Cinderblocks 2016: Bring on the Patients!
Regina Holliday
The irrepressible Regina Holliday is doing it again. This week will be the third time the mighty patient advocate, author and founder of the Walking Gallery of Healthcare is holding the “Cinderblocks” conference, a patient-led art and medical forum which has become sort of a revival meeting for patient advocates. Among headliner presenters is our friend and colleague, patient engagement advocate and kidney cancer survivor e-Patient Dave deBronkart. But the force behind the conference is Regina. (Read a recent USA Today profile of her work here.)
I remember attending the very first Cinderblocks confer...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 20, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Patients Patients' Rights Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
#SpacesOfHealth: Aging in Place [Recap]
Can a city help improve your health outcomes? Can a hospital make you sick? The #SpacesOfHealth campaign, brought to you by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, seeks to answer these and similar questions in a series of live webinars around the relationship between environment and health.
Gone are the days when the thought of aging meant slowing down, a sure retirement and eventual disability. This thinking is being rewritten by baby boomers who want to enjoy their homes, embrace their communities, maintain an active lifestyle and “age in place” — that is, remain i...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Aging Policy Source Type: blogs
Improving Maternal Health in the U.S. and Around the World
Since 1990, the United States is the only World Health Organization (WHO) region that has actually had an increase in maternal deaths. Although many think that maternal health problems are isolated to the developing world, challenges persist in our country. This is despite spending the most in the world on hospitalization for pregnancy and childbirth. In contrast, the countries that have been most successful in reducing maternal deaths have often achieved these results by using a midwifery model of care—an example that the U.S. may benefit from. Midwifery programs provide advanced education and training to support this m...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 16, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Childbirth Children Policy Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Money, Stress and Health: The American Worker’s Trifecta
Financial stress impacts health, relationships, and work productivity and attendance for employees in the U.S. It’s the American worker’s trifecta, a way of life for a growing proportion of people in the U.S. PwC’s 2016 Employee Financial Wellness Survey for 2016 illustrates the reality of fiscally-challenged working women and men that’s a national epidemic.
Some of the signs of the financial un-wellness malaise are that, in 2016:
40% of employees find it difficult to meet their household expenses on time each month
51% of employees consistently carry balances on their credit cards (with a large increase here amo...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 13, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Consumer Health Care Cost Source Type: blogs
Sleep Drugs: What Every Woman Should Know
The post below first appeared on Law Street.
Sleepless nights; nights full of tossing and turning. It happens to all of us–but for some it’s more frequent than others. In fact, an estimated 50 to 70 million American adults suffer from sleep disorders like insomnia or obstructive sleep apnea. Many turn to prescription sleep medications for relief– but women are more likely to take sleep drugs than men. About 3.1 percent of American men and 5 percent of American women report having used a prescription sleep medication within the last 30 days.
What does this use of sleep aids mean for women? Read on to learn more...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 11, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Lessons Learned: Graduation Day Reflections
In honor of this past weekend, which for me included celebrating my daughter’s college graduation and Mother’s Day, I wanted to take this opportunity to share what I have learned along the way. Here is what Elise and I talk about:
Never let anyone else define you. No professor, no employer, no elected official, nobody. Sure it’s important to be open-minded and respectful. But remember, a grading system, an employer’s evaluation, a demographic, and a bank’s metrics tell only part of your story. While you need to operate, to some extent within existing systems, never ever stop questioning, refi...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 9, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Children gender Parenting Source Type: blogs
Getting Ready for Mother’s Day
Disruptive Women in Health Care prepares for this upcoming Mother’s Day by revisiting its successful series on Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice.
We know and appreciate that not all moms are birth mothers–sending love and warm wishes to all moms–be they biologic or otherwise.
And acknowledging the memory of mothers no longer with us.
