ShareWIK Media Group Archives - Page 4 of 4

National Parkinson Foundation

February 18, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

National Parkinson Foundation

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National Parkinson Foundation

This week we sat down with the President and CEO of National Parkinson Foundation, Joyce Oberdorf and Larry Kahn, CEO/Founder of PD Gladiators, a man who develoed early-onset Parkinson disease. Approximately 1 Million people are living with Parkinson disease in the US today. The National Parkinson Foundation’s website describes Parkinson disease this way, “Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, meaning that symptoms continue and worsen over time. Nearly one million people in the US are living with Parkinson’s disease. The cause is unknown, and although there is presently no cure, there are treatment options such as medication and surgery to manage its symptoms.

Parkinson’s involves the malfunction and death of vital nerve cells in the brain, called neurons. Parkinson’s primarily affects neurons in the an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. Some of these dying neurons produce dopamine, a chemical that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. As PD progresses, the amount of dopamine produced in the brain decreases, leaving a person unable to control movement normally.”

Joyce came by to talk about research the National Parkinson Foundation is supporting that is aimed at improving the quality of life of patients living with the disease today. They seek to share best practices that show promise among providers, with regard to the pace of progression and/or severity of symptoms so these persons can enjoy life more fully, longer.

She brought Larry Kahn, founder of PD Gladiators, a boxing gym exclusively for PD patients that was launched after Larry learned about and experienced the benefits of vigorous exercise on his symptoms. He shared his poignant story about learning he has PD (after having had it missed over a year earlier by his initial doctor), how he and his wife approached the diagnosis, and how/why he started PD Gladiators. Larry and Joyce talked about research that has shown the benefits of vigorous exercise on cognitive function among ALL of us, including PD patients. They endeavor to share that information widely so that more PD patients can receive the reparative benefits themselves.

We talked about the resources needed by the National Parkinson Foundation and Larry that will enable them to further advance awareness and quality of life among Parkinson disease patients. We hope you share this podcast, as the information they shared will very likely help someone you care about who’s suffering with Parkinson today.

Special Guests:

Joyce Oberdorf, President and CEO, National Parkinson Foundation

Larry Kahn, Founder, CEO, PD Gladiators

GeorgiaSHAPE

February 12, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

GeorgiaSHAPE

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GeorgiaSHAPE

The Centers for Disease Control published these striking statistics about childhood obesity in the US:

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.^{1, 2}
The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.^{1, 2}
In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.¹
Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.³ Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.⁴
Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.^5,6

Clearly, the trends are alarming and we must act now to reverse them or we will face enormous human and financial costs in a variety of health issues that tend to increase among obese patients. Obese persons face higher rates of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, poor healing, and other challenges. In addition to the health concerns associated with obesity, research has revealed connections between physical activity and academic performance.

We sat down with several key team members from the multifaceted task force whose goal it is to tackle the problem of obesity and caloric imbalance among our youth. Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, serves as the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and State Health Officer. In addition to her numerous duties, she oversees a program put forth by the governor called, “GeorgiaSHAPE“. This program, a public-private partnership, provides research-supported recommendations for Georgia schools to incorporate an additional 30 minutes of physical activity in the course of the day (often within the classroom itself during brief breaks from academic work). See: Pledge to Power Up for 30 The goal is to enroll the roughly 1300 state-wide grade schools into the program to help reduce obesity and improve academic performance. Participating schools receive funds to support the program and also gain access to grants through philanthropic organizations such as the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation.

Along with Dr. Fitzgerald we hosted experts from the Georgia Department of Education, Georgia State University’s Public Health Policy Center, HealthMPowers, the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation, and an educator and student from Carrollton Elementary Schools (one of the early adopters of the program). They shared research findings regarding the value of physical activity as it relates to brain function and, correspondingly, math, reading, and spelling performance among young students. We talked about the fact that currently, only ~1/3rd of Georgia’s schools are enrolled to participate in this important program that has clear, far-reaching benefits to our young people and our collective community health.

“You need to remember that yes, there had been an increase throughout the country [in childhood obesity]. But, Georgia, as far as childhood obesity—we were the second worst state in the entire country,” according to Dr. Fitzgerald. “. . .We now have three years of measurements from looking at Georgia’s children. . .Here are the numbers: 40% of the children in our school systems are not at a healthy weight. . .Here’s the one that scares me. We looked at a variety of things—not just weight. But also, it’s called ‘aerobic capacity’. And we looked at flexibility and we looked at muscle strength. And, the tests are not trying out for the Olympics. It’s not even trying out for the football team. It’s walking a mile and touching your toes. And only 19% of Georgia’s children were able to do all tests. . . So, clearly, this became the governor’s main interest because we knew unhealthy kids, of course, would lead to unhealthy adults.”

