Digital Pharma: Doing good in healthcare
pharmafile | December 15, 2010 | News story | Medical Communications | Digital Pharma blog, Dose of Digital, Healthy Thinkers, corporate responsibility
A new online community has been launched to bring together suggestions for improving healthcare and the altruistic side of those working in pharma.
Helping newly-diagnosed patients understand their condition and raising funds for a UK bone cancer charity are just two of the first requests made on Healthy Thinkers.
The site allows anyone to submit ideas or requests for help. These are discussed and voted on and then the community as a whole is expectd to use its social connections to get them in front of someone who could make them a reality.
Healthy Thinkers is the brainchild of Jonathan Richman, author of the popular Dose of Digital blog and director of social media for marketing agency Bridge Worldwide.
He told InPharm that the community needs pharma help for its ideas to come to life, but it will only be a success if it captures the general public’s attention.
“The community can’t succeed unless there are more ‘regular’ people involved. I’m specifically thinking about patients and caregivers here. If it’s only industry folks, then there aren’t going to be any problems to solve, which is the real purpose of the community.”
He said Healthy Thinkers could be a perfect fit for pharma’s corporate social responsibility efforts, which often have quite a low profile.
“Picture this: a person comes to the community and says that they need supplies for a mission trip to Africa including some amount of pharma drugs. The pharma company steps up, contacts the person, and supplies exactly what he needs. There’s nothing but positives there.
“The community’s purpose, of course, isn’t just for good PR, but pharma companies should enjoy some when they do happen to do the right things.”
Richman, who is based in the US, said Healthy Thinkers is open to ideas and requests from anywhere in the world, adding: “There are a lot of great ideas out there, but people don’t know where to send them.
“I’d like the site to become the first thought in people’s minds when they need help navigating through the healthcare industry or when they come up with a way to make it just a bit better.”
• To submit an idea, comment on those received so far or offer your help, visit healthythinkers.ideascale.com
Dominic Tyer is web editor for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com and the author of the Digital Pharma blog He can be contacted via email, Twitter or LinkedIn.
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