Solidarity HealthShare’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Oertle joins From the Median’s Molly Smith to discuss hope for dementia sufferers and how lifestyle and health changes could reduce the possibility of facing this condition.
Announcer (00:00):
The following program is sponsored by Cleveland Right to Life and is responsible for its content. Welcome to From the Median, a daily report from the frontline of the Pro-Life movement, discussing two worldviews that are driving our culture in opposite directions. From the Median asks, which side of the road are you on? What direction do you want our culture to go? Tune in as we plan the route that takes us back to the culture of life. And now your host, Molly Smith.
Molly Smith (00:29):
Good evening and welcome to From the Median where we are concerned with the middle ground, not just to understand both sides of an argument, but also to awaken the consciences of those who are neutral or indifferent to this, the greatest civil rights movement of all times, the Pro-Life movement. Listeners, as always, wonderful, thank you very much. Wonderful, wonderful to have you with us. And I have a returning guest, somebody who actually, to be quite honest with you, without his support and his company support, I don’t know that we would still be on the air. So I want a big shout out for Solidarity HealthShare. They are one of our major sponsors for our program. We absolutely love them. We love what they’re doing. We love the focus that they take in healthcare, and it’s wonderful. It’s such a pleasure to have Dr. John Oertle on the program with us right now. He’s going to be joining us to talk about all kinds of things, but mainly about a brand new, a newsletter that he’s putting out. And I think this is going to be a great asset to Solidarity HealthShare and to the gifts that they give to their patients and to the clients. So without further ado, Dr. Oertle, thank you so much for joining us.
Dr. John Oertle (01:37):
Well, Molly, great to be able to be with you this morning and we’re so grateful for your programming as well, being a voice to being able to fight against that culture of death and being able to promote these principles of support and dignity to all human persons from conception to natural death. Absolutely. So grateful for you and the work that you’re doing.
Molly Smith (01:57):
Well, thank you. And we’ve recently expanded into several different other major cities. So the word is getting out there and as I said at the beginning, thanks a lot to so much to Solidarity HealthShare for seeing the vision and being able to walk alongside us. So thank you. And folks, go to Solidarity HealthShare, go onto our website fromthemedian.org, and right there on the front page, you’ll see how to contact Solidarity. Go find out about them. We have ads that run every single program every single night. Listen to what they can offer you, and if this is for you, please join up because they’re doing an amazing job, an absolutely amazing job. John, tell us a little bit about the newsletter that you’ve just recently signed.
Dr. John Oertle (02:36):
Yeah, happy to. So this newsletter is about dementia, Alzheimer’s, dementia, and what we can do to be able to prevent the actual the effects. And so we’ve just gone through World Alzheimer’s month and this was last month, and there was an amazing publication that was put out by The Landset and The Landset is a reputable journal article and was actually findings was that it actually, the study show is that if you do these basic diet lifestyle and about 14 different factors, you can actually reduce the actual ability of getting an Alzheimer’s by 50%, which is huge. I mean, this is a big deal. This is a breakthrough study as far as this goes. And certainly far too many people are dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia and it’s such a debilitating disease and it’s very difficult to be able to go through and journey with individuals going through that.
(03:36):
I’ve experienced this myself walking through my loved ones with dementia and Alzheimer’s. It’s a challenging diagnosis. They need dignity like everyone else, but this is where I wanted to be able to shed light on some of these actual areas where what we can do to be able to prevent that disease and continue to be able to live the life that God has called us into. And so at Solidarity, we share into these therapies, we share into the actual dementia treatments. So Solidarity is a way to be able to pay for your healthcare expenses. That’s not insurance, but has the ability to be able to pay for these healthcare expenses in the actual community as a nonprofit. And so it’s a wonderful way to be able to save costs. But what’s really exciting to me as the chief medical officer is what we can do to be able to really help our brothers and sisters to be able to raise awareness and to be able to actually share into therapies that are cost-effective and great to be able to prevent disease and to be able to treat disease when it actually occurs.
