Fatimah Ali: A healthy strategy for Obamacare

AS Obamacare eventually takes shape, it seems that - given the government's increasing role in this important facet of our lives - self-empowerment will be ever more essential to improving our individual health.

We must be well-informed, and develop healthy habits, as well as find alternatives to surgery and pharmaceuticals whenever possible.

I always ask my doctors a kazillion questions, especially if they express an interest in removing some part of my body. When a girlfriend confided recently that her fibroid tumors (which are almost always noncancerous) had become so large and painful that her gynecologist recommended that she have a hysterectomy, I stopped her cold in her tracks.

Have you gotten a second opinion? I asked her, knowing that a hysterectomy isn't always the only option for treating fibroids.

Another girlfriend had her fibroid tumors treated by a Chinese doctor, who prescribed herbs that shrank them almost completely over the course of a year. (I understand that alternative medicine might not be for everyone, but there are also other treatments for fibroids that are much less severe than a hysterectomy.)

One, called a uterine artery embolization (www.fibroidoptions.com/

embol.htm) ties off the blood supply to the tumors and causes them to shrink. I learned about this procedure from my dad, a retired OB/GYN, who says that, during all the years he was practicing medicine, he saw far too many black women who should have explored other medical options before they had total hysterectomies.

Dr. Beverly Coleman-Miller, a Philadelphia physician who passed away in December after a brief illness at the age of 65, lectured extensively about health disparities for people of color. She felt strongly that minority patients routinely didn't receive lists of all of their medical options, primarily because they lacked resources and insurance.

Fondly known as "Dr. Beverly" by her patients, Coleman-Miller published extensively about cultural disparities in medicine. She coined the term "cultural disregard," which she explained as "the lack of insight into the social dynamics and unique struggles of minority populations."

At a private memorial service held two weeks ago in her native Germantown neighborhood, colleagues who traveled from places like the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where she directed the RESPECT-Mil Program for deploying and returning soldiers, hailed her as a compassionate and gifted researcher who wasn't afraid to challenge the status quo in medicine.

As a family friend, Coleman-Miller always encouraged me to use my journalistic skills to inform people about health issues, and that has also come in handy for me personally.

Several years ago, my mother had a double knee replacement and came through her operation with flying colors. My sister and I were her advocates and oversaw her case closely. Her doctors and nurses were extremely attentive, but there was one little hitch in her treatment plan - the social worker assigned to make arrangements for her rehab.

Mom was scheduled for it at a hospital that was 20 miles away. But once we realized that she could rehab where she was and determined that the hospital had space for her, we didn't want her moved in an expensive ambulance, in 10-degree weather, to another location.

Many moons ago, I'd worked as a unit clerk at the now defunct Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, so I knew how the routine for a patient transfer worked. I caught the social worker's negative vibe about changing the plans and knew she'd already completed the paperwork for the transfer.

I also knew that, on a Friday afternoon, she's be trying to leave work early. She wasn't happy, but we were relentless and refused to take no for an answer.

Mom was under anesthesia and in no position to advocate for herself, but, thankfully she had us to push the social worker, who (as we reminded her) drew her salary in part from our mother's expensive health insurance.

AND ADVOCACY based on knowledge is still the name of the game. My friend's uterine tumors may well be too large for a successful embolization, and she may end up needing that hysterectomy. But she just might be able to turn to alternative medicine and find a less-invasive dietary or herbal remedy instead.

As the doctors I know and trust have always insisted, the well-informed patient who asks a lot of questions will usually receive the best and most affordable medical care.

Fatimah Ali is a regular contributor to the Daily News, and blogs about food at healthysoutherncomforts.com.