By Tine Hansen-Turton.   A recent Pew Research Center report on the nation’s mood concluded that two-thirds of the public is dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country. With consumer confidence plunging, the jobless rate rising, millions of people uninsured or under insured and the American economy faltering in a way most of us have never seen before, there appears to be little hope of good economic news anytime soon.

 A look back in history, though, tells us that hard times can produce innovation and invention.

We’re not talking about those businesses that thrive in tough times or entrepreneurs with products that sell when the economy is down. We’re talking about basic ideas that can improve the way we live. This past fall President Obama said, “It is time to tap into the spirit of innovation that has always succeeded in moving America forward.” He’s right. The spirit of innovation is what we are about as a people, and it will always prevail. We are a people and country with the creativity to solve complex issues. And our courage to adopt good ideas is what will get America back on its feet.

Now, the best ideas are those that are good for the average person. In health care, most people want accessible, affordable, and quality care. However, 70 percent of us report that we cannot see our doctor on the same day we feel sick, and over 30 percent of us don’t have a regular doctor in the first place. Yet 90% of our basic primary health care needs can be met by a nurse practitioner who functions similarly to a doctor.

In recent years, a series of so-called “disruptive innovations,” a term coined by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, in the health care sector have capitalized on nurse practitioners and their ability to provide high-quality primary and preventive care in convenient care clinics located in retail settings such as pharmacies, big box stores and supermarket chains – and in community settings, such as nurse-managed health centers. Research has documented that both retail-based clinics and nurse-managed health clinics provide safe, accessible and affordable care to millions of Americans. In these settings, nurse practitioners already touch millions of people each year. What this tells us is that millions of Americans are not waiting for Congress to solve the health care problem. Instead, they have voted with their feet and are changing the rules on their own.

For healthcare reform to be successful, we need to embrace these disruptive innovations. Similarly in education, parents and children are not waiting around for government to fix the education system. Instead, millions of them are flocking to alternative schools that are able to adapt to the changing needs of the students who now live in a competitive global economy.

When our education systems do not adapt and there are no alternative options, our students are voicing their own opinion by choosing not to participate at all. Many of our urban districts are experiencing drop-out rates above 50%. More and more students and their families are flocking to any available public or private option that meets their needs, academically and financially. We know how to educate our students for the 21st Century and have documented successes across the country. For education reform to be successful, our public education districts need to demonstrate the ability to adapt, and our higher education institutions need to train educators to be student-centric.

If our systems cannot adapt, then the best hope will be the expansion of the alternative options. We have all heard the adage, “necessity is the mother of invention.” With the challenges we face as a society today, whether it be health care or education, the time for invention is now.

The best ideas are grounded in solving our basic challenges. And when we focus on those everyday challenges, our spirit of American innovation truly prevails.

This post, which appeared first in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal, a web-based journal that highlights regional innovators – www.philasocialinnovations.org, was co-written by Tine Hansen-Turton and Nick Torres.

Many thanks to our speakers, Phyllis Greenberger, Dr. James Simon, and Susan Wysocki, and to Disruptive Women’s Wendy Grossman for the following summary post.

Our panel this morning discussed the issues surrounding how the WHI results were interpreted and communicated to women and their health care providers. We recognize that hormones are not appropriate for all women, and look forward to hosting a future panel that highlights alternatives.

The speakers have a variety of backgrounds and experiences (and genders), and we aim to promote diversity of voices.

This was not normal breakfast conversation.

Today was a jolting – and disruptive – talk about what happens to women’s bodies when they age. (Who knew that if you’re menopausal and you don’t take your hormones, your vagina can literally dry up and shrink?)

The second in Disruptive Women’s 2010 breakfast series, today’s talk was titled, “News (Hot) Flash: Sex, Drugs & Menopause.” The breakfast at Johnny’s Half Shell, was sponsored by Medco – and we’re happy to say there were two men in the audience this month – double last time.

