Telehealth Offers Patient Care Anytime, Anywhere

Telehealth has the potential to increase access, savings, and quality. Yet low consumer awareness, along with provider reimbursement and liability barriers, have hampered adoption. Two new CHCF reports look at the progress to date.

LINKS TO ARTICLES

http://www.chcf.org/topics/view.cfm?itemid=133787

http://www.telecareaware.com/

Author Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, http://www.healthpopuli.com/2008/11/anytime-anywhere-health-2-new-reports.html

Jim

A life-changing internship

The Acumen Fund fellowship is the most coveted, competitive job I know of. If it's not for you, consider telling an extraordinary friend about it.

http://www.acumenfund.org/get-involved/fellows-program/become-a-fellow.html

The Pencil Boy

There were four of us in the back with Mwalimu driving. As we headed west on the Moro Goro Road and then turned north at Chalinze, I knew it was going to be a warm day. At some point, the pavement ended and the road became dusty and somewhat bumpy. We had another two hours to travel, and I was already starting to drink water in anticipation of a long day. Around the bend on the right shoulder of the road stood two young boys, frantically bouncing a puppet and waiting to get our attention. I waved as we went by and watched the boys disappear in a cloud of dust. Several hours later we arrived in Korogwe.

Seven hours later as we made our way back home, there, on the side of the road, stood the two boys. Once again, as they saw us, they frantically waved their puppet. We stopped and they sang a song and made the puppet jiggle up and down. One boy engaged Mwalimu in conversation in Swahili while my wife tried to talk with the other. They were covered with dust and had been standing in the road for more than eight hours waiting for someone, a tourist preferably, to stop. I asked Mwalimu what they wanted, and he replied that they are waiting for someone to give them a pencil! I was stunned! In an age where people are throwing computers in the garbage because they are not fast enough, there are still places in the world were a boy will stand in the sun for hours waiting for a six cent pencil. There were no pencils and no paper at the school, this boy attended. So they learn to write by scratching in the dust with their fingers. This boy thought that if someone would give him a pencil he could learn to write and perhaps rise out of poverty that was engulfing him.

I was tired and hot and dusty. I looked at that boy and wept tears of rage. 50 American dollars, provided pencils and paper for this boy and all the other boys and girls at the school in Karatu for a year. It was my first experience with extreme poverty, and I was surprised because I guess I expected an emaciated starving child. Instead, I came face to face with a couple of happy kids shaking a puppet trying to get a pencil because someone told them that if they learn to write they would no longer be poor, and it would be easier for them to learn if only they had a pencil.

Welcome to HealthSpan International

About us
Welcome to HealthSpan International, a nonprofit development organization focusing on health care and medical education in developing countries. We are a worldwide organization of volunteers dedicated to working with talented colleagues in developing countries to build capacity and access to health care and education for all.

What HSI Believes
We believe our labors will count for nothing if we cannot look at our world through the eyes of our friends in developing countries. We are here to serve their needs, to help them realize their strengths, their potentials, their aspirations. We see a time when all people will have an equal chance to be healthy and educated. .

What HSI Does
We work together with people in all parts of the world to create practical solutions to real world problems in the fields of health care and education. In this way, we help people in developing countries improve their lives. Our purpose is the alleviation of global poverty and disease.
How we are different from other NGO models?

People in organizations in developing countries know what their problems are and they frequently have a good idea of what is needed to solve them. We collaborate to create innovative practical solutions, develop implementation plans, and help identify resources that are needed. If asked, we provide help with implementation and fund raising, but frequently this is not necessary. Our model builds confidence and self-sufficiency.

In contrast, NGOs are the go-betweens, linking donors in the developed world with recipients in developing countries. They frequently have their own agenda that, along with the donor’s money, is presented to the recipient as the solution to their problem. The recipient’s input is minimal. Their mantra is, “we have the money and we know what is best for you. Relax and let us do our job.” This approach is demeaning and breeds dependence.
Would you like to help?

We want to inspire folks looking to make a difference to work with us to improve health care and education in the developing world. We want people in developing countries that have problems to seek us out because they see an opportunity to solve problems their way­–instead of solutions imposed on them. Moreover, we want donors who are interested in empowering others.
Would you like to contact us?

Please go to our website at www.HealthSpanInternational.org

JK, 08/22/08