Panelists:

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, Commissioner of Georgia Department of Health

Dr. John Bare, PhD, Vice President of Programs, Arthur M. Blank Foundation and Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation

Dr. Emily Vall, PhD, Obesity Project Manager, GeorgiaSHAPE

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder, ShareWIK Media Group

Deborah Kibbie, Georgia State University Public Health Policy Center, Chief Evaluator of GeorgiaSHAPE

Therese McGuire, Health and Physical Education Program Specialist at Georgia Department of Education

Wendy McDowell, Educator, Carrollton County Elementary Schools

Colt Shadrix, 3rd Grade Student, Carrollton Elementary Schools

Innovations in Heart Health

February 4, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Innovations in Heart Health

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Innovations in Heart Health

This week, for Week 5, we focused on innovations in heart health. Emory physician, researcher, and professor, Dr. Omar Lattouf came by to share about research he’s been working on developing new techniques for some challenging heart disorders, and an exciting project he’s working on that is aimed at reducing the number of patients who die from cardiometabolic syndrome. Dr. Lattouf’s work on how conduction problems are treated by insertion of pace makers using a minimally-invasive approach has helped improved outcomes for countless critically-ill patients. Dr. Lattouf talked about their soon-to-launch study on an application designed to help patients with, or at risk for, cardiometabolic syndrome. The application will empower patients to track key vital signs and other health information and make decisions that will improve key factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and more. As Dr. Lattouf shared his personal story about his own family’s experience with heart disease, his passion for helping fight heart disease, which in large part is preventable, was obvious.

Robert Arkin, CEO and Founder of Sensiotec joined us to talk about the way they are using technology and health data to provide clinicians the ability to monitor key vital signs and patient movement patterns in a hands-off way. He talked about how he has long held a desire to help his community on a large scale that he knew that being involved in developing healthcare innovations provides the best way to do that. Robert described how their device uses a special radar technology that is able to measure body movements and even internal organ function, providing real-time vital signs and patient movement patterns. Their technology’s algorithms enable providers to get a degree of predictive information that could potentially help avoid patient falls/injury, or even detect troublesome trends in vital signs that could enable proactive care decisions that could prevent a serious cardiovascular event.

These two health innovators discussed the additional resources they need that could facilitate the acceleration of their respective work with regard to making their solutions available to patients on a larger scale. We are pleased to support their work by helping them tell their story.

Special Guests:

Dr. Omar Lattouf, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Board Certified, American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
Performed Georgia’s first domino heart transplant
He and a colleague implanted the state’s first Abiomed biventricular assist system to support the failing heart of a patient suffering from post-cardiotomy shock

Robert Arkin, CEO of Sensiotec

Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law
Recipient, 2012 Atlanta Business Chronicle Healthcare Heroes Award for Healthcare Innovation
Fomer CEO, Chairman, Modavox, Inc.
Former Member, Board of Directors, Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation

Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

January 21, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

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Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

According to the CDC, as many as 28 million Americans have diabetes. And as many as 1:4 of them do not realize they have it. That means today, potentially almost 10% of the US population are dealing with this chronic disease that puts them at risk for a myriad of health problems (many of them deadly), including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, limb loss due to amputation, poor healing after surgery, greater risk for infections, and more. It’s clearly a serious problem. And, with an ever-growing number of obese persons in the country, including a concerning number of young people, these statistics are likely to grow. In light of these sobering facts, a number of key players within the community from government agencies to health care providers, and innovative companies are beginning to put significant effort into preventing diabetes. In Atlanta, the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team is a group of forward-thinking executives, health experts, and political officers who are joining together to do just that.

This week we were joined in studio by Dr. Luci Ide, CEO of Rimidi Diabetes, and Karl Smith, PhD, Project Manager of Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential (GCAPP). Rimidi Diabetes is a health technology company that has developed and launched an application that enables diabetes patients to track and share key health-related data points with the clinicians guiding their care. With this information, the patients and providers are able to better monitor glucose levels and other indicators and determine how behavioral and medical treatment changes are impacting the patient’s condition. Luci is one of the team members for the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team and she talked about how increasing awareness of the disease and how it can be prevented are important facets of combating diabetes. She used the analogy of a bath tub, where how quickly it fills is determined by how much water flows out of the drain (patients dying as a result of the disease) versus how much is flowing in from the faucet (new diabetes patients). She went on to discuss the fact that today, more patients are living longer and managing their diabetes better than in the past. Our next challenge is to begin to decrease the number of new patients developing diabetes in populations where it can be prevented.