The breakfast started with a screening of trailer for the upcoming movie Hot Flash Havoc. (Think: Michael Moore tackles menopause.)

“It’s not available in theaters yet – but it will be,” said Disruptive Women’s Robin Strongin, introducing the film.

I’m genuinely sad that the documentary isn’t being released until October-ish. Normally, I don’t want to watch anything at 7:30 in the morning, but the little bit that was shown was so funny I can’t wait to see the whole thing. (Seriously, put it on your Netflix queue now.)

Introducing the speakers, Strongin briefly summed up a woman’s life cycle. “You start out life in this estrogen gel – like a gefilte fish,” she said. “Then you hit puberty, you’re either fertile or you’re not, then you’re pre-menopausal, then menopausal, then post-menopausal. Then you die.”

The talk today focused on the menopausal portion of the life cycle. Phyllis Greenberger, President and CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research, started off speaking about the Women’s Health Initiative. “There was a lot of misinterpretation, some of the results reported were incorrect,” she said.

She quickly explained what they did, what was wrong, and what’s true today. The Women’s Health Initiative was a giant study of postmenopausal women, testing whether hormone replacement therapy could help prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. The results were different for different age groups – women starting hormone therapy in their 70s had generally bad outcomes (increased risk of heart attack, breast cancer, stroke, etc.), while women starting in their 50s had generally good outcomes. But the results widely reported were the negative ones from older participants – so many women never heard about the rest of the research, or anything we’ve learned since!

The next speaker was Dr. James Simon, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the George Washington School of Medicine – and a menopause researcher. (But he will forever be remembered to me as the man who scared the crap out of me about the future health and wellness of my vagina. I may not sleep tonight.)

The Women’s Health Initiative’s results scared a lot of menopausal women into quitting their hormones cold turkey. That, is a very bad idea, he said. Going off hormones makes women unhappy and unpleasant, but more disturbing, he said, “when women go off their hormones their vaginas dry up and get smaller.”

(!)

Which makes sex painful – so women stop having it. And, he says, marriages today have enough problems without eliminating sex (or arguing about it).

“No one wants to have sex when it hurts…. You can’t have good sex with a dried-up vagina. That’s a fact,” he said. “I can give you a two-hour lecture on why the parts don’t work.”

Uhm, great. Go on.

Instead, he told a horrifying story about one of his 55-year-old patients – a prominent writer for the Washington Post, who came to his office for her annual healthy woman exam. He asked her how she was feeling, how were things with her husband, how’s their sex life? Good, good, good, she said. Everything was fine.

Then she put her feet in the stirrups.

“I couldn’t even put the speculum in because it’s too shrunk and dry and small,” he said. “I could barely fit a pencil.”

(I have heard stories about women “drying up” and that if you don’t use it you lose it – but I thought that was just, well, talk. I didn’t think it was true.)

He asked her if she was having sex.

She was silent.

Then she started crying. “She cried and cried,” he said.

Painful dried up vaginas aren’t something a lot of women talk about. “It’s grin and bear it, tough it out, or give it up,” he says.

But, being an honorary Disruptive Woman – he laid it on the table.

And Susan Wysocki, president and CEO of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health pointed out more menopause-related things a lot of young women don’t know – or talk about. Like, who knew some menopausal women off their hormones are in so much pain they can’t ride an exercise bike, or even comfortably sit down.

“Here we are,” she said, “saving at least one vagina at a time.”

She also discussed the fact that some women worry about taking hormones because they don’t want to get breast cancer. She says that sometimes a woman may have a teeny tiny potential tumor that could go un-noticed for years. But, sometimes the hormones can make it grow big enough to show up on a mammogram. And that way a woman can get treatment faster.

“That can be a good thing,” she said.

