Design for patient dignity.

Combining two of my greatest passions — healthcare and design — the UK Design Council, the UK Department of Health and several teams of designers & manufacturers have created multiple healthcare prototypes that will soon by physically put to the test.

Read more about the collaboration here: wallpaper.com/design/design-for-patient-dignity
And view the actual prototypes here: wallpaper.com/gallery-interiors/design-for-patient-dignity

(above) The “Modular Bed Pod” by Nightingale Associates/Billings Jackson Design, designed for patient privacy.

Further debate.

This someecard cracked me up. Send it along to someone whom you know would appreciate it = someecards.com/card/3465

The vital role of social networks and chronic illness.

Love this = Online Social Networks Bridge Gaps for the Chronically Ill

It’s proof that all this online connecting is helping to make things just a little bit easier for those of us living and dealing with chronic illness. To boot, it gives a well deserved shout-out to the good folks at HealthCentral and some of my other favorite health-based social networks.

(Thanks Peter!)

An enchanted evening.

There are no words to express how proud I am of my elected leaders who helped make health care reform a reality. Ineffable. I thought someone made an excellent point in a comment I found on one of the hundreds of articles I’ve scanned through over the past week and I wanted to share:

Did any of these passed without opposition?
- Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln
- Women’s suffrage by Wilson
- Lend/Lease by FDR
- Desegregation of the military by Truman
- Civil Rights Act by Johnson
Who would stand against those today?

(above) President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Medicare bill at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., on July 30, 1965, as Lady Bird Johnson, former President Harry S. Truman, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and Bess Truman look on.

A few of the voices of Crohn's and colitis.

CCFA from gene1102 on Vimeo.

I was lucky enough to be able to participate in this film along with a few of the San Francisco Bay Area’s leading voices in the struggle against Crohn’s and colitis. Congrats to CCFA of Northern California for an incredible event.

Rea$$uring both sides.

It cuts the deficit by over $1.3 trillion and covers 95%, but don’t take my word for it, take Ezra Klein’s.

The importance of IBD funding.

If you’re an American citizen reading this, listen up! (Please.) IBD funding is in jeopardy and we need all the help you can give us.

What can you do? Just click this link, put your name and address in the required fields, hit “send message” and an email will go straight to your local legislators. How easy is that?

More here: ccfa.org/advocacy

Will our ailing history lead to a healthy future?

The New York Times has posted a tremendously cool timeline of American health care reform here: A History of Overhauling Health Care

Starting in 1912 with Theodore Roosevelt (a Republican) who wanted a national health insurance system through to the current bill in congress. Incredibly intriguing. Some of the articles cited from even Harry Truman’s (a Democrat) days are almost identical to the pandemonium of today’s health care reform attempts.

Sarah Palin + Canadian health care.

Yes, she was extremely young at the time, but I just thought this was interesting = Palin Crossed Border for Canadian Health Care

And while we are here, and for what it is worth, all of my Canadian friends (several with Crohn’s disease) adore their health care system and have nothing but the best things to say about it.

Interpret how you will, I’m no politician, I just want everyone to have access to amazing health care. Period.

(Thanks to Sarah Perkins for sending me this.)

A call to arms.

Sometimes you find inspiration in the most unlikely of places, but when Stephen Colbert referred to Canada as “Europe with normal toilets,” I almost spat out my drink I laughed so hard. And then I thought, “Hey, he’s right.”

As someone who (like most afflicted with Crohn’s and colitis) can map my runs through San Francisco based on the availability and location of the cleanest and safest public restrooms, I found this piece by Scott Merrill incredibly insightful and 100% accurate: A call to arms: Reboot the public bathroom

If the title and the picture don’t get you intrigued, maybe this quote will: “It is my hope — indeed, my vision — that future generations will cringe in disgust when they hear about the public toilets of the twenty first century.”

Love it. Thank you Scott.

Crohnology.MD

I’ve been a champion of this project since its inception — not to mention it’s run by a friend of mine and my doctor. Big congrats to the Crohnology.MD team who will be working with a Project HealthDesign grant to use ODLs (observations of daily life) to give patients and their physicians a better snapshot of their overall health. Very exciting.

Post-comp depression.

Yes, I too am suffering from post-Olympic withdrawal. No more spandex-clad Apolo Ohno, awe-inspiring McTwists from our beloved Shaun White, or gossip-mag worthy cat-fights from the Alpine ski queens. What is one to do?

Well, if you want to be a champion for genetic research (you know you do) — you can contact everyone you know who has Wegener’s disease (or is the parent or full sibling of someone with WG) and get them to participate in this study: bit.ly/Wegeners_study

Contact Keisha Carrington to find out more = clinicalgenet.research@gmail.com / +1-416-946-4501; ext 3297

The study needs at least 250 more WG patients to donate DNA samples to have sufficient data to develop results. Help make 2010 the year they can complete the study!