(04:35):
And so this is really where for dementia, it can really impact our members in a way that 50%, it’s not just our members, it’s everybody that’s dealing with this awful, awful disease. Not many people know. I’ll go into a little bit about what dementia is and Alzheimer’s specifically, many people do, but Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia. And so dementia is really where the neurological system is failing and you lose memory, you lose the ability eventually in late stages to be able to even lose basic functionality of the body because the mind just continues to be able to deplete. But Alzheimer’s is a specific type of dementia, and this is where it accounts for about 60 to 80% of all dementia cases, and it’s a progressive disease where it starts to create plaques. And so many times, again, when you have this ongoing chronic issue with the actual central nervous system in the mind, it is a dementia.
(05:42):
And so I’ve also raised awareness, not just if you forget your keys, yeah, that’s where your keys are at. Or if you forget to pay a bill, that’s not a concern. That’s just normal aging. That’s just how we are as human beings. But again, human persons. But if we actually are now forgetting completely our bills and it’s just going and it’s not being paid and we’re going delinquent states, or if we are forgetting the year that it is, those are going to be more of these significant aspects where we should be searching out medical care, primary care neurologists to be able to really evaluate is this truly a disease that needs to be solved for and fixed? But again, there’s a lot that we can do, like I said, to be able to prevent this disease from occurring.
Molly Smith (06:34):
As Chief Medical Officer of, as I look at this and see you as Chief Medical Officer of Solidarity HealthShare, do you think that this is something that is going to get worse or are we going to be able to sort of control it? You said at the beginning, and I was so interested in this, that it can be cut back by about 50%. I’d love for you to go into that. You mentioned you would do that, but I think this is something I remember a very dear friend of mine, the very first time they realized that there was something going on. He had been a bit forgetful and everything, but the first time they really realized that something was drastically wrong was he was lived by himself, he was a widow, and he got into his car to go into the corner store and the police called them two hours later when he is way on the other side of the town. But he didn’t know where he was, didn’t understand what was happening. So before you, how do you recognize these things that are happening?
Dr. John Oertle (07:44):
Yeah, I mean, it’s a great thing. I mean, many times the individual doesn’t recognize it. Many, it’s actually, it’s coming from loved ones who’s actually recognizing it as well in these cases. So you need to be aware of that. I mean, certainly if you’re forgetting where you’re going, that’s a grave concern and you want to be able to receive proper medical oversight to be able to really make sure that what’s actually going on and diagnose it correctly as far as what’s actually happening with that individual. So many times it’s loved ones that are looking in, but these are where, again, I’m going to go to what we can do to be able to prevent it. Because 50% of these diseases are a big number. As Americans are living longer, we are having, it’s a disease of the elderly. So again, there are cases of early onset Alzheimer’s and dementia that do arise and occur, but many times it is in our elderly states, the more we actually are living longer, the more we’re seeing this.
(08:39):
So to be able to actually say, how can I live in a way that’s able to make these shifts and changes that are, even if we’re starting to see this shift and challenge with the mind, let’s make these impacts now. Let’s change our way that we’re living now. So those impacts for the future is really helpful. So I’m going to go jump into these. I mean, the first one is cardiovascular health. When we want to have good blood flow to the actual brain is the actual understanding here, but just managing high blood pressure and managing cholesterol so that those vessels, those small little vessels that are getting to the actual central nervous system have great perfusion of oxygen and vascularization goes a long way. So controlling high blood pressure and controlling cholesterol. What also comes along with that is also controlling your diabetes or blood sugar shifts.
(09:27):
If you have high levels of glucose, again, you want to make sure that you’re controlling that diabetes. That goes a long way as well. The second thing that I write about that was identified was education and cognitive engagement. So this is where when you’re able to actually use your brain, I use the old term, if you don’t use it, you lose it. (Use it. Absolutely.) And so you want to keep engaging in your brain so far. So too many people when they retire, I feel like just have worked their whole life and it’s just, okay, I’m going to announce the slide. I don’t recommend it. I actually recommend that we’re lifelong learners, and I think this is one that learning a new skill or picking up a musical instrument or being able to do something that’s uncomfortable and learning and growing your brain, even things like being able to play Sudoku when we get older or word searches or being able to just use that cognitive capacity. There’s so many of these games on, it’s one thing where your cell phone can actually, these games and apps can be-
Molly Smith (10:29):
Absolutely
Dr. John Oertle (10:30):
Positive things, but those are wonderful things to be able to engage the mind.
Molly Smith (10:35):
Yeah, I mean, I remember when I was a little girl growing up, I remember the things that was encouraged. I was at a convent and the nuns, I was a slow learner when it came to reading. So I mean, I was finally caught up eventually, but one of the things the nuns had encouraged my mother was to let me play card games because it starts you thinking. And so it works as at a young age, it probably looks like it’s working at the older age too. That’s wonderful.
Dr. John Oertle (11:06):
Well, that’s exactly right. And we can always do this the more you’re using the brain, the brain never shuts off. That’s one of the things that’s kind of a misnomer. We think we’re, when we’re tired, the brain is just going to shut off. No, the brain doesn’t just shut off. It just shifts in how we actually can think, right? Our sleep patterns, we’re always using the brain. So it’s one of those things that resting the brain doesn’t really happen. We want to just shift our activity. Maybe if we’re tired of thinking about a certain thing, maybe it’s shifting that focus and doing something else. And that can be a really helpful tool. You don’t ever just shut the brain off. Then you want to engage it to be able to keep thinking and building those neurological connection. The third one is similar to this, and this is really exciting to me.
(11:50):
It’s actually restoring your hearing and your vision. So many times, even just getting your cataracts removed, if there’s cataracts and we’re not seeing or if there’s hearing issues, getting a hearing aid to be able to hear and engage. I think it happens a couple of ways. One, because actually again, the same aspect of we’re actually using the neurological system when we see and when we hear, but there’s also, I think something deeper there too is that we’re engaging in community and society. We’re not disconnected. The data is very clear though that hearing and vision can prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia significantly.
Molly Smith (12:30):
Wow.
Dr. John Oertle (12:31):
So we definitely want to make sure that our hearing is being checked and that our vision is being checked and we’re doing things to be able to really reengage that can really help with the actual dementia. And then I was mentioning engaging with society, the lifestyle, again, being able to make sure that we’re still staying in community. This is where even being able to actually interact socially with individuals is so helpful. Isolation is not good for anybody. We actually just, even in the daily readings in the church, we’re just that man should not be alone talking about the creation. I think that was just yesterday. Man should not be alone. We were not created to be isolated. We’re meant to engage in community. So the more we do that, the more the better off we are. There’s blue Zones. I don’t know if any of your listeners, if you’ve listened to any of these blue zones. These blue zones are areas in the world where we are living over a hundred years old and with a great quality of life. They’re not suffering with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
(13:34):
One of the biggest social determinants of these areas over across the world is that people are engaged in community. There’s actually, they’re in their faith base. They’re going into their communities. They’re actually engaged in society. And so that’s really so important for as we get older, to not become isolated, but live in community with others and really welcome that and other things that go along with that too, making sure that we’re exercising, make sure that we’re continuing to walk if we can, being able to make sure that we’re limiting our alcohol consumption, managing weight. Those are other lifestyle things, but really, I really want to say engage community. This is what we’re meant to do as Christians, as people of faith, to be able to really walk this journey together and not live alone. And that’s a really important thing.
Molly Smith (14:26):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And it’s interesting, just very sadly, we’ve just lost an uncle of ours who was sort of like our grandfather here in America and for all our children, and he just such an amazing man. But he lived, it’s crazy. I mean, you look at how well he lived right up until he died at 96. He was just always engaged, always, even to the point that he would insist that they would put him in even when his legs gave out. And he was getting to the point where he couldn’t really use his legs anymore. He wanted to go into his wheelchair and he wanted to go down and be with everybody else in the home that he was living in. So it’s an interesting thing to see that. That definitely makes a difference. And then on the other hand, I’ve just had a very dear friend who passed away, was complete recluse, didn’t really engage in anything, died all on her own at the age of just over 75 or 76 or whatever, just lost just completely different. So that you are absolutely right. It’s so important that we do what God intended for us to do. He gave us a brain to use till the end of life, so let’s use it.
Dr. John Oertle (15:39):
He sure did. He sure does. Yeah. We’re not robots. We have the ability to have a brain. And this is where it’s really important that we are engaging with God to be able to really make sure that we’re following through with the gift of life that he’s given us. And so if this is ways that we can have more life throughout the course of our lives and we can engage, I mean, your life is not done. There is a mission for you. There is a purpose for you every morning up until the very moment of your last breath. And so that’s so important too, to be able to engage with other people and to communicate and really do the work that God has intended for you each and every day.
Molly Smith (16:18):
Absolutely. We’re talking to Dr. Oertle, who is the medical officer for Solidarity HealthShare, please. He’s the Chief Medical Officer there. Please go online and check it out. Solidarity HealthShare on our website. Just go to fromthemedian.org and right there on the front page, we’ve got a link to the organizer, to the company, and you can work out how you can be part of this. Incredible, it’s an absolutely incredible health share organization because today so many people have lost their confidence, I would say Dr. Oertle in the medical profession. And yet you have been able to keep that solid support of your clients and your patients. And I think this is part of it because you come at it from a perspective that is so holy and so biblical that as far as I’m concerned, there can be nothing else but that God’s going to bless it. So God bless you for what you do. That’s wonderful. Absolutely,
Dr. John Oertle (17:18):
Molly, I appreciate that. And thank you so much for the kind words. But again, being able to belong to a community of like-minded individuals
(17:26):
And we’re saving costs, but that you’re also engaged with. Yes, we’re sharing into, again, major hospitalizations and great cardiothoracic surgeons that aren’t Catholic, but we’re also being able to share into our network or our community of doctors. It’s a wonderful community of people that you talked about losing faith in the actual system. But when you have doctors that are a part of aligned with the healthcare that we do with Solidarity, which is ethical and moral, and being able to make sure that we’re actually life affirming healthcare, it’s wonderful. And so those resources are available to you. And we have those doctors in our community that we navigate to that we’re actually working alongside with.
Molly Smith (18:12):
If somebody’s listening to this program, Dr. Oertle and says, I think my doctor should be part of this, is that a possibility or how does that happen? Or do you have-?
Dr. John Oertle (18:22):
Please do. We’re building, we have a whole provider relations team that if somebody, we have provider nomination forms that again, being able to have the provider reach out, out to Solidarity and ask for our provider relations team. We’re always engaging new providers to be able to be a part of this community.
Molly Smith (18:41):
Good. Absolutely. So we must do that. Tell me a little bit about what you have seen with the push for euthanasia, particularly when you’re talking about dementia.
Dr. John Oertle (18:52):
So this is what happens when it comes to, nobody desires these end of life situations when it comes to dementia and Alzheimer’s, but it’s really important. Yes, we want to do what we can do to be able to prevent it from occurring, but it is so critical that when we are in that state that the dignity of life does not come and go based upon what it is that we’re able to do. Our dignity of life comes just by who we are, and this is so critical that we don’t find our value as human persons by all the stuff that we do. I don’t find my value in who I am as a doctor or the ability to be able to do things. Actually, my value comes because I’m a child of God. And from that, it flows over into the work that I do.
(19:41):
And to be able to serve others similar to the actual individual that’s going through dementia, Alzheimer’s, the disabled, there’s such a value and a gift to those lives. And the fruit that has grown from serving a loved one, well, I’ve gone through this with my own grandfather and grandmother recently, is that as you’re continuing to be able to journey with these individuals, there’s so much beauty and goodness even towards the end of their lives. And it’s hard. The other thing is that it’s hard. It’s not easy being a caregiver of somebody with dementia, but there’s a beauty in it through the struggle. Many times it’s not one of those things too that you’re looking like this is something that you’re appreciating for, but when you’re actually reflecting back on it, it can be something that’s so beautiful in life giving because you know that you served so beautifully and so well in those difficult times, and their life is worth it. So I encourage everyone that’s dealing with a loved one or somebody going through that. Stay in the fight. I know it’s difficult, but stay engaged, stay serving, keep your presence about you to be able to keep loving and being able to be merciful in those areas. I know it’s challenging, but again, it’s absolutely worth it. And again, you’ll look favorably upon that as well when you’re looking back in their rears to be able to see there’s such fruit and beauty that goes on in those difficult moments.
