Gotye parody encouraging organ donation discussion wins FilmLife Awards

I am very proud to be a part of The Groundswell Project - an arts and health social enterprise that fosters community discussion about death and dying in a positive and life enriching way. 

One of their great projects is the annual FilmLife Project - an annual short film festival that encourages young people to “discover, decide and discuss” organ and tissue donation. 

Last Saturday I was privileged to attend the 2nd Film Festival where the winner was announced and what a night it was.

The winning short film voted Best Film in a field of 18 films was a parody of Gotye’s 2011 hit Somebody I Used To Know produced by Brooke Huuskes. Comprising high production values and a remarkable resemblance to the original, the short film has even received the blessing of Wally De Backer (AKA Gotye) himself whose management tweeted details of the parody this week.

Since posting the winning film has been viewed by over 17,000 people on YouTube.

The Australian musician’s colossal international record has spawned thousands of internet copycat videos, but for young filmmaker Brooke her parody of the song’s video clip addressed an issue that has the potential to transform Australian lives.

The 28-year-old Monash University PhD student remade the music video to encourage others to discuss their organ and tissue donation wishes with their loved ones.

Brooke herself is an organ recipient, having received a kidney from her father– a living donor – in 2010.  This experience inspired her to enter FilmLife, - an annual film making competition that encourages young filmmakers to use their creativity to change lives by making compelling short films on the tricky topic.

Brooke’s first-hand knowledge of the importance of organ donation and the overwhelming gratitude she feels towards her father inspired her to make the film. 

Brooke’s film was particularly timely; coming at the climax of a week where the Organ and Tissue Authority  announced that official organ donor rates are at  record levels in the first quarter of 2013.

Dr Jonathan Gillis, the National Medical Director for DonateLife and judge on the FilmLife panel said, “In the first quarter of 2013, there have been 119 donors, which is a 55% increase on donors for the same period for 2012.”

“The fact is that only around 1% of hospital deaths occur in the specific circumstances where organ donation is possible, which is why we encourage all Australians to know the donation wishes of each other. The FilmLife Project is a unique way of triggering young Australians to have these important conversations with family and friends.”

Now in its second year, FilmLife is an annual initiative hosted by The Groundswell Project.  The FilmLife Project is funded by the Commonwealth Government through the Organ and Tissue Authority’s Community Awareness Grants program to support innovative projects that promote family discussion about organ and tissue donation.

Kerrie Noonan, Director of the GroundSwell Project said before her departure to the UK this week “"It's vital we find creative ways to talk about organ and tissue donation. We encourage all Australians to find and share a film they love to help start the conversation with their friends and family. To get involved in our online conversations use the Twitter #havethechat hashtag”.

The 2013 FilmLife competition called for young people aged between 16 and 28 to create a short film that brings the subject of organ and tissue donation to new audiences and from different perspectives.

e-Patient Dave Launches New Book - Let Patients Help!

e-Patient Dave is coming to Australia in late June for a speaking tour. I was thrilled to receive a copy from Dave of his new book. I plan on writing a couple of posts relevant to Dave's book over the coming days. Here's a peak however as to what is included:

Let Patients Help!

A patient engagement handbook -
how doctors, nurses, patients and caregivers
can partner for better care.

It’s concise – less than 100 pages – because as Dave says: He wants people to READ IT!  

You can buy it here, on CreateSpace, Amazon’s self-publishing site:

Let Patients Help on CreateSpace

(CreateSpace requires creating a free account. It’ll be on Amazon in a while.)

It’s a book of lists:

• Part 1: Ten Fundamental Truths
• Part 2: Ten Ways to Let Patients Help
• Part 3: Tip Sheets

As the subtitle suggests, this book is about partnership between patients and professionals. It tells why it’s valid and important for medicine to listen to patients, with specific how-to’s on making it a reality. A patient engagement handbook.

In keeping with that spirit, has some great medicos contributing:

“With Dr. Danny Sands”

Dave's famous primary physician, Dr. Danny Sands, is not only on the cover, he’s in the pages: he wrote some of them. In part 3 (the tip sheets) he wrote:

• Ten Things Clinicians Say That Encourage Patient Engagement
• Ten Things Clinicians Say (or do) That Discourage Patient Engagement
• For Patients: Collaborating Effectively with Your Clinicians
• Dr. Danny Sands’ Rules for Smart Web Use

Regular readers will know that Dr. Sands has been a pioneer of patient engagement since the 1990s. Way back then he…

• co-created the first medical record system and patient portal at our hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess
• co-authored the first published guidelines on how to do doctor-patient email successfully
• became a friend and colleague of “Doc Tom” Ferguson, founder of the e-patient movement.

Introduction by Eric J. Topol, M.D.