For more about menopause, hormone replacement, and the WHI study, you can read:

• Women’s Health Initiative site, National Institutes of Health
• “A Fresh Look at Post-Menopausal Hormone Therapy: Benefits and Risks,” Society for Women’s Health Research, January 2010 (updated April 28, 2010)
• “The Estrogen Dilemma,” New York Times Magazine, April 12, 2010
• Hot Flash Havoc movie site

Don’t miss the next Disruptive Women in Healthcare breakfast, “Childhood Obesity: A Big Fat National Challenge.” May 27 at Johnny’s Half Shell. Reserve your spot now!

Kelley Connors

This post was written by Kelley Connors, President, Founder, Real Women on Health!

We’re a culture that mixes sexy and boobs.  So, can a woman feel sexy without breasts?

For breast cancer, and other, survivors, the question sounds just as practical as  provoking.  Breast cancer is the most common kind of cancer affecting women, except non-melanoma skin cancer. It’s commonness increases with age and with more targeted treatments available today, women are living longer with cancer.

But the effects of treatment remain.  In some cases, women choose to have their breast removed as prevention… while others have no choice and must have surgery and chemotherapy. Regardless of the path a woman chooses,  cancer wreaks havoc on her “sensual self.” From the toxic effects of chemotherapy on hair and skin to the disfigurement of breast removal, how do women regain a sense of sensuality?

And, what about sex?  Does sex have a place in living with cancer? Sensuality and sexuality and what happens after cancer are vital questions for women coping with cancer today.

Because the loss of sexual desire after cancer has more than one reason behind it, restoring libido or “desire” often requires more than one solution. It’s not at all just about boobs for many women.  And, sometimes the desire for sex remains strong, however, the physiological effects of cancer treatment itself interferes with performance or pleasure.

The topic is one plagued by the medicalization of women’s health, the lack of communication between the healthcare professional and patient, societal taboos around sex and women’s bodies, poor communication between intimate partners and lack of understanding of the impact of cancer treatment. In fact, in the beginning, women may feel guilty that they are thinking about anything other than “surviving” so the question of  “What’s going to happen to my sex life” is left outside of any medical setting. (more…)

By Lois Privor-Dumm. How many times have you seen a single photograph that has caused you to stop what you’re doing and find out more, tell a friend or donate money?  We read so much about the problems of the world today and, if you’re like me, unless the issue is already close to your heart, words alone may not be enough to register.

Salim Khan, 3 year old pneumonia survivor from Bijnor, India by Ándre J. Fanthome

A photo contest seems like such a simple thing, but it’s a way to enable a problem to reach into our hearts and minds.  Pneumonia is a leading killer of the world’s young children, but the disease has very real and practical solutions.  Although I see the statistics and understand the scientific pathways, nothing impacts me more than seeing how the disease affects families and children or reaches the heart of a pediatrician.  These moments are often captured powerfully with the click of a camera.  While one child with pneumonia may seem just like a number to many, it is these stories and images that can make a difference.

Photoshare, Kids 4, Health, the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia are sponsoring a photo contest to find the image that will make a difference in our minds.  Nikon will award digital cameras to category winners.  And, if you’re fans of Ann Curry of the Today Show and Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, you’re in luck.  They, along with a professional photographer, are the judges.   Submitting a photo that jumps off the page and tells an important story would be a great way to get your experience and talent, or that of a friend, family or colleague in front of our celebrity panel.  For more information, click here.  Details on the time and place of the photo exhibit to unveil contest winners and finalists will be announced shortly. (more…)

How are you celebrating Earth Day?

By Robin Strongin.  Breaking News.  Exciting news for Disruptive Women in Health Care.  Recently, I had the opportunity to meet Kelley Connors and Cassie Holm. Kelley is the creator of Real Women on Health and she and Cassie have created an amazing site. 

Kelley, Cassie and I have a great deal in common, especially our enthusiasm to talk – to share our knowledge and experiences with other women. Kelley is host of Real Women on Health!,  an Internet radio program that has just made the exciting move to TALK RADIO….and they have invited me to  be the show’s DC Health Correspondent, providing “inside the beltway” health policy updates for the Real Women on Health! talk radio show.

