I founded The BioContinuum Group in 1993 after 15 years in healthcare advertising, communications, and medical education. In 1993 my vision was clear, determine objectives, identify communications and educational strategies, and match them to tactical programs that change behavior and improve patient care. And sell some products. That vision remains valid, what has changed are the tactics. Social media, the Internet, patient engagement, digital marketing, etc are powerful communication tools that created a new and dynamic market place where simply having a strategy is not enough. Over the years The BioContinuum Group focused on incorporating principles of adult learning into our work in medical education, marketing, promotion, etc. It worked well.
In early 2009 my wife Donna was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and told she had six months to live. I closed my offices so I could provide caregiving. I did not abandon The BioContinuum Group completely it was simply mothballed. The principles and abilities that were build over the years remains part of my core, if you would, imbedded in my DNA. During this time I consulted at a pharma company in medical affairs managing CME. This allowed me the time to be a caregiver still practice my expertise.
It was during this period besides the caregiving and consulting I began to blog. I discovered Twitter and other social media platforms. My interest remained in healthcare marketing and education. I would blog and Tweet about healthcare, clinical trials, marketing, and patient care. Over time I began to engage more on end-of-life and palliative care. That was what I was facing daily.
The summer of 2011 I lost Donna. I continued to consult but, my contract expired. It was time to find work. Easier said than done. What I began as The BioContinuum Group Web page has become a home for personal observations on life, death, and grief. This site is also a home where I can apply my knowledge of healthcare and marketing to find ways to improve the understanding of end-of-life, grief, loss, caregiving and more.
The following remains at the heart of my work and vision for marketing, communications, education, and all interactions with people.
Lev Vygotsky identified “zone of proximal development.” If a person is engaged in self-directed learning, they’ll get a certain amount out of what they do. If, however, they learn with another person of the same level of sophistication, they’ll learn more. Hank Slotnick, Ph.D. says, “the pooled ignorance is less than the sum of the individual ignorance’s.”