskatchewan Health Care: Mississippi Burning of the Year 1964, by Mario deSantis, February 25, 2000
3. -	More money won't fix health care: Fyke, CBC Saskatchewan, March 20, 2001 http://sask.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/03/19/fyke010319