This video really struck me with the innovative uses of technology to detect disorders sooner and help seniors continue to live in their own homes. For instance, using “behavioral markers” of different aspects of telephone use as early indicators of dementia and Parkinson’s disease sounds remarkable. I thought this was a great talk and even inspiring. Sometimes thinking about these cognitive and neurological disorders which are so debilitating, and for which a viable cure seems generations away, can be very frightening and disheartening. But this gave some hope, not only for the specifics things that were brought up, but also hope that additional ideas and technologies can bring change faster than expected.
This first example completely struck me as an incredibly smart new way to think about preventing and slowing the onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The rest of the discussion based on moving away from the medical mainframe was also a new way of thinking about health care in general. I found his thoughts on health care reform very interesting. Reforming the payment and financing of health care is not enough – we must completely change the way medicine itself is practiced in order to account for the aging and growing population. However, his ideas focus on personalized medicine, which at this point is generally considered a more expensive way to treat. However, as he sees it, we can use technology to improve health through personalized medicine and still cut costs.
This is an old school method of taking care of the health needs of a village. I am more familiar with the Chinese version (as told by a Taiwanese traditional medicine practitioner). In the old days, healers in Chinese villages were paid by the villagers. If the villagers got sick, payment would stop. Essentially, the healers got paid to keep people healthy. They would routinely stop by villagers homes and enquire about everyone, take pulse readings, ask questions about their food supply, activities, and disruptions. Make recommendations and move on to the next home. Today, we are not as intimate, even with the new ideas of making health care delivery more personal and patient centered, but this serves as an informative model to the new ideas that we are hearing about. I think it is similar to the effect found in workforce efficiency studies. The workforce was often more efficient, at least somewhat, because they were being monitored and their activities recorded. I think just someone with intimate knowledge and concern and presence looking over your well-being, is bound to increase your awareness and make you more conscious of your own well-being and take better care of yourself.
This video really struck me with the innovative uses of technology to detect disorders sooner and help seniors continue to live in their own homes. For instance, using “behavioral markers” of different aspects of telephone use as early indicators of dementia and Parkinson’s disease sounds remarkable. I thought this was a great talk and even inspiring. Sometimes thinking about these cognitive and neurological disorders which are so debilitating, and for which a viable cure seems generations away, can be very frightening and disheartening. But this gave some hope, not only for the specifics things that were brought up, but also hope that additional ideas and technologies can bring change faster than expected.
ReplyDeleteThis first example completely struck me as an incredibly smart new way to think about preventing and slowing the onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The rest of the discussion based on moving away from the medical mainframe was also a new way of thinking about health care in general. I found his thoughts on health care reform very interesting. Reforming the payment and financing of health care is not enough – we must completely change the way medicine itself is practiced in order to account for the aging and growing population. However, his ideas focus on personalized medicine, which at this point is generally considered a more expensive way to treat. However, as he sees it, we can use technology to improve health through personalized medicine and still cut costs.
This is an old school method of taking care of the health needs of a village. I am more familiar with the Chinese version (as told by a Taiwanese traditional medicine practitioner). In the old days, healers in Chinese villages were paid by the villagers. If the villagers got sick, payment would stop. Essentially, the healers got paid to keep people healthy. They would routinely stop by villagers homes and enquire about everyone, take pulse readings, ask questions about their food supply, activities, and disruptions. Make recommendations and move on to the next home. Today, we are not as intimate, even with the new ideas of making health care delivery more personal and patient centered, but this serves as an informative model to the new ideas that we are hearing about. I think it is similar to the effect found in workforce efficiency studies. The workforce was often more efficient, at least somewhat, because they were being monitored and their activities recorded. I think just someone with intimate knowledge and concern and presence looking over your well-being, is bound to increase your awareness and make you more conscious of your own well-being and take better care of yourself.
ReplyDelete