In March 2020 when COVID-19 was a hot new topic, a COVID-19 Smartphone application was launched by the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (where I was born) and King's College (London) to capture real-time data on possible COVID symptoms, infections, tests, and vaccinations. I enrolled a month later in early April 2020 and have been reporting my health status (almost) every day since.
Eliot is developing the world's first mood-improving digital companion. It detects sadness and uplifts with conversations, memories, and video visits from friends and family. Previously, he co-founded crunch data analytics which he sold to Qlik.
MakeUsWell has edited Eliot's insights for clarity and length.
Vaccinations and boosters are necessary to our pandemic containment strategy. But they have been inadequately marketed. If telling people what's good for them were enough, no one would smoke, overeat, or do drugs. All health-related messaging in the pandemic needs the same sophisticated marketing we are used to getting from Amazon, Apple, and Netflix.
Though necessary, vaccines and boosters just aren't enough. We also need
MakeUsWell edited Carol’s words for clarity and length.
9/12/2021
Mike,
Thank you for sharing your reflections on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. As someone who grew up on Staten Island, I lost fathers and mothers of childhood friends, high school classmates, and countless acquaintances. My closest friend’s husband was an architect for the Port Authority, who saw the first plane from his office window before it struck the tower. He got about half of his coworkers to run into the stairwell with him as the plane hit about 6 stories above them. The stairs disintegrated under his feet as he descended. He suffered intense survivor guilt and never fully recovered psychologically. He has not set foot in Manhattan again. The Port Authority accommodated him and allowed him to use an office in NJ.
I actually made many calls that day and evening and in the days immediately following. I led multiple group meetings, and broadcast emails and voicemails following the events of September 11. At Pitney Bowes, we focused heavily on the well-being of our employees and their families as well as the customers served in Manhattan. It was the right way to help us all heal from the tragedy. It also ended up being good business.
Well before 9/11, we created and nurtured a health focused culture at Pitney Bowes. Our leaders' behaviors during the crisis were a natural and predictable manifestation of that culture.