Kate Marie
Hi, I’m Kate and whilst wielding a couple of dumbbells in a gym class in 2003, I experienced an epiphany around the lack of accepted best practice guidelines when it came to staying well and avoiding disease. I realised that I had no chance of slowing aging if I tried to use the healthcare system as it was; by necessity, it is only set up to help us when we get sick. As a result, I set out to find practitioners and guides to help me design a personal program to help me navigate the tricky process called healthy aging in a way I know would work. The positive output to this exercise was a book (called Fast Living, Slow Ageing) and a better understanding of how we might shape the healthcare system to support us to stay well as we age. The down-side of the journey was the realisation that there are no definitive answers, no magic bullets and that common sense should prevail as well as moderation! Boring I know..
I’ve always had an interest in health and started my convoluted working journey as a registered nurse. This was 30 years ago and my reason for choosing this as a career was not because I wanted to particularly work in the health system, but to make it easier to travel the world while being gainfully employed in something with a bit of ‘meaning’. This early exposure to health however, stimulated my interest (and frustration) in wanting to better support patient empowerment so that we as consumers could get more from our health system and enjoy a relationship based on equality with our practitioners.
Much time has passed since that initial foray into the medical industry and since then I have enjoyed a diverse range of roles from sales and strategic marketing, to publishing to business development in the health and medical and aged care sectors.
I hope you enjoy my meanderings as we try to sort out slowing aging. I look forward to your input as well, as I’m keen to develop resources and information products to help better educate all of us so we stay healthy and happy as we age.
Kate Marie