It’s an idea centered around positive people brainstorming and using collective resources to make real change happen.

Jonathan Richman has been involved in healthcare and social media for some time, and he recently shared a couple of stories that helped inspire Healthy Thinkers.  These stories involved him connecting people he knew.  That was it — simply making connections.   Supplies for a mission trip to Africa, knowledge of a prescription medication assistance program, and helping out with the BiG Blue Test, which helped get insulin to those dying without it.  On their own, maybe not huge things.  But I bet if you ask the person getting help with the cost of their prescription medication, they’d say it was a lifesaver.

So Jonathan started to think about his social network, and the people he knows from so many different areas and aspects of healthcare.  And the people THEY know, and the people THOSE people know, and so on.  He says it’s a “degrees of separation” concept, and I have to say that it makes sense.

When it comes to one-on-one situations where help is needed, there will never be enough help to go around.  That’s probably not going to change anytime real soon.  But maybe you have an idea that could help many people if only the right person at a certain company saw it.  In his blog post, Jonathan uses that example:

For example, maybe someone has an innovative idea for how J&J can improve its OneTouch diabetes monitoring products. I would guarantee that someone reading this post right now knows someone on the OneTouch product team. I’ve found out over the years that our healthcare “family” is pretty small.

The idea behind Healthy Thinkers is grand, and something I am happy to support and encourage.  Here is how you can get involved (from Jonathan’s post):

• Register. Sign up and tell us who you are. You can be semi-anonymous if you’d like. If you’re a company that might be able to help, start monitoring this forum for places you can help. If you can’t do this, we’ll find you when we need you.
• Advocate. Spread the word to as many people in healthcare as you can. We need not only the people who can deliver on these ideas and requests, but also people who are going to submit them. So, don’t just tell the people around your office, share it with friends on Facebook too. Know people in the press? Tell them too.
• Participate. Start a post, comment on an existing one, and vote.
• Solve. If you see an idea or request you can help with, step up. Respond or pass it along to a contact who can make it happen.

Help change the world, one problem at a time.  You know someone who can help somebody, and it would feel good to connect them.

Thank you Jonathan!