If our healthcare industry functioned like a true System, Sherpaa would be irrelevant. The definition of a system is:
A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.
Healthcare in America doesn’t work together. And it is disconnected, not interconnected.
There have been many attempts to make health(care) simple. There’s ZocDoc doing wonderful things with making appointments with doctors online. There’s WebMD publishing information to the world that was once only available to doctors. There’s Dr. Cranquis using tumblr as a well-trained, entertaining, and knowledgeable physician answering health questions for the tumblr community. There’s the Withings Scale uploading your weight to the cloud every morning. And, then, of course, there’s the cloud.
But even all of these things are disconnected. And having access to information without having a professional to make that information relevant to you, doesn’t always ease your anxiety.
What we need is a real-time command center for health manned by local doctors that’s plugged in to you, your needs, local healthcare resources, and the best online resources and tools that help you optimize your health. This command center organizes everything for you because it’s their job, not yours, to keep on top of all of the health options you have nowadays, both in your neighborhood and online.
There’s a confluence of things all coming together that, if organized, filtered by wisdom, and presented to you in a very human and personal way, can truly make your health simple.
So we’ve gathered together a group of truly amazing doctors to serve as your Guides. And we’ve also gathered together a carefully curated group of local specialists who are friendly with our Guides and want to work together with us to provide the exact care you need. These doctors know that healthcare should be delivered in a better way and want to be a part of something new and better. They’re mission-driven, well-trained, and have great personalities— I couldn’t think of a better combination. They’re the modern day Marcus Welby’s.
And we’re all working together with you to simplify your health. Wish us luck!
I’m very excited to announce that we’ve officially launched Sherpaa.
Who it’s for: Currently it’s for tumblr’s employees. In the near future, we’ll be signing up other NYC-based companies.
Why: When you’re sick or hurt, figuring out exactly who and what you need and when you need it is difficult. You need an accessible, friendly doctor you can call and email 24/7 who will either solve the problem right then and there or guide you to the highest quality, health professionals with the best personalities who will provide exactly the care you need.
Our wonderful friends at tumblr are our first clients. And that means that all of tumblr’s employees can now email or call our doctors (or Guides as we call them) 24/7 when they have a health concern or question. Our Guides are well connected, in-the-know local doctors. Sometimes they can solve everything for you right away, and other times they’ll collaborate with other New York City specialists to arrange the most appropriate care for you. They make your health simple. And that’s our mission.
We’re starting slow. We’re focusing on working exclusively with tumblr for a while and will soon be signing up other NYC-based companies. If you’re interested in joining Sherpaa, please do let us know.
I’ve been quite busy for the past few months getting Sherpaa started. This is the next big phase of my life. And I’m super proud of it. It’s a service designed and built by us at The Future Well. We’re doing wonderful things and I’m a happy, happy guy.
- I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
- I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
- I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
- I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Also, read The Life Reports.
For the latest episode of ReCivilization on CBC, I’m interviewed by Don Tapscott about disrupting healthcare. Don is one of my favorite authors who wrote:
Don flew down from Toronto a few months back and interviewed me in my backyard over a cup of tea. My part starts around 30 minutes in, but it’s a good listen throughout.
Just bought this photograph. It’s truly amazing. From the Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital in 1910.
Me and my “living” room. The big mirror is a new acquisition that was salvaged from the Toy Building on 5th Avenue and 23rd Street (the Eataly building— if you haven’t tried Eataly, it’s a wonderful experience).
For all you medical people out there, there’s no less than 4 Netter’s behind me. More to come. There’s also a prescription for alcohol that doctors had to use during the Prohibition Era just over my right shoulder. It’s a blank one and supposedly there are only 50 or so blank ones in existence because doctors were required to send in their blanks when Prohibition was over. There’s also a “Diptheria in this House” quarantine sign from Montoursville, PA from 1923 banning anyone from entering or leaving a house.
My favorite little visitor, Doc, had too long a day. Poor guy’s tuckered.
jstn:
Robot and Frank is the feature film debut of Jake Schreier, my friend and longtime Francis and the Lights co-conspirator (you may know him as the director of the incredible video for The Top). It stars Frank Langella as an old man with a slipping memory whose kids (James Marsden and Liv Tyler) give him a caretaker robot that he initially loathes but gradually forms an uneasy alliance with. It just premiered at Sundance this week (see some clips here) and will likely be coming soon to a theater near you.
