http://joesgonesocial.com

You can also visit the fan page I mention at: http://facebook.com/mkwc2010

Pee Poo Bag

Sanitation is a huge problem particularly in the 3rd world were basic latrines are often a luxury. Considering that one child in the world dies every 15 seconds due to contaminated water* a project initiated in 2005 has led to the creation of a sanitation product that will allow individuals who lack sanitary facilities an alternative. I’ve created a new category for this post “duhwhydidn’tithinkofthat” because often it is the simplest of products that make the most sense. The premise is keeping the human waste out of ground water, etc, to prevent the human waste borne diseases, parasites, etc from infecting others. Simple but effective. For more information please visit: *http://www.peepoople.com

The technology that Heiner is advocating accomplishes a number of things. Not the least of which is greater awareness for health screening such as colorectal cancer screening. It is a very intelligent approach in that through the use of genetic or gene expression tests a participant can determine if they have a higher or lower risk to contract something like colorectal cancer. The idea behind the screening is that it is relatively low cost and armed with a relative risk factor a person is more prepared to make the decision to have more invasive and expensive procedures. Another great example of the capabilities of the screenings is in determining whether certain drugs will actually help a patient before they take them. Considering the side effects of some of the heavier drugs, this is just a logical part of a better healthcare process. Some of these drugs are only effective on a small portion of the population, why should we waste money “testing” these drugs on people if there is a cost effective way to determine if the use is likely to yield results?

So the technology is great, effective and saves lives and expense, great, let’s all go out and get screened. Unfortunately there are some significant boundaries in the way.  For many people these scientific breakthroughs are scary and there is a tendency to make debates about scientific issues emotional. To have a real impact, these discussions need to be centered around facts not emotion. For this reason boundary #1 is emotion. Pharmaceutical drugs are very lucrative money makers and digital diagnostic tests are not quite so lucrative. This is boundary #2, making it financially viable. Regulators such as the FDA are very cautious about digital diagnostics, in spite of the fact that the benefits outweigh the risks. Many tests that are used in Europe and Canada are not available in the USA because of regulation. It takes a substantial amount of funding to get the clinical trials required done. Heiner gave a great example in the HIV test that we used for many years in the states. It was far from the best test available but the company that invested the money in getting FDA approval effectively locked out other products that were more effective and accurate in the process. This is boundary #3, geographic regulatory issues. I want to clarify that Heiner also praised the FDA for adding companion diagnostic data requirements for drug approvals. There is some progress in the right direction.

So this brings me to the purpose of this article – it is about raising awareness about an important subject – digital diagnostics. This field could affect our future in a very positive way if these hurdles are overcome. It is up to those of us who become aware of this to share the information with our friends and loved ones. If you have a community or business group that would like to hear a good talk about this important technology, please send me a note and I will make sure that it gets to Heiner. If he does come out to speak I guaranty you it will be very informative.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8315202

Bob is planning to tackle mount Kilamanjaro in 2010! Truly inspiring.

This past week I gave a program to my club about Social Networking and the Rotary Community. For this event I invited a some special guests to participate. One of them was Bob “FourwheelBob” Coomber. Bob is an amazing guy that I consider myself lucky to call a friend. I met Bob when he came to my Rotary to give an inspiring program about his adventures scaling 14K tall peaks on his wheelchair. Bob has the heart of a naturalist, motivational speaker and Rotarian. A while back on his Facebook page he posted a request for people to come and help him get some of our finest veterans from the Livermore VA hospital to hit the trails for a nice nature hike. Me, 3 of my fellow DSV Rotarians and 2 Livermore/Pleasanton firefighters answered the call. It was an amazing event that everyone who participated came away with very great memories. I cited this example as a great demonstration that Social Networking can be a tool to expand and enhance our Rotary Community to include people outside of Rotary that share our passion for service.

I had two other guests at our meeting, Erna Grasz and Mark Newton from Asante Africa. I reached out to Erna after she came and gave us a presentation about Asante Africa, her passion and wonderful charity that supports education projects in Africa. Erna took me up on my offer and we’ve been working together to help Asante continue to enhance people’s lives through access to education. Erna has also provided me with great suggestions for building this community beyond Asante and Rotary.

There was one other notable participant at this presentation – David Behring of the Wheelchair Foundation. I met with David a while back about Leadership San Ramon Valley. During our meeting we talked about the Wheelchair Foundation and it became evident to me that we had a solid partner to build a better community with right in our own club in David and the foundation.

I am very pleased that aside from a wonderful group of Rotarians we have a lot of other great assets that we can co-ordinate, build awareness and support to make a difference. I have taken on the task of reaching out to these people and others to build something much more effective than what our Rotary club can do alone. I will consider the success that I can contribute to our partners and the benefit of service I can share with our friends the level to which I succeed in this venture. I will update progress on these efforts from time to time here in my blog.

“All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing – not because we didn’t care, but because we didn’t know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted.” Bill Gates – in a speech to Harvard University 1997

It is reasonable to ask why this statement is the first step to changing the world. I believe because it identifies an important part of human nature that every single one of us will struggle with in our lives. In the face of human tragedy or extremely disturbing situations we often feel powerless or over-whelmed and do not know how to respond – so we do nothing. A perfect example is when we are a witness to an auto accident, it is our legal and moral responsibility to stop but how many cars zoom by and do nothing with drivers confused and un-sure of how to respond. Understanding this can lead to a very reasonable outcome – being prepared.

Self preservation probably plays a large role in this, but we know human beings can overcome these instincts and remain calm in these situations. One key is preparation. First aid classes are a good example of a responsible and meaningful thing you can do to be prepared for some of these situations. Another key is mental preparation – try this exercise and after doing it you may decide there are additional things you would like to do to be more prepared. Consider what you might instinctively do and what you should do in the following scenarios:

1. You are on a train and a passenger collapses to the ground near you.
2.  A patron in line in front of you gets very verbally abusive and threatening to the cashier.
3. You witness an automobile accident and several cars in front of you do not stop.

By preparing and visualizing, it is much easier to do the right thing when you face the situation in real life. Item #2 was a real world example for me; I was in an office supplies store when this occurred. I did not intervene but I was mentally preparing myself for what I would do if the situation escalated beyond threats to actual violence. Had I not had a chance to prepare, what would I have done? Hopefully the same things I had planned to do if it had.

I’ve reduced this issue to a much smaller scale and made it more personal for effect, but I would encourage anyone reading this article to consider this same concept when facing a significant crisis anywhere in the world. Instead of not acting, understand that these issues are complex and find out what you can do and do something. It does not have to be huge but I believe the greater your commitment the greater the reward will which reminds me of this Chinese proverb:

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.

If you like what I’ve said here I would recommend you visit a local service club, for selfish reasons I will recommend Rotary. I have been a part of the Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary club for over 2 years and it has definitely given me inspiration to build a lifetime of happiness.