Here are the details:  please tune in and join the conversation (call in number is 203-845-3044).  Real Women on Health! will be broadcast at 8:00 pm ET, Wednesdays on News/Talk 1400 WSTC 1350 WNLK (Cox Media Group)  and will also available streaming online starting April 21^st.

 The dynamic one-hour show will be a conversational platform for featured guests and real women to share their collective wisdom and subtle secrets on topics that matter most to them.

By Pamela Cipriano. Access to care from Nurse Practitioners got two boosts in recent weeks.  The health insurance reform legislation (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148) contains important provisions that will address payment and recognition of NP services in medical homes and nurse managed health centers. (Refer to Lisa Korin’s blog 4/16 on “The Patient Centered Medical Home Model:  A Way to CostiEffectively Improve Quality of Care”) Original plans for medical home models had been stalled, and included payment only for physicians; the new law recognizes nurse practitioners as leaders of primary care practices and makes them eligible for reimbursement.  Nurse practitioners are also key providers and leaders of Nurse Managed Health Centers (NMHC).  Reform legislation has made available a new $50 million grant program to help innovative safety net providers.  NMHCs provide a full spectrum of primary care including health promotion and disease prevention to under-served populations, primarily in areas where the supply of primary care physicians is not adequate.

Another development, which may be below most people’s radar screens is a timely report from the Macy Foundation.  Dr. Linda Cronenwett, Professor and Dean Emeritus of the School of Nursing, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Dr. Victor J. Dzau, James B. Duke Professor of Medicine, Chancellor of Health Affairs of Duke University, and CEO of Duke Health System were co-chairs of a conference held in January of this year addressing, “Who will provide primary care, and how will they be trained?” While hailing some of the newest developments in team care and use of electronic technologies, the group called for fundamental changes in the education of primary care providers as well as reformed payment structures and incentives that encourage more providers to engage in primary care to meet health needs of individuals and communities. The conference conclusions are rich in actions to address a future workforce, new interprofessional education models, strong innovative leadership, and removal of barriers that hinder nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants from being primary care providers.  A full report of conference proceedings is due out later this year; the co-chair conference summary can be found at:  http://www.josiahmacyfoundation.org/documents/jmf_ChairSumConf_Jan2010.pdf

A Yahoo! news report last week highlights all these developments, underscoring the debate around NPs providing primary care, but highlighting the patient satisfaction and quality outcomes we know are associated with care by NPs. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100414/ap_on_he_me/us_med_dr_nurse

UPDATE:

On our Facebook Fan Page, Susan Rinkus Farrell shared the following great video about Nurse Practitioners:

To learn more about the disease and get information about the JDRF Capitol Chapter’s 2010 Walk to Cure Diabetes, visit www.jdrfcapitol.org. The Walks will be held in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, May 2 and in Leesburg, Virginia on Sunday, June 6.

By Tamera Adams. “Can I do anything?” is the response 12-year-old Sara Jacob typically hears when she explains to new friends that she has diabetes and the device strapped to her waist is not a cell phone, but her “life support.” Those are the exact words Sara uses to describe the pump that automatically infuses insulin into her small body. It’s more critical than chemotherapy is to a cancer patient she explains.

Unlike a type 2 diabetic whose body doesn’t produce sufficient insulin, Sara’s body produces no insulin at all. She has type 1 diabetes, which is commonly referred to as juvenile diabetes and generally diagnosed in children, teens or young adults. It’s the most severe form of the disease, lasts a lifetime and its cause remains unknown. Most importantly, the complications that result from type 1 diabetes can be devastating.

Diagnosed at the age of four, Sara has no difficulty explaining what the disease is or how it has affected her life—neither does 12-year-old Jeremy Gross, also diagnosed at age four. Jeremy’s nine-year-old brother Benjamin, on the other hand, was diagnosed just two years ago and seems a little less vocal about his experience.

