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Sunday, December 15, 2013

Wearable Tech; Beyond Bluetooth.

Someone's getting a wearable device for Christmas this year and I am optimistic it will be a starter for an active 2014 for all those lucky people.  As an early adopter of Nike's Fuel Band (and a short-term FitBit'r), I find the promise of all this biometric data from the proliferation of wearable technology to be exciting on a number of levels. Personally, the info these devices provide gives us an idea just how active we have been. Friends can compare profiles, and compete for anything from steps to calories burned. Cohorts of users can be followed, and the performance of teams tracked.  


All good stuff, and especially good if the "cool tech" can be used to help with a few not so cool population health problems like our general lack of movement, but can they do that? Do they get people off the couch, or are wearers already those who enjoy the benefits of "cardioswag"? Connecting a wearable device to our internal motivation centers takes a bit more than Bluetooth.  Wearing the gadgets is a start. Actually using them to drive personal performance is what's next. Impacting the lives of enough people for us to claim some population health benefits? Now that would be the gift that keeps on giving. 


Happy Holidays! 


PV 


Friday, December 6, 2013

Mandela Remembered

This pic is taken from the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa. It is significant to me because the post held signs pointing in multiple directions, and for me will always represent my options, because it says I can go anywhere. 


July 2010 was my first trip to the continent of Africa, and the only things on my mind were the World Cup and Nelson Mandela. What he represented as a man and a servant leader will always be beyond words, and I wanted to see parts of the country from which he had changed the world.  We tried to get to Robben Island, but the cold seas worked against us. We got a peek of it from Table Top Mountain, and I wondered how the mountain must have looked from the island so far away.   Images of the struggle from the apartheid museum and the Hector Pieterson memorial in Soweto still burn my brain, but the most enduring image was yet to come. 


We scored tickets to the FIFA World Cup Final, and it was there, from seats way in the back of the stadium at the half way line that I got what I was waiting for, a chance to see Madiba. He came onto the pitch in a wheel chair with a blanket wrapped across his legs. The minute he came on, the entire Soccer City Stadium erupted. Some 90,000 people stood to welcome him with cheers, applause, and the sound of vuvuzelas. He stayed on the pitch briefly and waved at the crowd before returning to the warmth of the stands. I'd seen him! 


We went on to watch the game between Spain and Holland. It was probably one of the worst I've seen, but it didn't matter. Sandwiched between three black and  three white South Africans we were united by the match, but in reality, we had been united by Mandela. The luxury to sit in that venue, in that country was afforded us by that man. I know people have been much closer to him than I was, but my moment with Madiba is one I will always remember, and the opportunity he gave us all through his sacrifice, compassion, and forgiveness is something we can never forget. 


The news of his passing saddens me. The memory of his courage gives me strength.  


PV