Our collective local actions, can advance the health of the world. 

It’s World Health Day, 2022. Hi, I’m Dr. Robert Gillio, Dr. Rob at the Force for Health Network. We’re all about protecting the gift. The gift is our health, our most precious gift. You know, as I look at the world and see, what are we doing as a world to protect it, and I listen to the pulse of the world or take its temperature, I’m finding some real problems. I’m finding that the world has a cold heart. There’s a lot of disparity, a lot of prejudice, a lot of hate, a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of, disinterest in the welfare of other humans. Then as I take the temperature up here, I’m seeing a lot of hotheads where the answer is not, how do we solve the problem, but how do we get rid of the problem or get rid of those that are making the problem

What I’m encouraging us to think about on a worldwide level, which none of us can really impact as individuals. I’d love to see cool heads prevail and warm hearts prevail. How do we make that happen? One person at a time, one day at a time, one action at a time, one healthy decision at a time. I will optimize my health so that I’m healthy enough to be there so they can help others. And then during my day, I will look for a way to impact someone’s health and wellbeing. And when I say health of someone in the world, I mean, kindness, make someone smile today. That’s improving the health of the world. Help someone make a living today, create a job, or pay someone a little extra. That’s helping the health of the world. Teach someone something, be a role model for others, reach out to your legislators and give opinions about how policy should change.

It really comes down to healthy actions that each of us do as separate little rocks that are thrown into a pond, making a little wave, and together those waves becomes very much a force for health, where those circles go out and help me as I’m making that decision, which maybe will in fact affect my family, my organizations, my community, then the world at large. So, we can create a movement that would be great right now.

We’re acting very selfishly. I think with our resources here in the United States, I’m about to get my fourth. COVID shot my colleagues on my phone call this morning in Africa are still waiting for their first one. As long as COVID exists, somewhere in the world, there will be very variants that will affect all of us. So for humanitarian reasons and for, selfish reasons, we need to get the resources to the rest of the world for this pandemic.

We also need to cool off the emotions that are happening in, Eastern Europe right now, that could lead to catastrophes, not just for the people in Ukraine, but for people around the world, from a standpoint of economic issues, but also potentially life threatening issues. So on World Health Day, I like to think about the 17 sustainable goals from the United Nations as a force for health. You can learn about them, but I’d really like to have us think about taking any of those goals in taking one thing once a day, we can do for someone else. And if a million or two of us do that, the health of the world, the temperature of the world, the status of our, health on World Health Day, a year from now, we’ll be a great deal better. Hey, for those that want to join, this is a free resource or low cost resource.

but if for those that are just watching this wondering what to do this doctor advises, this father advises, this citizen advises, to try to make the world a better place for one person for an instance today. And you’ll sleep with a smile on your face tonight. So at least my health tonight will be better. And maybe someone else’s will as well. Best wishes for a healthy year. Let’s work together. as a colleague of mine in, Egypt said to me on a call this morning, “humanity needs to protect humanity from itself, and we need to work together hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder”. Be a Force for Health, have a great day.

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Educators: Help create the Force for Health

