Health Essentials
Pause and reflect: Lifesaving power of pets
In a country filled with stress, social unrest and lingering scars of a pandemic, pets have emerged as silent healers, loyal companions and even lifesavers.
From the bustling streets of Accra to the rural communities in the Northern Region, pets have been woven into the social fibre that offers a sense of hope. Science calls it the ‘Pet effect’, while others call it a blessing.
This marks the untold story of how pets are saving humans emotionally and psychologically across the globe.
Cultural tapestry of pets in
societies
Historically, animals have held diverse roles in societies – right from being guardians, through to being helpers on the farm and fast becoming symbols of spiritual importance.
In the Konkomba society for instance, certain animals like dogs, rabbits, and cats are revered; often associated with spiritual beliefs and cultural values. Proverbs such as ‘Taa bɛɛn Ubɔŋban daar’ (Don’t look for a dog on the day of hunting) underscores the significance of companionship as an attribute that pets embody in our society.
This cultural root significantly deepens the bonds between humans and their pets, reinforcing animals as a symbol of comfort.
Emotional boosters
In Ghana where mental health struggles are mostly stigmatised, pets offer judgment-free comfort. In Accra for instance, a number of households cherish dogs and cats hence nurturing bonds that transcend mere utility.
Pet ownership has grown as a natural way of promoting mental well-being and emotional support in times of personal or societal unrest, acting as silent witnesses and comforters.
Research from the American Psychological Association shows that interacting with pets lowers cortisol levels (stress hormone) while increasing serotonin and dopamine, chemicals linked to happiness.
The research indicates that Therapy dogs in hospitals, schools, and disaster zones provide comfort, proving that animals have an innate ability to soothe human anxiety and depression.
The use of therapy dogs as therapeutic agents helps in reducing aggressive behaviours, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms.
This suggest that animals provide a significant calming and therapeutic effect on patients with psychological disorders.
In an interview with a health expert at Nkwanta St Joseph Hospital, Doctor Emmanuel Mardo, said the use of trained therapy dogs was growing in the western part of the world due to health benefits on humans.
However, he noted that the use of these therapy dogs was rare in Africa. Even though most households have dogs or cat, these animals are there for security purposes and not as a companion.
“I’ve read about the benefits of therapy dogs in other countries like UK and America but it’s not a practice I know about here in our country,” Dr Mardo stated.
He acknowledged the potential benefits of such an initiative, stating that it could be very essential if implemented in our hospitals.
“Personally, I believe that it is a very good initiative and since it is working for other countries, it can equally work for us,” he added.
Physical health benefits
Having a pet encourages an active lifestyle. Dog owners, for instance, are more likely to meet daily exercise requirements through walks, which aid in reducing the risks of obesity and heart disease.
In an encounter with Mr Greg, an Australian dog owner in Osu-Accra, he shared benefits he derives from having a dog.
“Billy gives me the motivation to walk longer distances and yeah, his presence provides a sense of security for me. He deters potential threats and I don’t feel lonely when I’m taking a walk with him,” he noted.
The American Heart Association’s 2013 statement on pet ownership also links pet ownership to lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health. According to the statement, an increase in physical activity can lead to a 24 per cent reduction in the risk of early death.
Daily exercise lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels and hence decreasing the risk of a heart disease.
Safety and security benefits
Pets play a significant role in enhancing security in various ways. They serve as a deterrent to potential intruders, protecting homes and properties from break-ins.
In an interview with Ms Faustina, a trader at Agbogbloshie, she shared her reasons for keeping multiple dogs around her property.
“I keep dogs because they protect my house. Whenever someone unfamiliar approaches, they bark and alert me,” she stated.
She also noted that the pets provide her with a sense of warmth and companionship, which helps her to alleviate feeling of loneliness as a single woman.
According to her, “Having pets around makes me feel less alone; they bring warmth to my life.”