The stories they shared are common among children with diabetes—the difficulty of going on sleepovers at friends’ houses; teachers that make it difficult for them to leave the classroom to test blood sugar levels or take glucose tablets; and being instructed by gym teachers and coaches to remove medic alert jewelry to participate in sporting activities. Jeremy was especially grateful that he doesn’t have to contend with the latter of these challenges. Fortunately, his gym teacher is very understanding.

However, Benjamin once heard a teacher tell his class that exercise would prevent diabetes—a blanket statement about the disease that doesn’t apply to type 1 diabetics and made Benjamin slightly uncomfortable.

Although their parents are very involved and intervene without hesitation, diabetes is a difficult disease to manage, especially for a child.

That’s why the Gross family turned to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) after Jeremy was diagnosed. JDRF immediately sent a Bag of Hope—which includes a glucose meter, books, DVDs and a myriad of materials to educate and lend support to diabetic children and their caregivers. (more…)

By Lisa Korin. The media has given much attention to the health insurance aspects of health reform, but less to aspects of the law addressing the root issues.  Yes, the number of uninsured is a huge problem, but let’s not forget that an increasingly chronically ill population needing access to often expensive health services is one the key drivers contributing to the plight of the uninsured even needing insurance.

According to the CDC, nearly 50% of the U.S. population suffers from a preventable chronic health condition, and these diseases account for 75% of the nation’s $2 trillion annual healthcare costs. Much of these costs arise from:  patients obtaining care from multiple healthcare providers, lack of medical care coordination, duplicate diagnostic testing and provider visits, and treatment non-compliance due to consumer confusion.  These facts indicate that increased spending on chronic conditions does not necessarily result in better health outcomes and means that patients with chronic conditions currently receive health care in a manner that may not be the most cost-effective.  These statistics are even more pronounced for minority adults and children as well as for those with low incomes, for whom there are greater disparities in access to care and treatment plan compliance.

That’s why I was glad to hear that H.R. 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had provisions related to the patient centered medical home (PCMH) model of care.   According to the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, PCMH is an approach to providing comprehensive primary care to adults, youth and children that broaden access to primary care while enhancing care coordination. Clinicians practicing in the highest level medical home will: (more…)

I’ve been called many names…and, most of the time, I ignore it and let it roll off my back. But last week, I got the ultimate compliment. I was ordained as one of the “Disruptive Women in Healthcare,” a blog site that invites anyone, particularly women, to speak up and challenge the health care status quo. Since I got formal permission to be disruptive (as if I really needed to have someone tell me it’s okay), I am going to allow myself to be a bit irreverent in this blog entry. I apologize in advance.

The focus of this week’s blog is on the health benefits of personal genetic testing–an emerging area of medicine that intrigues many people when they read about it, but scares them too much to get tested themselves. Yes, the blog last week had a similar theme but was centered on the insight you can gain on your ancestral history. In full disclosure, that blog was just a set up; I used a heart-warming, personal story as a first step to getting your buy-in.

The Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, and since then, companies have been springing up that offer personal genetic testing to consumers. The space is dominated by 3 companies: Pathway Genomics, Navigenics, and 23andMe. For anywhere between $350 and $999, testing kits can be purchased without a doctor’s order. Unfortunately, even as the price has come down, very few people choose to get their genetic testing done.

Why?

“I don’t want find out something I don’t want to know.” “What if I find out I am higher risk for Lou Gherigs disease?” My personal concern was learning that I might be at higher risk for developing Alzheimers. I was so scared that I stared at the test kit for 3 weeks before I spit into the vial and sent it in. I told my family that the results would come back in 4-6 weeks and the information “had the potential to change our life forever.” The drama (which I am pretty good at) was almost worthy of a gold statuette.

But, after going through the entire process, I realize that the worry, the procrastination, and the hand-wringing were wasted energy. The report results were relevant, practical and actionable–TODAY. And, the benefits of knowing my genetic makeup far outweigh the false sense of security that we allow ourselves to experience when we are simply blind to the facts.