It also features a number of near-future devices with fictional user interfaces imagined and designed by myself, which was one of the funnest projects I’ve ever worked on. I have a new appreciation for the needs of a real, functioning interface versus the kind you see in the movies. I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you wind up seeing it keep an eye on Frank’s TV and everyone’s cell phones and tablets.
So, clearly I’m biased, but I saw a rough cut of the movie a couple months back and truly loved it. I couldn’t be more proud of Jake, who’s been working slavishly on this for a long time (he talks about the genesis of the project in this interview) as well as Francis, who wrote the film’s beautiful score.
If I never get to work on something cooler I’ll die happy.
Can’t wait to see this.
What really happens to our muscles as we age if we are chronically active?
These are MRI cross sections of leg muscles. Via this recently published study in the journal Physician and Sports Medicine. See also.
[video]
Good news from a study just published in Circulation:
Sex is the cause of less than 1% of all acute heart attacks, the review said. And autopsy studies suggest that only between 0.6% and 1.7% of sudden deaths are related to sexual activity.
(A word to the wise for cheaters, though: Of those who did die during the act, most were men having “extramarital sexual activity, in most cases with a younger partner in an unfamiliar setting and/or after excessive food and alcohol consumption.”)
by Jessica Hische
Many of you have asked, so here’s what’s going on with me.
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE
- 8/1979: Born. Grew up in CT, built a killer eraser collection, fell in love with computers.
- Left college to start a company. Fell hard. Fled to India for 3 months.
- Started 2nd company. Learned to be an adult. Fell in love with NYC.
- Moved to SF, discovered burritos & some of my fave people on Earth.
- 9/2011: Got diagnosed with Leukemia!
- Cried. Went through 3 cycles of chemo. Hurt. Thought hard about what I want out of life. Grew up a second time.
TODAY
… After over 100 drives organized by friends, family, and strangers, celebrity call-outs, a bazillion reblogs (7000+!), tweets, and Facebook posts, press, fundraising and international drives organized by tireless friends, and a couple painful false starts, I’ve got a 10/10 matched donor!
You all literally helped save my life. (And the lives of many others.)
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Tomorrow, I’ll be admitted to Dana Farber in Boston for 4-5 weeks.
First I’ll get a second Hickman line to allow direct access to my heart (for meds and for nutrients if I’m not able to eat). Over the next week, the docs blast my body with a stiff chemo cocktail to try and eradicate all traces of cancer cells. In the process, the immune system I was born with, and my body’s ability to make blood, are destroyed.
Next Friday, I get my donor’s stem cells by IV. I start on immunosuppressants to prevent my body from rejecting them (I’ll be on them for 12-18 months). For these weeks I’ve no immune system, so I’m severely vulnerable to viruses and bacteria. My hospital room and hallway become my world.
Meanwhile, the stem cells make their way to my bone marrow and, with some luck, start producing platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells. At this point, my blood type changes to the blood type of my donor. And my blood will now have my donor’s DNA, not my own.
This is science fiction stuff. I can hardly believe it’s even possible, and there’s lots of chances for things to go wrong. It’s frightening.
AFTER THE TRANSPLANT
Recovery to a new state of “normal” takes about a year, but there’s a few storm clouds hovering:
- My immune system is new, like a baby’s. I’m prone to getting sick.
- Just as with any organ transplant, there’s a chance of rejection. Except in this case, it’s my blood that’s the foreign body, and it touches every organ. They call it graft-vs-host-disease and it can cause health issues and organ complications for the rest of my life.
- Successful transplant or not, Leukemia can relapse. Stubborn mofo.
Overall, 75% of AML transplant patients survive year one, 50% make it through year five. My odds are a little better since I’m young.
THE GREAT NEWS
I’ve got a long road ahead. But I’ve got a donor & amazing family & friends. A few months ago I didn’t have many options. Today I have a plan.
I am alive. I start tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Thank you.
<3
via @vincelavecchia
So good…
(via evangotlib)