CareTALK on Yahoo! (again)

As many of you know, this past weekend, CareTALK was featured on the "Decades of Healthy Living" series which aired on the "Featured" tab of Yahoo!

Today, CareTALK/Dr. Ridge is once again promoted on the front of Yahoo! in the "Featured" Tab in a series titled: "Is 60 the new 45"? The third link "More about your 60s" links directly to the CareTALK "Aging & Caregiving" blog written by Dr. Ridge.

Check it out on http://www.yahoo.com!

Living longer is not hereditary

There is a very interesting article in today’s NYTimes-- Live Long? Die Young? Answer Isn’t Just in Genes by Gina Kolata – regarding studies that show living a long life is not necessarily due to your genes. Therefore, just because your father/mother (or cousin Vinny) lived to be 100, does not automatically make you a future member of the centenarian club. Conversely, if your family has a history of dying young, it does not mean you will too. Studies have shown there are many different factors that are involved in a person living until a ripe old age--- including nutrition.

We all (or at least most of us) want to live until our 80s, 90s, possibly even into our 100s. But in order to do so, we can’t rely on our genes. We need to rely on ourselves. We need to learn how to age healthily and gracefully.

CareTALK can help!

Dr. Ridge wrote a great series about this (which was featured on the front of Yahoo! this past weekend--- see the posting below) in the CareTALK Aging & Caregiving blog on Yahoo! Health about staying healthy during each decade of your life: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. As you may know already, Dr. Ridge is a board member of CareTALK, VP of Healthy Living at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, editorial director for Body + Soul magazine, and assistant professor in the Geriatrics Department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, co-CEO/co-Founder of Auricle Hearing (… among other things. When does he sleep, right? )

Check the series out. It’s a big hit with the readers.

There is a need...

According to the article by Annys Shin of The Journal Gazette, New Rx for the Web, approximately 80% of online users have searched for health content and have been disappointed. With all of the health sites available and coming to market this year, that’s an incredibly high and sad figure. Because of the tremendous need by consumers for quality, trustworthy, and accurate health information, many “deep pockets”, as the article calls them, (we call them “money men”) are now investing in healthcare website businesses.

Now, this is all well and good, however, are they truly motivated to serving consumers as is their stated goal? Or are they more interested in making money? Are we finally entering an era where both can be accomplished, simultaneously?

Maybe, just maybe, a new business model is on the horizon. Will there be room for a media company that made serving consumers its top priority by focusing FIRST and FOREMOST on distribution partnerships who are seriously committed to consumer education and quality commerce, tools and services? Will there be room for the consumer to have a respected role on equal footing with the business interests of healthcare? Will we provide the serious education necessary for consumers to make informed decisions to manage proactively their healthcare and caregiving responsibilities in the new healthcare business models?

We could be wrong… but we believe so.

We’ll just have to wait and see this Fall/Winter.

CareTALK on the front of Yahoo!

Ok... this is a shameless plug for our blog on Yahoo! Health titled Aging & Caregiving: Healthy Living for a Lifetime written by our very own Dr. Ridge.

Sunday afternoon, many of you may have noticed that Yahoo! had, in their "featured" tab on their home page, a series titled "Decades of Healthy Living" which featured links directly to the CareTALK/Dr. Ridge posted entries of how to stay healthy in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s.

This was a huge hit (we literally received hundreds of comments)... and it proves that CareTALK has forged the construct of caregiving/self-care/healthy aging into one identity for the Yahoo! audience. By late Sunday night/early Monday morning, the series had moved to the "Life" tab on the front of Yahoo!--- still linking directly to the Aging & Caregiving blog.

Thank you, Yahoo!

Wellness in fashion….

The markets are continuing to focus on the Boomers--- and their vanity. Boomers, unlike any other generation, want to keep young as much as possible. With the products, goods, and services that are available today and that are being developed, this will be possible for all.

The prestigious fashion designer (and a favorite boomer designer), Norma Kamali, has a new collection--- the Wellness collection . In her introduction she states that her inspiration for this collection, which is “collection of homeopathic remedies and grandma recipes inspired by the olive tree,” came after 9-11 when the “comfort and care and wellness for the entire family seemed more important than ever.”

Items in this collection are for multigenerational use—from face masques and liniment for babies’ diaper rash, to bed sores for the elderly. She even has liniment for a dog’s sensitive skin!

Buying yourself extra years of life...

Catching up on our reading, we came across a very interesting article in the NY Times, Making Health Care the Engine That Drives the Economy by Gina Kolata, which made the same point Dr. Ridge made in his posting below: “we are all going to reach the point where adding a year to our life is worth more than anything else we could spend our money on.”

It seems we have reached this point.

Several economists from top universities in the Country arrive at the same conclusion: the Boomer generation would rather spend their money on medicine than, say, materialistic things. In a way, they are buying themselves one, three, maybe even five more years of life.

The healthcare system is far from perfect (VERY FAR)—and healthcare is very expensive in this country (unfortunately, as the article pointed out, half of the money spent is wasted). However, given a choice between spending your money on materialistic items and spending it on medicine/healthcare resulting in extra year of life, wouldn’t you choose the latter?

We would.

Guest blogger: Dr. Brent Ridge

I wish I were older.

How often do you hear that from someone? (assuming, that is, that they’ve already reached the coveted “21” milestone.)

