Health Communications Interview From Belgium
While studying abroad in Milan, Italy I was fortunate enough to have met two young women from Belgium who have now become life long friends of mine today. Their names are Lisa Joseph and Magalie Waroquier and they each can speak fluently in five languages: Dutch, French, German, Italian, and English (and a little Spanish). Health Communications is an important cause all around the world, which is why I decided to interview Magalie and Lisa so that I can gain their perspective of health from an entirely different country and culture. I organized seven questions to ask each of them that range from public health to personal health and compared them to my own answers from the U.S.
How important is health to you?
Lisa: “For me, health is one of the most important things in life. If you’re not healthy, you can’t do anything. I love being able to do all the things I like: sports, dancing, walking, going to school by bike… If I wouldn’t be able to do that anymore, my life would be completely different. Being healthy is important for your own well being too. If I have a headache, for example, it’s as if my life stops for a little while and I can’t do anything anymore.
It’s even more important for me that my family and friends are in good health!”
Magalie: “It is important. I exercise every week (dance, the gym) and I try to eat healthy, although I eat crisps and cake every now and then.”
Trevor: Health is also an important aspect of my life. As an adolescent I was actively involved in sports and my parents made it clear to my three brothers and I that staying healthy is essential to a happy life. I agree with Lisa that your body demands a healthy lifestyle otherwise you are heavily restricted on certain activities. Magalie also made an excellent point that in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle one must be dynamic every week.
What kind of healthcare system does Belgium have?
Lisa: “That’s a difficult question. When we go to the doctor’s, we pay +/- 22 euro. The doctor writes a note that we can then bring to a special office. The office pays us back 18 euro. There are different kinds of professions who pay back a part of the amount paid: physiotherapist, dentist, doctor, orthodontist, gynecologist… Everyone is member of a health care insurance; there are different types of them in Belgium. I am member of the catholic mutuality (CM), which gives me a discount when I go on summer camp with CM, which pays me back all the costs I had to pay for my health.”
Magalie: “Belgium has a very elaborate healthcare system. People pay a lot of taxes and it is obligatory for every citizen to be a member of a health insurance, but in return if we get ill and have to go to the doctor or if we have to undergo surgery, a large part of the costs is recovered.”
Trevor: Here in the U.S. we are undergoing an entirely new healthcare system referred to as Obamacare. However, prior to this new law citizens were not required to purchase health insurance (although most people are insured). Obamacare is a federal law providing for a fundamental reform of the U.S. healthcare and health insurance system, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010: formally called Affordable Care Act or Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Basically it is a law that forces every citizen to be insured. However, this drastically affected the middle class and a majority of the country was against this Act. We now have higher taxes to indemnify less lucrative families so that they can be insured. In fact if you do not have health insurance in the U.S. now you must pay an expensive fine.
What are your dietary practices? Do people in Belgium go to the gym often?
Lisa: “Most of the people practice 1 sport: soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis… Those are all very famous sports in Belgium. People go the gym, but most of the people prefer being outside or playing a team sport. Me, I used to play volleyball. I had to quit because I left for Milan for 6 months (where I met my great friend Trevor). Now, I practice all kinds of sports, and I try to practice a sport at least twice a week: running, swimming, badminton, volleyball, zumba, in-line skating…”
Magalie: “I try to eat healthy. Sometimes, especially in the weekends, I eat some unhealthy things (cake, crisps…). I go to the gym in the weekends (if I find the time to do it), and I go dancing once a week. Not a lot of people go to the gym in Belgium; it is more common to practice a specific sport (soccer, volley-ball, basketball, dance…)”
Trevor: Likewise, I too go to the gym quite often. I am a former competitive swimmer so working out and keeping fit is just second nature to me. I cannot speak for everyone here in the U.S. however. The world knows how much Americans love to eat. The obesity rate in the U.S. has declined in the past 2 years due to the thousand of health eating campaigns. Our first lady Michelle Obama has done a lot of work to improve the lunch programs in our public schools all across the nation.
Do you have a family Doctor?
Lisa: “Yes I do! She works with two other doctors, they are all very young (+/- 32 years old)”
Magalie: “Yes I do, it’s a very common thing in Belgium to have a family doctor. If I get ill, I go to my family doctor first, and if it’s too serious he puts me in contact to other specialists.”
Trevor: Most families in the U.S. also have a family doctor. I on the other hand do not. I go to my school’s medical building if I am having an issue or I just attend a local medical facility.
What religion to do you practice? Does it have an effect on your health? (For example some religions don’t allow blood transfusions)
Lisa: “I’m catholic, but I don’t really practice it.”
Magalie: “I don’t really practice a religion. I used to go to Protestant church until I was 14, but that didn’t have an effect on my health at all.”
Trevor: I was also raised Catholic like Lisa, but no longer practice my faith. However, I attended Catholic school for nine years and while I was there I was taught that Roman Catholics do not cremate bodies after death. Now, this is not a medical practice per say, but it may have an effect on someone while they’re living.
Are vaccinations mandatory or optional in Belgium?
Lisa: “Only one is mandatory: polio. They advise people to take all the vaccinations needed for Belgium, but you don’t have to. I had vaccinations for polio, Hepatitis A and B, Tetanus…”
Magalie: “(I had to look this one up, because I didn’t know the answer). Apparently only polio vaccination is mandatory in Belgium. However, vaccinations are always strongly recommended by family doctors, but also by schools. I have been vaccinated at school (primary school and high school) against several diseases (Hepatitis…)”
Trevor: Not all vaccinations are mandatory for U.S. citizens. In fact there have been an uprising in protests against vaccines because people are convinced that they lead to autism in their children. No scientific evidence has revealed this, but some Americans are convinced otherwise. Personally, I find it absurd and it is a danger to your child for not getting vaccinated because vaccines help build the immune system against diseases and viruses.
How is mental health viewed? (For example in the U.S. mental health has little awareness)
Lisa: “There are a lot of people who go see a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Mental health is a subject where people can talk about, but only few people really do it. A ‘popular’ mental health now is a burnout: life in Belgium is stressful for lots of people who go to work.
People who have a mental handicap are taken care of by their parents, by medical specialists, by volunteers… We even organize summer camps for those who want to. “
Magalie: “In Belgium it’s also a little bit a touchy subject. However, there are a lot of institutions to help people with mental health disorders. Mental diseases are certainly recognized.”
Trevor: The United States has poor representation of mental illness. Awareness has definitely increased comparing to 25 years ago. Illnesses like generalized anxiety, depression, schizophrenia etc. are extremely common and I believe that action needs to be made to make people more mindful of the symptoms and signs of these mental illnesses. This can lead to a plethora of positive outcomes for example a decrease in suicide.
I decided to address these questions to Lisa and Magalie because mental health, health and exercise, and healthcare spark my interest. My girlfriend, who is a nursing major, was deeply intrigued to gain a different perspective about how things are different in countries outside of America. She helped me come up with some of these questions as well because of her own curiosity. I wish I knew more about the medical procedures that are different than that of the U.S. For example if I have a sore throat a doctor will stick a wooden stick down my throat to check for bronchitis or strep. Perhaps in other places around the world they might use a medal rod or a rubber utensil. Ethnocentrism is subconsciously in the minds of thousands of Americans. Because of Lisa and Magalie I realize that medicine and life are different everywhere around the world and it is beautiful to know that the world is overflowed with knowledge and intelligent people.