By Romy Stephens
Berwick doctor Roger Smith has spent over 30 years educating the public about health. But the challenges of solving peoples problems year after year has sparked the local doctor to do something different. He decided to help more people, by penning a simple book on health, and offering it free to the public.
The book, Take a Simple Drive to a Healthier Life, explores health issues and offers simple information for the average person who is looking to improve their long-term health.
“Being a GP you spend a lot of time educating patients about their health,” Dr Smith said.
“With health, part of it is a lot of luck involved, but you can make your own luck.
“I think everyone deep down knows what they have to do, but the problem is life gets busy. You have all the best intentions of eating healthy and going to the gym, but after a few months it’s all gone by the wayside.
“The whole idea of the book is to remind people of what you can do, but it’s got to be a long-term approach.”
Dr Smith, who lives in Berwick, has worked in general practice in Cranbourne since 1989 and is now a partner at the Casey Medical Clinic.
His decision to use a car analogy throughout the book was to compare how so many people care for their car, or other luxury items, over their body.
“The book starts off with a story about a patient. It was all about how the patient was more worried about his car then he was about his own health.”
“People will get their car serviced every six to 12 months but they tend not to worry about themselves until things go wrong.
“You only get one body, you can always replace a car.”
With National Diabetes Week being held across Australia this week, Dr Smith said it is a great opportunity for diabetics to understand that following tips in his book can help them.
“People often think diabetics need to have a special diet, but basically they need to do what everyone else needs to do.
“People often think it won’t happen to me, but diabetes is such a common problem. Half the people that have it don’t know they have it.”
The ebook is free via the apple books app or can be downloaded at thesimpledoctor.info.