Speaking with Mr Tayoume Kennedy Babuime, a Leading Fireman of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), he also stated that dogs are used for operations such as search and rescue, detection of explosives and narcotics, and pursuit of suspects.
“Dogs are very important in our rescue operations. Their sense of smell enables us to locate people trapped in burning buildings or under debris. Especially, well trained sniffer dogs are the ones we mostly use in our operations because they have the ability to detect scents far stronger and quicker than humans which makes them more suitable for our search and rescue missions,” he explained.
Pets are far more than just animals we keep at home. They are therapists, fitness coaches and family.
In a country battling high fuel prices, political noise and endless stress, pets remind us to pause and reflect on what truly matters: love in its purest and furriest form.
Therefore, the next time you see a stray dog wagging its tail on Chorkor Road or a goat nuzzling a tail in Bawku, remember, these creatures are not just surviving Ghana’s chaos. They are saving us from it.
The writer is a Level 300 student of UniMAC, GIJ
By Cynthia Nnankorla Bikarl
This week I bumped into Deborah, one of my avid readers and I promised her I will be writing this weekend. So Deborah, this is for your reading pleasure and to pick some golden nuggets for the future.
The quest to find the best way to make one’s golden years, happy, exciting, healthy and a time most people look forward to continues unabated. One factor that keeps popping up is the need to grow friendships with people more than 20 years younger than yourself.
Do not take this for granted. It is a form of “social security” since these close friends who are much younger than you will step in to support you in more ways than you can ever imagine.
Some conditions may make life challenging for older adults but knowing these Geriatric Giants helps us to take the necessary steps to reduce our risk.
“Geriatric Giants” refers to a group of chronic health conditions that are common in the elderly, typically 65-year-olds and older.
These conditions quite often co-occur and can impact on the independence, dignity and overall wellbeing and quality of life of an elderly person.
These Geriatric Giants include:
- Impaired Intellect/ Memory (e.g. Dementia)
- one of the major battles we need to deal with is challenges with memory
- Exercise, adopt the Mind Diet, build a great social network and enjoy time outdoors
- Keep reading and solving puzzles for as long as possible
- Instability – leading to much feared falls
- A good reason to indulge in Balance Training and Core Strengthening exercises from today
- Ensure your home is safe; avoid clutter such as cables crisscrossing floors, toys etc. These are all trip hazards and should be avoided
- Many healthy, happy and fun-loving older adults have died soon after a fall with its attendant complications.
- Do whatever it takes to avoid falling
- Immobility (opening the doors to pressure sores, joint stiffness)
- Even when you are unable to move about on your own it is important to get support to change positions as often as possible or get an appropriate mattress or bed that prevents prolonged pressure over any single point.
- Make sure you passively or actively move joints daily.
- Incontinence (urine, faeces or both)
- This is one of the reasons older adults prefer to stay at home and avoid going out to meet friends etc.
- Iatrogenic Disorders – adverse effect of medication
- Quite often most older adults are on several medications and some side effects such as drowsiness may seem to cause more unhappiness and may even lead to falls.
- Inappetite – this may result in poor nutrition
- This may also be linked to loss of teeth thus making chewing very difficult or limited.
- The loss of smell and taste may also reduce the amount of food one may willingly eat.
The power to reduce the impact of the Geriatric Giants starts now and should be a lifetime commitment. It is never too early to start making the appropriate lifestyle modifications, nor is it too late to reduce the impact of the giants on one’s life.
Other conditions that significantly impact on the lives especially of the elderly are:
- Sleep Disorders
- Good sleep has the power to give us energy, improve our thought pattern and even helps us to make good choices.
- Good sleep sets the tone for a healthy life
- Constipation
- This is a challenge that confronts quite a number of older adults.
- Movement, fibre and lots of water go a long way to reduce the stress that frequent constipation generates.
- Fraility
- Muscle loss is real and as we age, we lose a significant percentage of our muscle plus our bones also become brittle.
