Welcome Integrative Practitioner Online-Integrative Healthcare Symposium as an Integrator Sponsor!
Written by John Weeks
Welcome Integrative Practitioner Online-Integrative Healthcare Symposium as an Integrator Sponsor!
Summary: Happy news, friends and colleague: Please join me in
welcoming a new Integrator
sponsor! Integrative Practitioner Online is a growing, virtual community
of 3700 healthcare professionals, some 1000 of whom will get together,
face-to-face, at their affiliated Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York
City, February 19-21, 2009. The business model of this new Integrator sponsor is
about building community. I have come to know and like their lead personnel.
This promises to be a great new platform and playground for advancing the Integrator's own
mission. Take a look at who they are and what we're planning. Got any ideas?
Send your comments to
for inclusion in a future Your Comments Forum.
"Community
organizing" has heightened visibility this presidential campaign season. I
am friendly to the concept, since I began to see my life work in this way 30
years ago. Bringing people together who may not be accustomed to working
together. Finding and acting on shared interests. Linking. Finding ways to
develop mutual respect. Gathering to help solve some problem. I announced
the Integrator mission
this way in 2006:
"Integration, by nature, asks us to open our peripheral
visions. We are served to look at the whole of the field. We need to develop new
fascia, new connectivity. Opportunities crop up in new places. These News and Reportsare
meant to provide you with tools, insights and connections to enhance integrated
care in the environment you serve."
So
it is with special pleasure that I announce to you that Integrative Practitioner Online
and its affiliated Integrative
Healthcare Symposium have chosen to become sponsors of the Integrator. Integrative
Practitioner, an online community for healthcare professionals, is a business
for which success means community building. The mission of its parent firm, Diversified Business Communications
USA, is to "connect, educate and
strengthen business communities through market-leading events, publications and
emedia."
Services for community
building
The Integrative Practitioner website, officially launched in January 2008,
presently counts 3700 practitioners in its community. Over 1000 are expected to
attend its February 19-21, 2009 conference in New York City. They/we are linked
through various services and strategies, among which are:
Twice-monthly e-newsletter Both
information and perspectives. A mixed group of contributors write monthly
columns, the back
issues of which are here.
I have been writing one of these, the leads to which I have sent out with
my Integrator newsletter. The link this issue is a column entitled Does Hospital Care Need a Public Health Warning Label?See the full list of my Integrative Practitioner Online columns below.
Teleconferences An example
is a session with James Gordon, MD, on his new book, Unstuck.
Polls/surveys Those who wish
can weigh in on monthly topics.
Discussions The topics are
typically clinical and business oriented. A list of the top 10 are here.
Practice Building/business success
A regular theme in columns and discussions is sharing and, effectively,
consulting on business strategies.
Policy collaboration and advancement
I am working with IHS on two panels at the February 19-21, 2009 conference, one
which I will moderate and another which will be moderated by Integrator adviser
Bill Benda, MD. The first will be a high level look at integrative
practice and federal healthcare action. On the panel will be Josephine Briggs, MD,
Wayne
Jonas, MD, Mary
Jo Kreitzer, RN, PhD and a 4th person (not yet selected) who is deeply involved
with the healthcare thinking that is alive in DC a month after the inauguration. Benda's panel will be an open dialogue with the audience in
which he brings together executives of professional associations which
have already begun collaborating on national policy. More on these soon.
I was early on linked to the IP Online/IHS team as a member of the Advisory Board
to both the site and their conferences. It's a remarkable, mixed group. The sponsorship builds on relationships begun as columnist, conference participant and adviser.
The Integrator IP/IHS connection: robust platform
and playground for advancement ...
When Marydale Abernathy and Marnie Marrione of IP Online/IHS and I began
discussing possibly building on our relationship a couple months ago, I was immediately
intrigued. I told them that, in many respects, they are doing many things that
some thought I might be planning to do with the Integrator. This looked ideal: I knew
already that I liked working with them. This way, by linking more closely,
I would be able to focus on what I like doing best - namely, organizing and writing. Meantime, IP Online/IHS offers a robust platform for exploring and
further organizing in the integrative practice community.
The relationship will evolve. Here are some
elements presently on the table:
Healthcare Policy As
noted, we will be looking at ways to stimulate policy discussion and
action, using a variety of IP Online/IHS tools as well as cross-links with
the Integrator.
Organization profiles/directory
Ever get lost in the alphabet soup of the organizations with some apparent
involvement in the integrative medicine zone? We're developing a plan for
offering short profiles and links.
Expanding the audience for Integrator content Integrative
Practitioner will be re-publishing some Integrator content, or
adding links. One certain plan: offering all issues of the Integrative
Medicine and Integrated Healthcare Round Up.
Additional content
I'll be doing additional writing for IP Online, often linking it to your
through the Integrator
newsletter.
To me, this is a happy playground, with people I
have already come to like, which makes the work of the Integrator more robust
and gives the mission - community organizing to better healthcare - a greater chance for
advancement. As always, I will look forward to any of your ideas or guidance on
how to make the most of this opportunity. Welcome!
__________________
Past columns from John Weeks written for Integrative Practitioner: