…As Expert Advocates Lifestyle Modification for Disease Prevention
The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), Ikeja Zone, led by the coordinator, Pharm. (Mrs) Vivian Ibeh, recently paid a courtesy call to the Carib Wellness Hospital, Ikoyi, a hospital which focuses on wellness based on the use of herbs, nutrition, conventional medicine and unconventional healing.
In her speech, Pharm. Ibeh, thanked the management team of Carib Wellness Hospital, for honouring the request to pay a courtesy call to the hospital and for the very warm reception accorded the delegation, saying that knowledge is power, and the more one seeks after it, the better.
He further noted that the team was very mindful of the busy nature of the Chief Executive Officer of the facility, Dr Patrick Ijewere, and accordingly considered the honour of the visit to be a clear and unambiguous manifestation of the high esteem he has for the team and his recognition of the important role of the pharmacists as healthcare providers that are closest to the people and custodians of information.
Ibeh explained the team’s mission to the facility, the only nutritional hospital in Nigeria, which was to tap from the wealth of knowledge of Dr Ijewere, as well as learn some alternative routes of managing the human body and how to support wellness through alternative treatments.
“We have been exposed to wellness and how we can support our health through nutrition and other mechanisms that were used by our forefathers to attain wellness. We have been exposed to some health tips, and essentially we understand better what it means to embrace nature and wellness. We, community pharmacists, should be at the forefront of disseminating this information to people around us.
“As members of the healthcare team, we have been exposed to how we could take advantage of wellness through nutrition and other means of detoxifying the body, as going back to nature helps us to understand why it was possible for our forefathers to live so long without all these medicines and illnesses. They didn't need medicines, they were not even ill and they lived longer and stronger, well into old age. We need to explore this option of treatments or option of wellbeing,” she said
Shortly before embarking on tour of the facility, Dr Ijewere, updated the delegation on the operation of the Wellness Home since its inception.
“I am the Co-founder of Carib Wellness Hospital alongside my wife. We were incorporated officially in 2009 but we began full operation in 2011, it was quite difficult coming back to Nigeria to start something of this nature, but we began Carib Wellness Hospital with a very clear focus. We were very clear that most of our medical problems today in Nigeria are linked to our lifestyle, nutrition, mindset, environment and spirituality or lack of spirituality”, he said
Speaking further, the expert called on Nigerians to maintain adequate nutritional diets, and abstain from lifestyles that predispose them to health issues, adding that most of our medical problems today in Nigeria are linked to our lifestyle, nutrition, mindset, environment and spirituality or lack of spirituality, saying wellness is a gift from God to each one of us.
According to him, when illness occurs, we must ask ourselves what we have done to drift away from our gift of wellness, adding that steps such as losing a small amount of weight, engaging in physical exercise, quitting smoking, eating more nuts, fruits and vegetables to stay healthy are capable of keeping the doctor away.
“As humans, we need a perfectly working system, but in cases where we see the system not working perfectly, we have to look at the five killers of wellness, which are spirituality, mindset, nutrition, lifestyle and the environment, so the essence of this presentation is to look at wellness as our birthright. So, when ailment shows up, we need to look at where we have deviated from the norms, it could be wrong food, bad environment, malnutrition, negative mindset, poor lifestyle and others”, he said.
He continued, “There is always a price to pay for health and wellness, either you pay it upfront with healthier choices and wellness behaviour or pay it later when the disease shows up or it worsens, so guess which costs a lot more. Also, the further one strays away from mother nature, the sooner he says, return to the sender”.
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