> -----Original Message-----
> One after another, the premiers endorsed action yesterday to
> combat chronic
> illness through reducing tobacco use, fighting obesity and encouraging
> physical activity..."
>
> The column goes on to conclude with a quote from Federal
> Minister of State
> Carolyn Bennett, a family doctor,
> "'Everybody knows we've got to turn this around, and it is the key to
> sustainability,' because a healthier population can lead to a
> reduction in
> over-all health-care costs."
>

Thanks for bringing this up Alison.

Dr. Bennett's comments remind me of another language-related question I've become interested in recently, which is:  When did "medical care" start being referred to as "health care"?    Even the Minister of State is now using "health care costs" to mean "medical care costs," it seems.

And then in turn, and specifically in Canada, when did "health" in common/media parlance begin to have its meaning reduced to the very limited area of "health care" and lose its broader meaning?  For those who haven't noticed, or are outside Canada, we often now hear of our "health system" in the media -- meaning, of course, the medical system.  It makes it complicated to talk about health promotion when people have learned to implicitly connect "health" with "medical care".

If anyone has any ideas or leads on how I could follow when and how this shift in language occurred, I'd be most interested.  I'll post a summary of anything I find out back to the list.

Robyn Kalda
Health Promotion Information Specialist
OPC Health Promotion Resource Centre
(416) 408-2249 x226
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