Why we believe
“Everybody Needs A Hippo”
can make a difference?
We are thinkers that go below the radar by concentrating on humanistic medicine. When I created and branded 1-800-DENTIST to market dentists in 1984, the only types of dental marketing one would see was a combination of morbid dental pictures displaying deformed gum tissue; credit dentist advertisements; "Come on in for examination and x-rays for $1.99"; “Get high in our Chair” and “We cater to cowards” types of advertisements. The whole lot being unprofessional and degrading and let’s not forget, disrespectful to the profession and to the public.
My group put together a series of humorous, yet educational advertisements, respectful to people, skewing towards women, who tended to make the dental decisions for the family. We made dentists “Safe” to go to and we made it easy for people to find a great dentist. After we created our package, I offered it to the American Dental Association for 22 cents per month per member. Four months later, the executive director called me and said "the ADA was not interested as no one would ever call an 800 number to find a local dentist". W created a public service which rejected more dentists than we accepted. When we sold the company to Futuredontics in 2002, the average dentist was paying $1,850 per month to belong. Quite a difference from 22 cents.
We made dental history by helping millions of Americans go to the dentist. We could have gone much farther, but after Futuredontics paid us millions of dollars to work for us, they finally bought us out and never developed a “sexy” affinity credit card to help patients pay for services nor created branded oral hygiene products.
When we created 1-800-DENTIST, no one had ever used an 800 number to brand a business and most people did not even know what an 800 number was. We created an easy way to get to a dentist by respecting the public. We didn’t rely on artificial intelligence or even the dental industry to heal itself, rather we simply made a better way to help people feel good about seeing their dentist.
“Everybody Needs A Hippo” respects the public. Without using high-tech such as algorithms, artificial intelligence, genomes, all of which will help medical diagnostics, we simply respect patients. We want to honor patients by helping them be seen and heard. We help them share their qualities of life with their providers in minutes and will be able to understand how a treatment plan will affect their quality of life.
My group put together a series of humorous, yet educational advertisements, respectful to people, skewing towards women, who tended to make the dental decisions for the family. We made dentists “Safe” to go to and we made it easy for people to find a great dentist. After we created our package, I offered it to the American Dental Association for 22 cents per month per member. Four months later, the executive director called me and said "the ADA was not interested as no one would ever call an 800 number to find a local dentist". W created a public service which rejected more dentists than we accepted. When we sold the company to Futuredontics in 2002, the average dentist was paying $1,850 per month to belong. Quite a difference from 22 cents.
We made dental history by helping millions of Americans go to the dentist. We could have gone much farther, but after Futuredontics paid us millions of dollars to work for us, they finally bought us out and never developed a “sexy” affinity credit card to help patients pay for services nor created branded oral hygiene products.
When we created 1-800-DENTIST, no one had ever used an 800 number to brand a business and most people did not even know what an 800 number was. We created an easy way to get to a dentist by respecting the public. We didn’t rely on artificial intelligence or even the dental industry to heal itself, rather we simply made a better way to help people feel good about seeing their dentist.
“Everybody Needs A Hippo” respects the public. Without using high-tech such as algorithms, artificial intelligence, genomes, all of which will help medical diagnostics, we simply respect patients. We want to honor patients by helping them be seen and heard. We help them share their qualities of life with their providers in minutes and will be able to understand how a treatment plan will affect their quality of life.
Simple, direct, and honorable.
We help people become proactive in their life-plans by helping them
insert their personalities into their medical prognoses.
There comes a time when everyone experiences a life and death situation and can easily become overwhelmed. As soon as we hear the words Cancer, MS, stroke, heart disease, or accident, life suddenly takes on new meaning for everyone involved. In many cases, our cognitive functioning becomes paralyzed with fear. At these disastrous times, all we can think about is staying alive. Our minds freeze and we are in the zone of fear.
A recent medical study from Stanford has shown that over 90% of emergency room doctors would not accept the "sustaining life" treatment plans that they routinely prescribe for their end of life patients. They have witnessed the "warehousing" of patients who are kept living by ventilators, catheters, and feeding tubes.
Why?
"Doctors must come out from behind our technologies and catheters. With medicine's heightened focus on technology, physicians have allowed our communication skills to atrophy. But doctors owe patients critical information in order for them to retain both the autonomy and the dignity they deserve." Wired Magazine, 4,18,2017.
Supporting Champions is dedicated to helping people cope and communicate in the most stressful of situations, so they can make clear and knowledgeable decisions and understand the ramifications of those decisions.
There are palliative movements all across the world to deal with this evolutionary phenomenon. The discussions and books began some twenty years ago, but the current buzz began with the publishing of Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal”. Gawande’s book, after sweeping the medical world is now on the New York Times best seller list. Large medical providers such as Kaiser and Sutter are changing the way they communicate with terminal patients. They are beginning to offer the option of long term palliative care, allowing people to reduce suffering, live better, live longer, and experience less medical cost than with traditional medical treatments.
Ellen Goodman, the Pulitzer winner, has created her “Conversation Project” and has had over 300,000 people download her conversation starter kit. Organizations such as the “Compliance and Regulatory Leadership for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association are but a few to carry the message.
A recent medical study from Stanford has shown that over 90% of emergency room doctors would not accept the "sustaining life" treatment plans that they routinely prescribe for their end of life patients. They have witnessed the "warehousing" of patients who are kept living by ventilators, catheters, and feeding tubes.
Why?
"Doctors must come out from behind our technologies and catheters. With medicine's heightened focus on technology, physicians have allowed our communication skills to atrophy. But doctors owe patients critical information in order for them to retain both the autonomy and the dignity they deserve." Wired Magazine, 4,18,2017.
Supporting Champions is dedicated to helping people cope and communicate in the most stressful of situations, so they can make clear and knowledgeable decisions and understand the ramifications of those decisions.
There are palliative movements all across the world to deal with this evolutionary phenomenon. The discussions and books began some twenty years ago, but the current buzz began with the publishing of Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal”. Gawande’s book, after sweeping the medical world is now on the New York Times best seller list. Large medical providers such as Kaiser and Sutter are changing the way they communicate with terminal patients. They are beginning to offer the option of long term palliative care, allowing people to reduce suffering, live better, live longer, and experience less medical cost than with traditional medical treatments.
Ellen Goodman, the Pulitzer winner, has created her “Conversation Project” and has had over 300,000 people download her conversation starter kit. Organizations such as the “Compliance and Regulatory Leadership for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association are but a few to carry the message.
Dag Advocacy
There are 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day. Many of these people will be entering into the retirement world. A new growing field is developing to help these seniors find a new life in retirement. Project Dag offers a new and rewarding professional activity for this audience by training them to become Dag Champions.
These Champions learn how to help others chart out their personalities onto "Your Dag Chart" and begin inserting their personalities into their prognoses. By guiding each potential patient into understanding and appreciating the very personal values that make their lives significant to their quality of life, they can then present these traits to their medical providers and think about how the various treatment plans will affect their lives.
The Champions will be trained over computers and tested and if successful, licensed to provide these services.
Community by community, state by state, and across the nation . . .