The majority of my fears were probably fueled by the unknown: manufacturers’ descriptions of report results are vague; I had never met or spoken to someone who had the testing done. So, the goal in sharing my test results with readers in this blog is to dispel some of the mysteriousness of genetic testing and to demonstrate that this important new technology is an easy, cost-effective way to improve health. And, in my opinion, it is the only tool/technology I have seen that might be able to successfully influence behavior.

So, I have one important key message I hope to get across: Knowledge is Power.

(more…)

By Robin Strongin.  Heads up — the New York Times magazine will be publishing The Estrogen Dilemma this Sunday, April 18th.

Just in time for Disruptive Women’s April 29th breakfast: News (Hot) Flash: Sex, Drugs, and Menopause. (you can register here and of course, MEN are more than welcome to attend.)  We will be showing a sneak peak of the soon-to-be-released movie, Hot Flash Havoc.

Estrogen and Menopause:  Lots of studies, lots of data, lots of unanswered questions.

If you are comfortable, feel free to share your experience with the mother of all hormones.

It’s been awhile since I read a book that has influenced  my thinking.  Maybe it’s because I don’t read as many books for “fun” as I used to.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been pre-occupied with ARRA and HITECH related work or my graduate school course on medical ethics or my teenager’s triumphs and despair as she awaited college acceptance decisions.   But there I was driving in my car listening to a National Public Radio (NPR) segment.  Actually it was Fresh Air with Terry Gross. For the next several minutes I found myself drawn in by an interview with a science journalist named Rebecca Skloot, who wrote a book called “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”

Now I’ve worked in the health care field for more than 35 years and lived in the Maryland-DC area for most of that time.  I had never heard of Henrietta Lacks or the HeLa cells.  Somehow I had missed prior accounts of the controversy (such as Cells That Save Lives Are a Mother’s Legacy New York Times November 17, 2001).   What I heard during the NPR interview propelled me to purchase the book and now after reading the book, I find myself amazed by the story and wondering about the many issues the story raises.

Henrietta Lacks’s story is the TRUE story of a woman who unknowingly supplied the first human cells grown in culture, leading/contributing to what many consider to be scientific and medical advancements such as the vaccine for polio, clone mapping, and in-vitro fertilization.   As the story goes in 1951, a doctor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore took cells from the cervix of Henrietta Lacks who was a poor African-American woman dying of cervical cancer.  What’s so significant about something that happened back in 1951?  It turns out that her cells were/are unique. They have multiplied and multiplied and multiplied and have been used in tens of thousands of research studies by dozens and dozens of researchers.  It seems that a lot that is happening today remains VERY relevant. Not the least of which is just telling Henrietta Lacks’s story.   Her story has implications for ongoing health research and policy and ethics and law and patient’s rights.

(more…)

By Rozalynn Goodwin.  It’s pretty sad that we have come to the point that “civil discourse” must be taught on college campuses.  Parents, not professors, should teach children to be polite and courteous and to take turns listening and speaking.  But I guess with all the recent pre- and post-health reform tomfoolery displayed by juvenile-acting public officials and hate groups disguised as patriots, such coursework is necessary.

While  I was watching the televised health reform vote in the United States House of Representatives a few weeks ago, I heard someone yell, “Baby killer!” and thought, “Oh no!  Not again!  As if South Carolina hasn’t had enough embarrassment for the 21^st century!  Please don’t let it be one of our congressmen in another act of immaturity and lack of self-control.” 

Thank goodness my state doesn’t have a monopoly on grown people acting like undisciplined five year-olds.  Here’s to you, Texas!

We all read or heard about the spitting, cursing, racial slurs and vandalism that occurred during and after the bill’s passage.  We can debate about whether this was the eruption of a sedentary volcano filled with deep-seated bigotry or simply the lust for power out of control, but one thing is certain.  Elected officials in what many consider the most civilized of modern civilizations should exemplify civil discourse, setting examples for our children who will one day fill their shoes and run this country.  I would like to believe that most parents are teaching their children to respect others, so it doesn’t help our children to see such disrespect and intolerance in the highest offices of the land.  Our country may not demand that the men and women we elect to public office prove themselves to be role models of moral purity, but we should at least demand that they act their age.    

