Blogging for health
Karen Edison, MD
As a doctor and Director of the Center for Health Policy, I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can improve the health and well-being of all Missourians.
We face unprecedented challenges today: an uncertain economy, tighter budgets, crises in health due to emergencies, natural and man-made disasters, not to mention an aging population wrangling more with chronic diseases. But who knew four years ago, that the Affordable Care Act would pass; that there would be two national strategies on increasing fair and adequate healthcare for everyone; that there would be power in new communication methods in just 140 characters?
With that in mind, today, I am excited to launch the very first blog post for our Missouri Health Equity Collaborative (MOHEC). While a blog may fall short of healing a sick patient, I do believe that adapting to new developments and technology can help us help others.
In Missouri, there has been so much interest in and support for MOHEC and creating better health opportunities for everyone. But with limited time and resources, at times it has been challenging for us and some of our fellow MOHEC collaborators to be able to regularly follow and address the issues in a coordinated way. After all, schedules are tight and Missouri is a large and diverse state. This only highlights the importance of organizing the advocates and researchers committed to improving health through a group like MOHEC.
Recognizing these realities, MOHEC launched a new web site last year and is now moving into the world of blogging and social media to help bridge these gaps. We still encourage our collaborators to attend our regional meetings and be part of the discussion, either in person or virtually, and now we are able to offer more consolidated news related to health equity. You can subscribe to MOHEC.org’s RSS feed to stay up to date with new resources and views. Just click on the RSS link and paste it into your preferred reader. All of our news will come straight to you. (Not sure about RSS? Check out this great primer).
On this blog, we will be featuring views and ideas for Missouri. Each month, we will feature a different health or community advocate from across the state who will write about the health issues affecting our state or our nation and hopefully spark some conversations among our organizations and families. Along with events and other resources, we also want to hear your ideas as well.
Until next time,
Karen
Karen Edison, MD
The opinions and views expressed in this blog and/or comments are those of the author(s) and do not reflect any position of the Center or the University.