- Make sure strength training is part of your exercise schedule
- Polypharmacy
- Another headache that needs to be confronted head-on
- Everyone especially older adults need a good primary care physician or a general practitioner who can coordinate all medicines from the different Specialists who may be attending to an elderly person. This ensures that unnecessary medicines are dropped
The goal of care at all times is to optimise the quality of life. As family, professional caregivers and friends we should always show respect so that the dignity of the elderly is preserved at all times. For those of us who are not yet in the age group with such challenges, we need to start the conversation about the type of care we will prefer and take steps to stay healthy and independent for as long as possible. The goal should be a long Healthspan and not just a long Lifespan.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
Health Essentials Ltd (HE&W Group)
(dressel@healthessentialsgh.com)
*Dr. Essel is a Medical Doctor with a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, He holds an MBA and is an ISSA Specialist in Exercise Therapy, Fitness Nutrition and Corrective Exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’
Thought for the week – “There is no magic formula to being happy but making a conscious effort to be happy goes a long way.” – Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
By Dr. Kojo Cobba Esse
The call to action
We must move beyond the cycle of temporary outrage. I propose a four-point blueprint for the Ministry of Health and the government:
1. A Digital Bed-Tracking Command Centre: Legally mandate all public and major private hospitals to update a live, digital bed-registry every hour. The NAS must be able to see a vacancy before they move. This must be matched with the available resources and services so that the right patient will be sent to the right facility.
2. Strategic Capacity Expansion: We must stop building “prestige projects” and start building high-volume stabilisation centres. We need a targeted investment to triple the ER bed count in Accra and Kumasi within 24 months. This should then be extended to other regional capitals.
3. Specialised Emergency Hubs: Designate specific hospitals as “Centres of Excellence” for Cardiac and Stroke care (and for other health emergencies), ensuring they have 24/7 imaging and intervention capabilities as well as the requisite expertise to manage these conditions. Policy makers must incentivise public-private partnerships to ensure that a heart attack in Accra or Kumasi can be treated with the same urgency as one in New York.
4. Develop a nationwide trauma system: This is extremely important because trauma is a major cause of deaths in Ghana. In the US, each state has a statewide trauma system with three levels. Level 1 trauma centres are usually University Teaching hospitals that provide comprehensive trauma care and also play an important role in local trauma system development, regional disaster planning, increasing capacity and advancing trauma care through research. Level II trauma centres are expected to provide initial definitive trauma care for a wide range of injuries and injury severity.
Level III centres provide definitive care to patients with mild trauma. Having such systems is imperative to ensure proper treatment of trauma patients.
Even for those who survive trauma, disability is a major assault on economic potential and viability. Importantly all this cannot happen with a cash and carry system. Emergencies should be managed under a different model to save life and limb first. Obviously, there is a need to ensure that healthcare facilities will be able to recover their investments in emergency care, and that balancing act needs careful consideration.
Frontline clinicians are often forced to bear the public’s anger for infrastructure deficits they did not create and cannot fix. This is a failure of governance, not a lack of clinical care. Responsibility lies with the policy makers who manage the nation’s resources.
The “No Bed Syndrome” is a systemic disease. It cannot be cured with a directive from the Ministry of Health, parliament or a lecture on ethics. It requires a blueprint, a budget, and the political will to treat this like the menacing threat it is.
It is safe to say that non-emergent healthcare is excellent in Ghana for the most part if you can afford it. However, emergency care is suboptimal. We had a sitting president die from an emergency health issue and a former vice president also die from an emergency. If that is not enough warning, it is clear that anyone can be a victim of an emergency.
If we do not act, the next ambulance driving aimlessly through the streets of Accra could be carrying anyone, including the very people who have the power to fix this issue.
Prof. Jonathan Laryea is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. Arkansas. He is board certified in General Surgery, Colorectal Surgery and Clinic Informatics.
He is a graduate of the University of Ghana Medical School (Class of 1997)