Let’s take this opportunity to condemn such behavior to our children, and reinforce the importance of good old-fashioned manners.  Maybe they can teach our elected officials a thing or two.

By Phyllis Kritek. When I hear a story repeated in different parts of the country by persons who differ, one from another, in striking ways, I pay attention: This is no longer a story, it is a pattern. The stories preoccupying me these days are ones where parents of recent college graduates tell me that their son or daughter successfully completed college but was unable to find a job, and thus became a waitperson, the politically correct term for one who serves food in a restaurant. Usually waitpersons do not have health care coverage through their employer.  We can find these same young people in the health care insurance reform legislation: they can now stay covered by their parents’ insurance policies until the age of 26. I think this is supposed to be good news.

Watching the unfolding drama of the health care insurance reform legislative process and the citizen responses, I kept looking for the young people. They were virtually invisible, perhaps busy serving food, and their unique plight went unexplored by virtually everyone. I wondered if their concerns were embedded in the endless polls, or even if they were being polled. The mandate for individual coverage, it is anticipated, will uniquely burden these young people. The anticipated challenge of a rapidly expanding aging population with extensive health care needs is their responsibility to assume, we assume.

As a group that has been fairly well researched, the baby boomers have some descriptors they do not like, no matter what the evidence. Along with a whole raft of wonderful qualities, it is often noted that they are self-centered and self-absorbed. They tend to reject this descriptor out of hand. Their elders, in the early studies on generational characteristics, were interestingly not called the “greatest generation” but the “entitlement generation”.  I watched Tom Brokaw’s recent report on the boomers, waiting for him to ask a young person what he or she thought about the boomers. It did not happen. I watched the obsessive air time given to angry, often vitriolic people reacting to the impending health care legislation: none of them looked very young to me.

(more…)

By Robin Strongin. Allow me to introduce everyone to our newest Disruptive Women bloggers. As you can see, I once again have the privilege of announcing an amazing group of women—all of whom, in their own unique way—work to improve the lives of others. Some through art and music, some through science, some through direct patient care, and others through policy and communications. The one thing these dynamos have in common, as do all our Disruptive Women, is an unrelenting passion to improve the health and well being of everyone – men, women, and children. How they do it is where things get interesting.

Take a moment and look over their bios. You won’t be disappointed.

	Archelle Georgiou, MD conducts a twice weekly Fox TV healthcare segment in the Twin Cities where she offers viewers a practical and balanced analysis of the latest health care news headlines and translates the information into practical tips they can use to take better care of themselves. She is also a Fellow with the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality & Healing and works collaboratively with the Center to empower consumers to navigate the health care system. All this and more after fourteen years with UnitedHealth Group.
	Candace Littell, currently serves as a Senior Advisor and Counselor to corporate clients, associations and related organizations. She is an executive with nearly 30 years of diverse experience in healthcare financing, reimbursement, policy, strategy and advocacy.
	Concetta Tomaino, PhD, not only plays a mean trumpet, but is also the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function and Senior Vice President for Music Therapy at Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York.
	Cynthia Flynn, CNM, PhD, the newly appointed General Director of the District of Columbia’s only freestanding birth center, the Family Health and Birth Center, is also the Expert Midwife on www.pregnancy.org, where she hosts a monthly live chat.
	Judy Greenberg, Director of the Kreeger Museum in Washington DC, is responsible for originating innovative programs involving art, architecture, and music such as Hear Art See Music, a program for students with learning disabilities and Conversations at The Kreeger Museum, a program for individuals with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
	Sheryl Flynn PT, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of Blue Marble Game Co, a serious games company that focuses design and development of video games to enhance rehabilitation for people with disabilities worldwide.

Learn more about our new bloggers, as well as all the Disruptive Women.