9/8: Series Overview
9/9: Dr. Rebecca Howes-Mischel: Reproductive Justice, Stratified Reproduction, and the Importance of Ethnography in Improving Reproductive Health Outcomes
9/10: Dr. Neel Shah (September Man of the Month): Are Hospitals the Safest Place for Heal...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 6, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Childbirth Parenting Patients' Rights Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Concussions: A Girls’ Health Problem
For many people, the connection between sports and concussions will come as no surprise. Within the past few months, concussions have had a continued presence in the media, mostly as they pertain to professional football. Intentionally or not, the NFL has been leading the charge on concussion awareness for the past several years. In 2014, documents were brought to federal court saying that a third of all retired NFL players were expected to develop a “long-term cognitive problem” at some point in their lives as a result of head injuries from football. Recently, a court finally affirmed the deal for the NFL to compensat...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 4, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Children gender Policy Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Playing the Disruptive Woman Card
Enough Said! (Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care)
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Source Type: blogs
Nominate yourself or someone you know to attend the United State of Women Summit
We believe that today, we will change tomorrow.
That’s why the White House Council on Women and Girls will host the Summit on the United State of Women in Washington, D.C. on June 14. We will celebrate the progress we have made together throughout the Obama administration to improve the lives of women and girls here and around the world, and showcase innovative solutions to the obstacles women and girls still face.
We want to make sure that on the day of the Summit, the room is filled with the thought leaders, activists, community leaders, and citizens who are committed to bringing about gender equality.
That’s why...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 29, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
TBT: February Man of the Month: Dan Miller
April is National Donate Life Month (NDLM) an entire month of local, regional and national activities dedicated to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation. In honor of NDLM for today’s TBT post we couldn’t think of a more appropriate post than the one highlighting the selflessness of our February Man of the Month.
On the topic of organ donation, Dan Miller had a consistent message: “Do the research.”
For Dan, a healthy, 20-year-old junior at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., this meant seekin...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 28, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: TBT Source Type: blogs
What it means to meet Mikey
You know those really good people, the ones who are determined to make the world a better place? I’m not one of those. I live in the Nation’s Capital – a beehive for the cause-oriented – so I know a really good person when I see one. I have colleagues who tithed their babysitting money. Who spent their college downtime standing up global nonprofits. Who mentor and tutor and build habitats for humanity.
I spent my babysitting money on ill-considered teenage clothing. I spent my college downtime playing quarters. And until recently, my adulthood has been, for all intents and purposes, volunteerism-free. ...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 27, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Children Chronic Conditions Source Type: blogs
12 Percent of People Will Be Diagnosed With This Life-Threatening Heart Disease
The post below first appeared on HuffPost Healthy Living on April 20.
Jen Hyde, a 30-year-old poet and artist living in Brooklyn, has a congenital heart defect. By the age of 25, Hyde had two open-heart surgeries, including a heart valve replacement.
“I know that heart disease is the number one killer of women in America,” Hyde said. “I’m currently in great shape, but part of staying this way means building a strong relationship with my cardiologist so that the care I receive is preventative, not reactive.”
Hyde is not alone in suffering from heart health issues — in the U.S., cardiovascular disease is the No...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Chronic Conditions Source Type: blogs
Update on “Getting Under Your Skin” (her) Voice Project
This is an update from my March 4 post available here.
I want to take a moment, before this performance, to thank all of the folks at LaGuardia’s Veterans Upward Bound program for their generosity, talent, and willingness to take a leap of faith with this creative project.
To those taking part in our writing group—it has been inspiring to watch such a diverse, vibrant group of people, who may never have otherwise met, forge deeply personal bonds through sharing individual stories. The creative work that this group has produced is a testament to how empowering our stories can be, in spreading awareness, spurring empathy...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Women Veterans Source Type: blogs
Digitizing Self-Healthcare with Google, Pfizer, Under Armour, Walgreens and WebMD
How can digital technologies enable self-healthcare in novel ways? This was the theme of a meeting sponsored by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and hosted by Google, with the title, “Advancing Consumer Health through New Technology and Next Generation OTC Healthcare” held on 12th April 2016 at Google offices in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.
Pharmaceutical brand drugs switching to over-the-counter packaged goods, the Cellscope Otoscope used by parents checking their young children’s earaches, connected shoes and earbuds for athletic enhancement, and omni-channel retail shopping….these are a few of the signals we s...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 20, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Rx Source Type: blogs