To be more precise, I wish I were a baby boomer.

During every stage of their life, the members of the boomer cohort have driven change in the way we all think, work, act, and play. No other generation so clearly defines the way we live.

Just think, without the constant pursuit of more productive, more efficient lives, would we even have mobile phones? Would “laptop computer”, “iPod”, and “Blackberry” be part of the vernacular? Would you even be reading something called a “blog” on something called “the internet”?

When I went to medical school and subsequently decided to specialize in the study of aging, it was precisely because I believed that this would be the most exciting area of medicine. I had no doubt that the baby boomers (and those behind them they reared and inspired) would mandate amazing changes in the way we approach personal health and wellness. In fact, many of the changes that are now right around the corner stem directly from the work of a large number of very smart people who first anticipated and then worked tirelessly to meet the demands of the boomers.

Much has been made about the “graying” of the American population. This is not a bad thing. Rather, it’s a time, unique in our history, when we will see clearly the power that comes from the confluence of politics, economics, technology, health, and consumer demand.

Already, almost ¾ of internet users have searched for health-related information online, and almost half do so at least once a month. Companies like Intel and their digital health group are rapidly making the frontiers of a digital home and telemedicine seem not so far off and with the help of others, I’m sure that the next revolutionary step in improving the health and well-being of all Americans will be an easily accessible and secure online electronic medical record.

More than anything, what is propelling this surge in activity is the fact that more people are realizing that being healthy has inherent value. Wellness and prevention pay off, no matter what age you are.

Over the next several years, I predict that we will see more and more American companies taking a proactive position on improving the health of the country. The incentives are too great. With this, we will see an even greater swell in interest in leading healthier lives. Ultimately, whether personal care or caregiving for a loved one is the motivating factor, we are all going to reach the point where adding a year to our life is worth more than anything else we could spend our money on.

American culture owes a lot to the baby boomers. That being said, I’m just wondering what I can do to qualify for an honorary membership.

About Dr. Brent Ridge: Dr. Ridge is a shareholder and board member of CareTALK, CareTALK blogger for the " Aging & Caregiving: Healthy Aging for a Lifetime" blog on Yahoo! Health, VP of Healthy Living at Martha Stewart Living, assistant professor in the geriatrics department at Mount Sinai Medical School of Medicine, Co-Founder of Auricle, Inc. (and I'm sure I'm missing 10 other things he is involved in...)

The tide is turning...

The tide is turning… and the article Michael Graves' New Target: Medical Devices in Business Week is proof that great minds and talents, such as the world renowned architect Michael Graves, are now focusing on caregiving and management. This master is applying his prodigious talents to the healthcare space. Imagine: medical devices that are not only, functional but also aesthetically pleasing (gasp!) AND affordable (double gasp!). Let us repeat that: medical devices that are aesthetically pleasing, functional, AND affordable--- all in one. Shocking! Revolutionary!

And that’s just it, it IS revolutionary for the healthcare space. You don’t have to sacrifice lifestyle or affordability to get something functional. This is the message CareTALK is spreading. With so many Baby Boomers nearing retirement age, why should we have to sacrifice one or the other to get what we want/need in the healthcare space. We don’t do it in any other space--- why healthcare?

We say, “Congratulations, Mr. Graves. Keep up the good work!”

Welcome to the new CareTALK blog, CareTALK Today!!

You may be familiar with our first blog on Yahoo! Health Aging and Caregiving: Healthy Living for a Lifetime written by Dr. Brent Ridge, shareholder and board member of CareTALK and current VP of Healthy Living at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (and if you’re not familiar with it, check it out! It’s very interesting.) : )

However, this blog will be nothing like it--- this will be written by the CareTALK Gals (for those of you who know us, you knew it was only a matter of time…). CareTALK Today will be a collection of our thoughts on anything & everything in the healthcare space that is fun & fascinating (Yes, you read right…).

Healthcare deserves a sophisticated forum of discussion – more than what is being held out there today. Here you will read articles about influencers in the space— a coalescence of brain trust of passionate and influential people for healthcare. We consider ourselves a forum for innovative ideas and we want to point the way to new trends. How will new technology empower us? All those health related/technology articles in the NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, etc.--- what does all of this mean for us? Whether its health records or embedding chips in humans for monitoring diseases and tests---what does this all mean to us as human beings--and as a society at large?

We don’t profess to be experts and we are not guided by any special interest or point of view. We’re just like you—mothers, daughters, sisters, families and friends. However, after years of living and breathing this space, we know who’s who and what’s what. CareTALK Today aims to create a forum for thought leaders/conveners for the healthcare (and anything related to it) space. Politics, policy, legal, financial, and products, goods and services purveyors will all be participants in our CareTALK Today community. Healthcare in the 21st century has broader considerations. Let’s have a real discourse.

As the tagline reads this is “The real marketplace for ideas, thoughts, and trends in the healthcare space”.

We only know what we know--- and we have opinions on everything. And no… we will not mince words. We will tell it how it is (there are already enough sites out there catering to the system).

PS. One of the top VCs had asked the CareTALK Gals a while ago to put him on the distribution list we usually send out only to our partners to keep them informed on what’s happening in the space. This is after not returning our calls for two years and trying to get proprietary information from us regarding one of our partners (don’t worry, he wasn’t successful).

Perhaps we’ll send him an invitation to read our blog. ;- )