Ideas

Thanks for reviewing my idea!

This idea may be one of the most complicated proposals ever put on Cambrian House. Having said that, this is EXACTLY where it needs to be, with the community as a whole, where the greatest amount of talent and resources reside.
Ideas come and go but where this one differs is that it is an opportunity for the community as a whole to not only profit, but to use your individual skills and knowledge, united as a group, to really, positively, impact those among us who are in medical / health crisis. The profit potential is great, but personally I really am here first and foremost to try and better other's lives in a time of crisis.
Thanks again
John

I like this idea because it aims to help people and has an opportunity to be a profitable business.

What I actually read you saying is going for a "MediPedia" where people crowdsource a central database of medical & practical related information. It's not a pure medical database but a practical guideline dealing with diseases, illnesses. From personal experience, I know this is helpfull in cases of ilnesses & there are many things to account. Most are documented around but not all aspects are covered/centralized + there are also specifics based on geographical locations ( different laws/products/medicare/ .. ).

I see it like wikipedia meets howstuffworks meets answers.com, dedicated to medical topics. Great !

Excellent opportunities to make money with advertising but also, bundled & personalized how-to's, podcasts, video tutorials,,...

+ add the possibilities to link volunteers or paid helpers, eg. to help with the care, do shopping, moral support, ....

Both my parents and went like this and i can empathise with the issue.

I would like to suggest that attention also be given to sections which comfort the dying too, this was one of the hardest parts in my experience. To give them focus, alay the fears, face the realities, but most important of all is to help them to squeeze the best quality of life out of their last few months. References to articles, books, videos, support groups, uplifting material etc.

I would also like to see a section focused on alternative therapies and homeopathic remedy.

Another section focused on the reality of estate preparation, legal issues, tax concerns... timely perparation can go a long way to taking some stress out of a very difficult time.

Good luck!

I too have had experience in this area. My first wife passed after 7 months due to lung cancer. When your emotions are involved, it is very difficult to concentrate and marshal your resources. A site of this kind would be greatly beneficial. I would stress the importance of maximizing exposure for this service as those who have a need for it will undoubtedly turn to the net to try and get information on how to proceed. This must turn up as one of the first search results...perhaps talking with Google, etc and "forcing" this type of site to come up on the first page as a humanitarian gesture would be a good step.

I love this idea. I love how it helps draw people together, when they need it most

I am not as cold-hearted as my comments might sound...but even without an emotional connection to this project, I can see that it would be a good thing.

It's very good for here and now because it would need to be very content-rich, as opposed to being mainly a technical challenge. That gives the opportunity for non-techies to get involved.

Commercially and technically it has a lot of interesting facets.

Great idea.

How is this any different than what WebMD and Google Health are offering? I can see Doymarn's comments about aggregating other bereavement information and also estate planning, etc into one place.

I don't think you would want to start creating a system that will track medications, interactions and the like. That opens up a whole new set of legal implications.

Maybe the uniqueness is the non-user-generated content. Obviously we'd need messaging and wiki guides and the like... but I expect most of that content already exists and is aggregated. Maybe its an interactive (Q&A) application or something that feels like a process a member can use that will help them cope? Customized Eliza type app, or chatroom interactions? Not that I'm suggesting offering a false illusion of interacting with a human when its not really happening, but is there a "writing stuff down" process which can help the bereaved?

This is a great idea. I hope you are able to make it come to pass. There are numerous companies that will help take care of an aging or declining person within the confines of the care recipient's home. However, what you've proposed is a more or less virtual version of that. Perhaps you could even leverage "home Sourcing" or "Offshore resources" to aide in care.

albeit the throat clogging testimonial and your source of inspiraton...

a software seems too general, limited and could be heartless at times...
a website would do or helpful forum/chatroom...plus video conference in one site...a similar feature in my proposed Idea -primarily for SPecial/Handicapped children- EUS: exceptional universal site.
(currently on development stage like my eMemorialsite)

I am really moved, as it does hit "us" who suffers the trauma of living in the edge of witnessing your loved ones either in gory silence of your solitude when we are left in their side in til dawn and the knee melting feeling of being hapless seeing "our" patient being administered by professionals of which we knew will be better appreciated by the patient if it was "us" who does it for them...

i witnessed and gave everything i know in 3 generation of 'caregiving' to family memebrs who had either alzheimerz or in senility period from my MOm's grandmother when i was in HS, my grandma's sister when i was in College, and 2 years ago with my own Mother...

sigh...however, in good faith to technolgy i believe in the near future this will be better ifincorporated as add on program to a companion robot like ASIMO... since:
a) it gives personal presence with a "being' in front of you than a monitor
b) the interactive exchange with someone present is vital
c) an extra hand will eventually be beneficial such as handling the NGT and other nursing care...

the software can have accompanied installer to have it online capacity since a robot is virtually a mobile with WIFI feauture and can be in any place inside your home.

Going back to reality and what we have now..am not a techkie but i think we need to upgrade our Laptop/PC with voice command UI feauture for a site or software(blind person have this already i think) you propose Caregiver Tessie in order to bridge the gap of the distant future.

Goodluck..and keep me posted.

Ditto
- Ok then, let's collaborate!?
special thanks to IMHOTEP for leading me in this IDEA.