 AND the amazing Eric Topol wrote the introduction. Read full text of the introduction here. If you don’t know Dr. Topol’s name, here are a few glimpses:

• His TED talk The Wireless Future of Health. He nailed it – and that was in 2009! 
• His excellent January appearance on NBC Rock Center with Brian Williams: The key to better health care may already be in your pocket… and it’s not your wallet
• His important book Creative Destruction of Medicine

NOTE: Dave will be speaking at events in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra during his visit. If you would like Dave to speak to your organisation please contact me for further details and sponsorship opportunities.

Bloggers - An Army Of Brand Advocates Or Not?

I guess I am known for being an over the horizon thinker. It's just what I do, quickly identify how to get a brand known, discussed and build a story that cascades throughout communities, changing the conversation. And it can happen quickly after a considered period of what I call environmental analysis. There is always a methodology to good story telling. 

Some brands 'get it quickly' others fall into the trap of dead brand walking,  thinking old world marketing styles will work in the digital era, where conversations are happening online and offline. 

Eventually these laggard marketers wake up and realise that the digital influencer and blogger can harness an army of brand advocates if they learn how to listen, engage and build the conversation. Traditional media and indeed traditional PR cannot build a conversation as fast as empowering digital conversations. 

At present, I am watching with interest one brand's leadership who was initially disruptive to their own marketing efforts prudent focus on an integrative digital path, suddenly see the light - oh how that makes me quietly smile!

However there are lessons to be had for all who are beginning to engage with bloggers and digital influencers. Understand that the blogger's real role: is to share opinion, not provide balanced reporting. 

We need to set aside that mindset and realize that writing a blog is not about interviewing sources, getting the facts, summarizing findings, and then writing a fair and balanced article. It's about a blogger sharing his or her opinion with the world. 

Fact checking should apply but there are countless examples of where it does not apply. Although the blog may not be objective, it may be widely read and accepted as fact. Companies must be aware that a disgruntled blogger can quickly do damage to their reputations. My advice to brands who have a disgruntled blogger aiming at them is to find a way to resolve matters. You may have to eat humble pie but in the long run the benefits that come from diffusing a situation that is simmering under the surface will only build your esteem as a brand champion.

As blogging becomes more common, it has an increasing impact on traditional journalism. News is shared more quickly and more widely than ever before. It will be interesting to see how the relationship between blogging and journalism continues to evolve. I will have more to say on a new development in this area on Monday.

Telemedicine - It's A No Brainer!

I've written before about the need for health care practitioners to rapidly embrace the internet in marketing their practice. Telemedicine offers huge benefits to the consumer, from the convenience of online appointment bookings to patient communities and even as an evaluation tool of our health care system with sites such as patient opinion.

In Australia, we have a range of new services all adding huge value to the consumer and indeed providing additional productivity tools for the practitioner.

Over the coming days I will be posting about how 'cascading the story' with great content can enhance these services and create stickiness. But for now here's a great explainer video that crossed my desk thanks to e-Patient Dave. I thought you might enjoy it, the messaging is simple and as consumers we get the point quickly.

Regina Holliday and Health Activism - The Walking Gallery

Regina Holliday is a Washington, D.C., art teacher, artist, muralist, patient rights arts advocate, founder of the Walking Gallery and the Medical Advocacy Mural Project. On March 27, 2009, her husband, Fred Holliday II, was diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer, after months of escalating pain medication prescribed for symptom relief, without a diagnosis of the cause of the pain. Fred died on June 17, 2009. Holliday's response to the shock and anguish of losing her 39-year-old husband (and to her husband's urging on his deathbed) was to become an arts advocate for all patients' rights to their own medical data.

During his final hospitalization, Holliday asked to see her husband's medical records, so that she could do online research of his condition and care, and so that they could make informed decisions together. At the first of five hospitals he was admitted to during this medical ordeal, on April 18, 2009, she was told that copies of his records would cost $.73 per page and would be available after a 21-day wait. That would have been May 9, 2009.

Fred Holliday II died at home on June 17, 2009. In Holliday's words, her husband's final message inspired her advocacy: "He's got a paper in his hand. It says: 'Go After Them Regina, Love Fred.'

 On her blog on Sunday August 9, 2009, she wrote: "I am painting because it is the best way I know that can make a difference. I will paint our sorrow on a wall for all to see. It is hard to look away. It makes you think. It makes you question. The scariest thing to the status-quo is an electorate that is thinking and asking questions. I am as grassroots as it comes. There is just me on a 20 foot ladder donated by my church. I am using paint brushes I have had for 17 years. I am applying acrylic paint (paid for by donations of friends and strangers) on a wall donated by a gas station."
The Walking Gallery from Eidolon Films on Vimeo.