Karl Smith, also a member of the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team, shared how GCAPP is working to engage faith-based organizations in Atlanta communities that have populations that are at a high genetic risk for developing diabetes in an effort to educate young people who live there on how and why they can reduce their risk. He talked about how these communities tend to be “gymnasium deserts”, having few if any facilities that would allow kids to be physically active in a safe place. He went on to share how these communities also tend to have limited availability of quality whole foods that are healthy choices that decrease risk of obesity and are more heart-/diabetes-friendly.

Our discussion focused on how the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team is working to pull more resources together to help reduce the rate of new diabetes patients in our communities. We talked about how public service announcements are being put together by the county government, and how their team needs access to funding to support web development, additional PSA information, and more manpower to help handle some of the work necessary to grow the network of support/collaboration. We hope our listeners share this information so that we can have a significant impact on this disease that is costly in its effect on our community’s health as well as financially.

Special Guests:

Dr. Luci Ide, MD, PhD, CEO of Rimidi Diabetes

MD/PhD Emory University
Residency, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Magee-Womens Hospital
2014 Recipient, Ross Baird Award for Excellent, Village Capital
Former Associate, Monarch Capital Partners

Mark Smith, PhD, Program Manager of Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential

Doctor of Health Education, A.T.Still University of Health Sciences
MS, Exercise Science and Health Promotion, California University of Pennsylvania
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Exercise Is Medicine Specialist, American College of Sports Medicine

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente

January 8, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente

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American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente

A Note From the Host: Thank you! for listening to our inaugural show with Health Connect South. We are excited to provide a media outlet to supplement the efforts of the organization to move healthcare outcomes forward in our community. We were pleased to bring these experts together for what turned out to be an excellent discussion on efforts to improve outcomes for cancer patients. I was disappointed to learn in post-production that there was a technical problem that created a level of feedback over the recording of the broadcast. We are not satisfied with anything less than excellent sound quality for our content. That said, please forgive the presence of static that found its way into the recording and take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about what these important experts are working to achieve, and what resources would help them achieve larger success sooner. And be sure to tune in next week for what will be a great live show and subsequent podcast (sans technology gremlins). ~CW Hall

According to statistics from cancer.org, cancer is currently the #2 cause of death in the US. We know that cancer occurrence is greatest among persons over 40 years of age. As the proportion of persons over 40 grows more rapidly, cancer will become the #1 cause of death statistically, surpassing heart disease. While these facts are concerning, there are reasons to feel encouraged. Since 1991, the overall death rate due to cancer has decreased by 22%, translating to over 1.5 million lives saved. Recent statistics show this trend is continuing. But we obviously have work to do.

For our first episode Diana Keough of ShareWIK Media Group and I sat down with experts from American Cancer Society, GeorgiaCORE, and Kaiser Permanente to talk about efforts to reduce cancer rates of occurrence and improve outcomes for those who become cancer patients. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld is Deputy Chief Medical Director for American Cancer Society. He shared information about the over-arching goals of American Cancer Society and key areas of focus. We also talked about some areas of need that if bolstered, could advance cancer awareness and outcomes. Dr. Lichtenfeld spoke about the fact that an area that could help improve cancer outcomes is in continued improvements in awareness of (and use of) screening measures, particularly among at-risk women and areas with limited access to care to facilitate earlier detection and intervention.

Nancy Paris shared how GeorgiaCORE is focused on amplifying national efforts with a state-level focus to curb cancer rates and improve outcomes for cancer patients and quality of life for survivors in Georgia. This unique health initiative is a public-private partnership that provides a collecting point for information regarding available care resources for active cancer patients and survivors. The organization also provides a listing of ongoing clinical trials that a patient may be able to participate in to fight their cancer while advancing science for new evidence-based treatment approaches. When the organization began to look into available clinical trials they identified 82. That number has grown to over 650. Nancy said, “The number of trials isn’t the whole measure of their value. But cancer is a multifaceted disease, in fact more than one disease. . .So we have to have a number of trials to reach different types of cancers, different age groups. . .That means a patient may be eligible for a new treatment.” She talked about how GeorgiaCORE supports active research in the state and helps link patients with trials that could potentially help them.

Dr. Bindu Lingam is an oncologist with Southeast Permanente Medical Group who has a passion for clinical research in the field of oncology in addition to providing high quality care to patients. She shared information about Kaiser Permanente, including the fact that they currently care for over 9 million members across the country. Dr. Lingam talked about how physicians guide the care of patients and how health and research data is able to be shared across their network to improve outcomes for all due to a system-wide electronic medical record. She described how the organization is able to facilitate best practices and research efforts across their network by sharing data from locations around the country. “We have a rich network of information to draw from. And we feel like we draw that network here to Georgia and Atlanta to capitalize on that.”

