The following is an exchange with Kathleen Newbould, from One Economy Corporation, a global non-profit organization that works to maximize the potential of technology for low income people.
I was sent an informational piece about a new initiative in health care, DCHealthCare4U.org, was intrigued, and Kathleen kindly did some research on some questions I had, to fill in the “why” as well as the “what.”
My comment is that there’s a great potential for an organization involved in enabling technology use to expand their role into health care. I think it would be great in the future if DCHealthCare4U.org pointed out which health care providers did have secure patient access and could communicate with patients online. My work to date shows that this patient population is ready, willing, and able to do this, and maybe an organization like One Economy can help make it happen.
Take a look – What do you think?
Thanks to Kathleen and her team for entertaining my return query.
Ted,
Thank you for your response and your interest. I am glad to see that you have some good questions for us! I took some time to speak with one of the men heading up the DC Health Care for You project, Brian Reichart. With his help, I have these answers to your questions:Why did One Economy decide to get involved in health care?
One Economy’s mission is to maximize the potential of technology to help low-income people improve their lives and enter the economic mainstream. We know that low-income people have higher rates of many chronics diseases and believe that technology can play a role in helping to alleviate some of these disparities. From the start, One Economy has connected people to helpful information and resources in vital areas including health through our website, The Beehive (www.thebeehive.org). We are unique in that our content is always intentionally focused on low-income people who may not have the same literacy level as other audiences. With that in mind, our content is always at a 6th grade reading level or below and we utilize multimedia to the greatest extent possible. DC Health Care for You is way to connect DC residents to on-the-ground programs in their cities. In short, working to improve the ability of low-income people to health resources aligns with our mission.
Is DC Health Care a test site for other cities?
Health Care for You will be expanded to Atlanta and Chicago in the coming months.
How is this connected to our other IT initiatives?
DC Health Care for You links to The Beehive which has helpful, non local, information on disease management such as our diabetes coach. We have not taken formal positions on the ideas you described, but generally speaking we do encourage our audience to become more engaged in their own health care. Information is power.
Please let me know if you have any further questions! Thanks again,
Kathleen
Here’s the information about DCHealthCare4U.org:
Dear Dr. Eytan,
I am reaching out to you to inform you about One Economy’s new website called DC Health Care for You (www.DCHealthCare4U.org). We are now launching a campaign to spread the word about this new self-help website which focuses on health care in DC.
We would welcome any thoughts you may have on the website itself. In addition, we feel that since much of your readership consists of people in the DC health care field, you might be able to offer some assistance.
We are hoping to get the word out to DC residents concerned with health care in the area and believe that many of your readers fit this description. If it would not be too much trouble, we would like you to mention our website or include a link to www.DCHealthCare4U.org somewhere in your blog.
Please feel free to check us out online at www.one-economy.com and see the DC Health Care for You site at www.DCHealthCare4U.org.
We feel that this website could really help DC residents and would sincerely appreciate your cooperation. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your time.
My best, Kathleen