Transcription of video: Hi, this is Dr. Robert Gillio. Dr. Robert, the Force for Health. 22 years ago, I was at Ground Zero shortly after nine 11 as part of a team helping set up a clinic called the Ground Zero Clinic. We studied, 1800 police officers and eventually 60,000 people in a World Trade Center registry. We’re looking at health outcomes, but one of the things we learned is that we were not ready then as citizens, and we’re not ready now as citizens or first responders. A third of us, including our first responders, are overweight, outta shape and don’t have baseline health records. They’re not taking care of me so they can take care of all the rest of us, the we. So we created this Force for Health Network. It’s a free tool for anyone that wants to join. And one of the things that make, maybe will make you interested in this as a teacher is I wrote a book about it. I wrote it as a cathartic thing for my teenage kids after nine 11, is why was mom and dad at Ground zero when airplanes were falling out of the sky with that book, we have, we have a series of, of versions of it with lesson plans and worksheets, that are appropriate for middle school or high school kids. And I’m not trying to sell a book. I’m trying to sell a vision, a vision of students and teachers and parents that can be a forceful for themselves, take care of their family, take care of their neighbors, and even in a distant disaster, a community far away in the world. But the book is narrated with multiple chapters, and, pictures and lesson plans. It’s free online. I’ve, I’ve not even been selling the book, in a hard copy. Maybe we will if people want it, but the goal is speaking to teenagers. What did a group of volunteers do at nine 11 from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as they were asked to step up and maybe help with a telemedicine and screening operation, at ground zero. What, and I want to get people thinking we’ve just been through another disaster. Yeah, we’ve been through Katrina, and there’s a book about that in here. Also, in the lessons learned group, basics, lessons learned group, it’s free. Join, and have access to this. I want the learners and the teachers and the instructors to be thinking about what lessons they learned during covid. What lessons have they learned during the political strife we’ve had or the, war in Europe What lessons are we learning potentially about global warming and real news or false news, fake news or fake science, or, changes in attitudes about science. So the point I’m getting at is I’d like you to join me and Have your students learn about these things, and then if they wish, they can work on me. And we, with a whole series of tools for project-based learning and personal improvement, starting more primarily with STEM or vow around the body and how it works with things like our 360 anatomy models, that will have your students being able to do, dissections and other such tools on their handhelds. And by the way, everything they do in this program is part of something we’re calling the reality Health games. We’re creating a new way to compete, get points when you walk, when, so when you move, when you learn, when you do community service, and when you earn, things for other people. Say your local fire department or, or church or temple or mosque or community. So can we create health promoting citizens of the world I think so. Is nine 11 the time to start thinking about it Yes. Is there free tools for anyone in the world to use Yes. please go to the link, provided at the www the force for health.com and join. join as a basic member at no cost. If you wanna advance things further, there’s other things that w that have some minimal cost to it, for people to be much, much more involved. We all need to be health literate. We all need to care about ourselves and be a health literate, health promoting community servant. Isn’t that what it’s all about at nine 11 Isn’t that a good lesson learned Look out for each other. Be vigilant, but be ready to adapt, improvise, and overcome, and prevent the next thing from happening. Thanks for being a force for health. Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in Dr. Rob Perspectives, Force for Health® Network News

Don’t remember 911? Let us help you use it to become a Force for Health

Transcription of video: Many of you that are watching this weren’t even born. When nine 11 happened, my kids were, they were in middle school and grade school when it occurred. Now they’re healthcare and community professionals serving, the companies or organizations they work for, but also their neighborhoods. They have learned a critical lesson in part from my involvement in nine 11. That is, you have to take care of yourself first and then be ready and willing to help care for others. It’s important that you, especially if you’re middle school, high school or college, and you really don’t have a memory of, what, what happened. We were a country that was enjoying a period of exuberance. There was no Berlin Wall. There was no war. There was peace. And we thought we were loved by everyone in the world when suddenly a disaster happened on that day, and we realized that we were isolated in a bubble of not enough information to really make good decisions about our policies in the world and or our defenses at home. I participated in a health clinic at Ground Zero as a volunteer. I participated, with my family in that event and in the aftermath thereof as we tried to figure out how to help, we weren’t smart enough to be first responders, but we were smart enough to help the first responders. We became second responders. We helped the first responders, and then when we were troubled, people helped us. They became third responders, family members that saw how stressed out we all were and helped support all of us. Everyone looked out for their neighbors and supported them. If they had lost a loved one on nine 11 or if their other loved one was being drafted into guilt to join or patriotic fever favor to join, the military and take on, whatever action our president suggested. I invite you to come with me. I wrote a book called Lessons Learned to Ground Zero. It’s free, it’s online, it’s on your phone app at the force for health.com. If you join, your teacher or college instructor will have lesson plans for you. I want you to see it through the eyes of volunteers, not the government, just a, just a, a country doctor, myself and a bunch of volunteers who put together a clinic to take care of those that were in trouble. And I want you to think about what lessons have you learned in the disaster of your lifetime Covid or maybe abuse or maybe a hurricane, a flood, dealing with political or emotional strife, worried about, relatives back in Ukraine or maybe after the earthquake in Morocco. What lessons have you learned What difference can you make to make the world a better place The lesson I learned is Everyone is different, but everyone has to be as healthy as possible and as mentally prepared as possible, as knowledgeable as possible. I call it health literacy so they can take care of themselves and others. I want you to join up and become a health advancing citizen of the world as a free force for health member. I’m looking forward to sharing my lessons learned from Ground Zero and also from Hurricane Katrina. And I’m looking forward to hearing your lessons learned in your lives. Let’s create a community that caress about advancing the health and health literacy of everyone. You’re gonna inherit this world and you are inheritingit very quickly. as my generation moves on, what I’m suggesting is we welcome people to this country, but never forget, that we also need to be prepared to help ourselves and maybe othersin the world so this doesn’t happen. Again. I’m Dr. Rob for the Force for Health. I’ll see you on the other side online.  Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in Dr. Rob Perspectives, Force for Health Ambassadors, Force for Health® Network News