Special Guests:

Dr. Len Licthenfeld, MD, MACP, Deputy Chief Medical Director of American Cancer Society

Doctorate of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Member, Alpha Omega Alpha, Honor Medical Society
Board Certified, Oncology
Over 4 decades of involvement in cancer care

Nancy Paris, President of GeorgiaCORE

Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Georgia Health Foundation
Former Vice President, Georgia Cancer Coalition
Former Vice President, Georgia Baptist Health Care System
MS, Health Policy and Administration, Mercer University

Dr. Bindu Lingam, MD, of Southeast Permanente Medical Group

Doctorate of Medicine, Meharry Medical College
Fellowship, Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine
Recipient, 2014 Community Benefit Award, Kaiser Permanente Georgia Region
Recipient, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award- NIH Training Grant

Three Fantastic Female Entrepreneurs

December 16, 2014 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Three Fantastic Female Entrepreneurs

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Three Fantastic Female Entrepreneurs

This week I got to sit down with Three Fantastic Entrepreneurs from the Atlanta area. Diana Keough, CEO and founder of ShareWIK Media Group (Share What I Know), LeeAnn Maxwell, Co-Founder of Vixen Vodka, and Lara Hodgson, multiple-time successful entrepreneur and CEO/Founder of NOWaccount. We talked about some of the challenges they faced as women launching their own businesses, hear what they believe helped them succeed as entrepreneurs, and advice they offer for women contemplating starting a business of their own. For the longest time most of us would envision a man when thinking “CEO” or “Doctor”, or even “Entrepreneur”. And, as our guests shared, many times they’re the only female CEO/Entrepreneur in a room full of men. Times are slowly but surely changing. And today many women are launching successful brands and businesses, some of which are now global brands.

ShareWIK Media Group is a licensed content-generating group, producing high quality, interesting content across all media types for use in population health management efforts, inbound marketing/branding, testimonial content, and pertinent health optimization content. Diana talked about her transition from a journalist for the Plains Dealer newspaper to a Chief Executive Officer in a leadership role. She says, “If you are not surrounding yourself with people who are better than you and open to the fact that you might be wrong; or they might have a better idea on how to do things, then you’re not going to grow.” Over the weeks since I met Diana I’ve had the opportunity to meet several of the folks who make up the team at ShareWIK and seen some of their work. I can tell you: if your organization or agency needs to move an initiative or your business forward and you rely heavily on engaging your target audience to drive awareness you MUST include ShareWIK Media Group on your shortlist of content providers. At their core, the people at ShareWIK Media Group are journalists with expertise across all media types. On top of journalistic skills they bring knowledge and expertise within the healthcare journalism space as well.

Vixen Vodka is an EXCELLENT vodka that was born out of a trip to St. Simons Island, GA where two friends, drinking cocktails by the pool, decided they should launch their own vodka, branded and tailored for women. As LeeAnn says, “We came home, sobered up, and remembered it was a great idea.” “A dream without action is merely a fantasy.” It took them 2 years from beach to shelf. She shared how she and her good friend (also a woman) broke into the spirits business, starting with ZERO knowledge of how to make vodka much less how to bring one to market. After being told her idea was fantastic by a business consultant he turned around and told them, “I’ll never work. The spirits industry is a Good Ol’ Boys network. Those men will chew you up and spit you out!” That was several years ago and now the brand is adding more states to the seven states where they’re currently sold.

NOWaccount got started as a solution to a problem Lara Hodgson encountered as an entrepreneur with an earlier business, the impact of not having access to cash that is tied up holding unpaid invoices, particularly when they aged for several weeks (or more). She firmly believes that a successful business needs to have people behind them who are providing the product/service to solve a particular problem for their customer more so than “to sell lots of ‘X’ and make lots of money because it’s a great product”. She said, “So many people come up with a great idea and they fall in love with the ‘What’. They fall in love with the widget or the product. And if your ego and your passion is in the product then they are going to woefully un-deliver. But if your ego and your passion are in the “So What?” and the impact and the problem you’re solving then the sky’s the limit.” NOWaccount is a merchant services company that provides the B2B company with access to capital by selling slower-paying invoice accounts within 2-5 days for basically the same cost as accepting a credit card. Their solution is invisible to their client’s customers, has no minimum time commitment, and includes only those accounts selected by the B2B they’re helping. The NOWaccount option gives businesses the capital they need to accept larger orders, add staff, often enabling them grow larger and faster than was possible before.

Special Guests:

Lara O’Connor-Hodgson, CEO of Nowaccount Network Corporation

MBA Harvard Business School
Former Adjunct Professor of Finance, Georgia Institute of Technology
Board of Directors, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
Owner, Insomnia Group
Chairman of the Board, Atlanta Heights Charter School
Second Language–Japanese

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

LeeAnn Maxwell, CEO/Co-Founder of Vixen Vodka