Molly Smith (21:08):
Exactly. It’s so funny, I was just talking about a dear uncle that’s just passed away with his wife, who was our dear aunt. She was like the grandmother to my kids, and she passed away about a year ago, and she had very severe dementia and died from dementia. But it was so funny because the kids would get, they had five children, and every time I’d call to speak to one of her daughters, she always had the funny stories. She managed to deal with them through seeing who her mother was. And she would often say, ‘Molly, I am enjoying it so much because her humor has not gone, but it’s even more pronounced now because she says the most outrageous things. ‘
(21:57):
She would always find that. And I thought, what a great way to approach this. Find the way that you can actually approach it in a positive way because it has to be devastating to watch your mother or a loved one go through this. But if you can find the way and make them comfortable, but then you’ve got to find the way to be able to deal with it for yourself. So I always thought about that. If I have to deal with the dementia issue with somebody that I love, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to do exactly what my cousin did, is just look for that humor in everything because as she would say, she’s not suffering. It’s us that suffers.
Dr. John Oertle (22:34):
And humor can be a great remedy to be able to deal with it. It sure is. And you know what, talking with other people, look at what that’s doing. It’s giving you the ability to build stronger relationships with those in your community, your friends or your family that are there to then support you. So it’s, it’s this interaction of community that starts to be engaged, and there’s some really beautiful things about that, even though it’s difficult, but certainly it can be really valuable.
Molly Smith (23:02):
Absolutely. Well, I’m looking forward to the next topic that people discuss on our monthly discussion. Dr. Oertle. I think this is wonderful. And again, would you give everybody the website where they can go and just give them a rundown of all the incredible benefits that they get by joining up with Solidarity?
Dr. John Oertle (23:21):
Sure. Yeah. Come and find us and seek to learn more about becoming a member of this amazing community of Solidarity HealthShare. You can find us solidarityhealthshare.org. That’s solidarityhealthshare.org. We’d love to have you a part of our community.
Molly Smith (23:35):
Absolutely. And the membership is very low. It’s amazing. It’s absolutely an amazing thing. Plus the very fact that, which is one of the things I absolutely love, and I’ve got to go quickly because we’re about out of time. But if you wish it and you are being treated by something and you’re dealing with a struggle of some sort of health struggle, solidarity has a prayer network that people will pray for you. What a beautiful thing. I love that. I absolutely love it. So God bless you lot, Dr. Oertle, and I look forward to having you back on the program very soon.
Dr. John Oertle (24:04):
Look forward to it, Molly. Have a great day.
Molly Smith (24:06):
Bye-Bye. Same to you. Bye-Bye. Thank you all for joining me this evening. As I say goodnight and God bless each and every one of you. I’d like to close with the words of the Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel. ‘There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.’
Announcer (24:22):
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Solidarity HealthShare is a non-profit healthcare sharing ministry rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Established in 2016, we operate on the Catholic principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, in accordance with the Church’s commitment to promoting life-affirming, faith-based healthcare.
We strive to provide an ethical, community-driven alternative to traditional health insurance. Through direct Member-to-Member sharing, Members are able to access quality healthcare services while preserving their family’s financial, physical, and spiritual health, all at once. Members never need to worry about their healthcare dollars funding immoral medical procedures. We promote a holistic approach to healthcare, emphasizing the importance of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
At the heart of our ministry’s mission to restore and rebuild an authentically faith-based healthcare culture in America is the recognition that every single person has inherent human dignity. We seek to promote healthcare that honors the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.
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