Anything — and anywhere — for a laugh

Alleys in Seattle were once places of illicit, illegal, and unsanitary activity. The International Sustainability Institute in Seattle began organizing music and art events to bring in people, which, in turn, cleaned-up the crime and garbage. As an urban development strategy, adjacent vacant storefronts re-opened for business and beautification could be seen in new gardens.

Project ECHO - driven by a single doctor with a cause - pulled together a team of specialists to develop a model that combines technology with collaborative care and careful patient tracking to help cure for diseases spread to patients around the world through community healthcare agents, as opposed to only specialty centers. This kind of "disruptive innovation" is effectively working to demonopolize health care knowledge and access, and lends to a health system capable of meeting today’s soaring demands for care.

In Syria, medical personnel are at risk of death as hospitals are frequent targets of bombing. With few medical specialists treating an assortment of injuries and diseases under the most dangerous circumstances, doctors began an underground network. This network installs cameras in hospital rooms to send pictures over mobile media to doctors abroad, doctors working on-site change their names, and animal waste powers the operations.

Fifty-one counties in the state of Wisconsin do not have child psychiatrists to provide counseling because most of them live in widely populated urban areas. Wisconsin psychiatrists now are offering telepsychiatry, which enables young people to do video conferencing and live chatting with a psychiatrist even if they are in rural areas. The program has shown that it is just as effective as in-person treatment; however, Wisconsin does not allow private insurers to pay for telemedicine services so the reimbursement for telepsychiatrists is still problematic.

Wisconsin confronts a lack of psychiatrists, in particular those who specialize in working with children. The state has begun a telepsychiatry program that enables a psychiatrist to counsel children in remote rural areas. By using webcams, the program has succeeded at eliminating travel time for psychiatrists and appropriating resources to directly and quickly serve those who need them.

In 2011, the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI), an education advocacy and research organization, launched the Colorado Legacy Schools project. The program funded innovative ways to increase the number and diversity of students taking AP classes. Instead of applying for funds to train teachers and subsidize test fees, Paonia High teamed up with two nearby schools to more than triple their collective AP offerings. It’s a promising model for rural, resource-limited schools trying to bring more college-prep opportunities to their few students.

New Mexico’s veterans are getting faster care as new programs expand to rural areas. Thanks to a host of initiatives, including telemedicine, contracts with community clinics, and travel benefits, the state’s VA health care system has recently seen improvements in appointment wait times for veterans.

In order to address dynamics that may keep a child from talking about traumatic experiences, a Mexico City-based child psychologist developed Antennas. Antennas is an animated character controlled and voiced by the psychologist who, as an alien, can ask basic questions about people and relationships. This approach has been effective for psychologists and use of Antennas has spread to the judicial system as well.

Eau Claire, Wisconsin, once a booming Midwestern industrial town, began to struggle after manufacturing plants closed, leading to job loss and blight downtown. However, recent years have shown urban renewal, and it is clear that arts saved the city. The proposed Confluence Arts Center has already led to $120 million in investment in the heart of Eau Claire’s downtown. Economic growth, further enhanced by the Eaux Claires Music Festival each year, has put the city on a path to revitalization.

Lame Deer Health Center in Montana is the first Indian Health Service facility to use telemedicine in its emergency room and clinics. The rooms are equipped with cameras and television monitors and a button that can call specialists or support staff from all over the country. Patients at this facility are now able to see medical specialists or have their cases evaluated by specialists from their rooms, providing more comprehensive healthcare to patients in a rural setting.