Anton Zuiker's personal website and home of the Coconut Wireless weblog
©2000-2009 Anton Zuiker, a Zuiker Chronicles Online website. Sweetened with Textpattern, Textdrive, OSX, skEdit and memories of Paama.
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Conference notes
Last week, I heard Taking the Heat: Fighting to Join the NYFD, an NPR interview with a pioneering woman firefighter who is the subject of a new documentary. Today at the hotel, on my way to teach blogging at the AMA Medical Communications conference, I noticed another group of people were gathering for sessions—women firefighters from across the country were here, too, for a conference of Women in the Fire Service. I snapped this thought-provoking picture from one of their sessions:
Mary Moslander of LiveHealthier.com sat in in on my blogging session, and then impressed the heck out of me at a later session about new technologies. Mary has an excellent understanding of how to build an online community (she helped build WashingtonPost.com) by using social networking tools. Next to Mary was Bill Crounse, an M.D. who works for Microsoft and blogs about health.
Earlier in the day, Andrew Weil spoke about communicating about integrative medicine. He even had a dire prediction: “We will see the complete collapse of the health care system in this country” as baby boomers move into chronic illnesses and the “fat kids we’re raising” begin to suffer the complications of obesity. (Obesity was a topic at other sessions, too.) “Integrative medicine is the light at the end of the tunnel” because of it’s promise to lower costs of health care.
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Thank you for the very kind words Anton, but I really wanted to congratulate you on an incredible blogging session.
You have a wonderful touch as a presenter and created such a relaxing setting that it was truly a pleasure to soak in all that you had to offer. I’ve been hoping that you would have a photo of the stunning lei that your father presented to you that afternoon along with an explanation of the tradition as I found it to be very touching and haven’t stopped sharing the story myself. Warm congrats once again.
— Mary Moslander on Apr 17, 12:50 PM #
The quality of the minds in the audience was matched perhaps only by the quality of the mind of the presenter. What a wonderful opportunity to be learning while teaching, which is what it’s all about.
— John Ettorre on Apr 14, 08:19 PM #
Wish I was there, Anton. As you may know, I am an advocate of the integrative medicine phenomenon, especially when conducted under the auspices of an academic medical center.
However, I worry that int med is becoming boutique medicine or spa medicine. This is due in part to the fact that most services must be paid out-of-pocket. Moreover, the demographic most commonly seeking integrative medicine is at the upper end of the socioeconomic scale.
Weil’s protege, Tracy Gaudet, leads Duke’s fledgling integrative medicine program but I think that UNC’s lower profile program actually offers far more services.
Did Weil have any comment on the initial cost barrier to seeking int med services and how this must be resolved before seeing “lower costs of health care?”
— Abel PharmBoy on Apr 12, 06:15 AM #
Excellent presentation Anton!
— Matt on Apr 8, 03:25 PM #