Empowering Health Advocacy Through Collaborative Education and Chronic Disease Prevention Strategies

Betsy Thomas. I live in Boulder, Colorado and I am currently working as a life coach. Well, I have been a health nut since I was in my teens so I have pretty strong feelings about where our industry - the health industry has gone. And how it has truly contributed to a lot of the sickness and chronic illness that we have in the country. So even though I'm a life coach I actually am somewhat of a health coach as well, in terms of using the knowledge that I get from reading and reading research and adopting a lot of different health practices. I used that to help other people. I started a nonprofit when I lived in Shanghai, China for three years and it was for the prevention of cancer. That was really when I took a deep dive into what's happening in our cancer industry, in our big pharm industry and our big food industry. So, for me being at this conference is just an incredible way for Elena and her team to change the paradigm of health - which is to prevention, really - versus just managing chronic disease and I am all in for that. Not only for everyone in the world that is struggling with chronic illness but also for myself because as I'm in my 60's, I don't want to go through any long degenerative decline and illness, right? We just want to be healthy. And so a lot of my life is spent on prevention and longevity and regenerative medicine. I've been blessed with good health. So, I just want to help continue it. I'm at the place that I don't want to develop another "big business" because I've got a lot of hands and a lot of other things. So mine is really being like an ambassador in this industry. The biggest takeaway I have is the qualities of the people that are here are going to change the face of medicine. They are intelligent, kind, compassionate, collaborative and not... competitive. And I think there's just so much competition and it's unnecessary. What I see happening in this conference... there is going to be... a gradual shift in us taking care of our own health. That we don't have to have an authority figure as a doctor and we are here. That the knowledge base is closing in on each other and that's what Elena and her team are doing. They're educating people so that we can become our own advocates and our own healers, really. 'Cause I also believe that the healing that we have rests inside of us and it's there to just be exposed and brought out. This team that we witnessed this weekend is doing just that. It's beautiful. I love the collaboration, I love the compassion, I love the kindness, I love the intelligence - the brilliance that they're all bringing. And they're bringing it together with such heart and that's just such a different model than we're used to in the medical industry. They're changing all that and I think that is going to be the beginning of a new shift but it takes a lot of us to make that happen. I know that I have an opportunity to share this knowledge and what they can learn at this conference and also start a new journey of health. This is the change that this conference is going to start and I'm just thrilled to be part of it.