Who Is Dr. Hass?
Call me Bill,
I want to share with you the most recent chapter of my story.
In November 2018, after a few months of seeing a continuous cavalcade of sick and sicker patients, I realized that I was one of them. Physicians are notorious deniers of their fallibilities, and I was a member of that club.
Years ago, probably from uncontrolled hypertension, I had damaged my kidney's causing chronic kidney disease. With some excellent medical care from my nephrologist, I changed this diagnosis into something that I would die with, not from. But there was another, more important, problem.
I was a walking talking example of The Metabolic Syndrome, which isn't some textbook oddity, but a condition that might impact 40-50% of the American population. Its consequences are significant. Try heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, for starters.
How do you know, and how did I deny knowing, that I had the Metabolic Syndrome. By not understanding its definition, that's how. The Metabolic Syndrome consists of five factors:
A large waist (waist circumference of greater than 40 inches in men and greater than 35 inches in women)
A triglyceride level higher than 150 mg/dl
Reduced HDL ( less than 40 mg/dL in men or less than 50 mg/dL in women)
Increased Blood Pressure ( Systolic( top number) of 130 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or greater, or diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) of 85 mm Hg or greater
Elevated fasting blood sugar greater than 100
Metabolic syndrome occurs when a person has three or more of the factors above. And that was me.
Heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes are not enough to concern you? How about obesity, an indirect measure of The Metabolic Syndrome, being associated with higher cancer risks? And then there is the relationship with COVID.
So what changed? I want to tell you that I had a brilliant flash of enlightenment, but that would be a lie. What happened was that I took my granddaughter to the beach, fell in the surf, and couldn’t get up. I must have looked like a beached whale, wallowing in the ocean. After quite a struggle, I was able to crawl out of the water and get on my feet.
I had to do it. I had to change. And changing your lifestyle is worth it, so you can to enjoy the moments that matter.
More about Bill
Experienced anesthesiologist and anesthesia medical director, and an enthusiastic entrepreneur. Bill is an evangelist for lifestyle medicine, and wellness, and the power of change.
Co-founder of Empathic Practice in Pensacola his focus is to remove the stigma from Medical Marijuana, while helping educate and advocate for compassionate care and empathy for patients.
Treat the person, not the condition.
After more than four decades treating patients and working on the most traditional settings of allopathic medicine, Bill decided that was time to pivot his life to make room to an approach that gives opportunity to the patient to be part of their healing journey.
You shouldn’t be a bystander in the process of the care for your own health, and Empathic Practice was created with that in mind. Bill is here to listen to you, understand your situation, and give you the support to a healthier alternative for more quality of life.
“Dr. Hass is kind and understanding, really listening to your concerns.”
— Empathic Practice’s Patient