http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1870028,00.html
I am so totally behind Dr. Sanjay Gupta being nominated as the Surgeon General. He's got the two Cs that always get me: cute and compassionate. And while that doesn't necessarily qualify him to lead a national health initiative, he does have other stuff going for him. He's extremely articulate. He's book smart and people smart. And, oh, by the way, dude works his ass off. CNN correspondent, works for a university and still works in seeing patients. And you don't have to worry if it's as hard a brain surgery. He can do that too. I think he'd totally kick ass.
Okay, I'm a little prejudiced because he was responsible for the funniest moment ever on CNN. Well, second funniest after that correspondent getting hit in the chest by the flying Chinese carp. That one is hard to beat. But almost as funny was when Dr. Sanjay did the Planet in Peril piece about endangered species and traditional medicine. He went into this restaurant in China and all innocent-like asked for tiger testicles. The manager is like "Oh, we don't serve that. It's an endangered species. Ho, ho. We wouldn't break the law." And Dr. Sanj is like "Isn't this the Chinese symbol for tiger testicles right here???" and he points to the menu - wa-pah! Busted! You could tell that the manager wasn't expecting to get called out on camera and he got all flustered and tried to play it off like it was just a joke for the tourists. Yeah, right, keep talking, buddy. It was hilarious. And educational. A teaching moment. With chuckles.
Anyway, I totally agree with this article that the US has to get behind preventive medicine. We all know that we're breaking the health system by living unhealthy and expecting to get a pill that will fix the damage we've done to our own bodies. Diabetes and heart disease have got to be on the top of the list if we're going to turn this Titanic around. And I think Dr. Sanjay is a get it done kind of guy.
On a side note, little known fact, I actually met a Surgeon General once. C. Everett Koop's wife attended my parents' church when I was in high school. He'd show up with her every once in awhile, and I met him in one of those after church shake everybody's hand kind of things. Kinda cool. He's the SG that pissed everybody off for a lot of things. Among others saying that kids should learn how to put a condom on correctly in school. Thought it was a health issue for some crazy reason. Whackiness. He definitely didn't learn that one in that church, let me tell ya.
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4 comments:
When I heard the Gupta announcement, I thought back to Koop and how much I really liked him because I always thought he was a straight talker and told it like it was. That's probably why he pissed so many people off! We haven't had a memorable SG since.
Even with a gun to my head, I think Koop is the only Surgeon General I could name (my brush with greatness aside).
Dr. Sanj could be just as controversial if he tells Americans that they could cut their need for prescription drugs in half if they'd watch what they eat and get some exercise. Thems fightin' words these days.
Wasn't there a woman in between who got in a lot of hot water? Of course I'm bad at politico names...
I think it was the SG under Clinton. I have a vague impression of blond hair, but that's all a I got.
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