Day: March 21, 2017

Naples, Florida is a special place. The Smithsonian Magazine reported that the city has been dubbed as the happiest place in America for two consecutive years based on the holistic concept of “American well-being” as an indicator of happiness instead of simply basing it on median income.

A Gallup-Healthways poll measured the American well-being index which includes multiple factors that lead to personal and social happiness. These include rates of healthy eating, community-well-being, daily stress, and lifetimes diagnosed for depression. It basically gives a grade on how residents feel about their own physical, emotional and fiscal health, as well as the community’s social health.

According to Time, some 350,000 respondents participated in the polls. They rated 189 communities based on financial, physical, social, and emotional health. The city of Naples, along with neighboring Immokalee and Marco Island, ranked first in the index for both 2015 and 2016.

Other communities which have high well-being indices are temperate or semi-tropical climates near the ocean such as Florida and California with two each, and another in Hawaii.

One of the key factors measured in the State of American Well-Being: 2016 Community Well-Being Rankings survey is the level of individual stress within the community. Naples has been described as the ideal location because of a laid-back lifestyle, higher median income, community spirit, and easy access to medical and dental facilities.

Gallup-Healthways President Karissa Price said the level of satisfaction was the same for both beachside and inland communities. She noted that residents spoke of a having a “strong sense of purpose often rooted in a shared culture and a feeling of belonging”. She further said: “It isn’t just about physical health or income — there is a larger need to feel connected.”

Additionally, the survey revealed that health is now a non-negotiable among Americans. Cities which ranked low in the polls were in the Southern U.S. and industrial Midwest. They scored dismally in the well-being category because of higher incidences of obesity, smoking, and other health problems.

The results tell us that people want to belong to a community where there is an emphasis on being healthy – on all aspects of living. A place that offers this equips its residents to better handle the stresses of daily life. A community that has happier, healthier, more affluent and socially active members makes a bold impact on society in general because these are people who simply want the best out of life.

British Member of Parliament Nicola Blackwood visited a pioneering health tech company for a preview of their bold products and services. According to the Oxford Times, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon and current undersecretary of state for public health came to see Incuna, one of Europe’s largest digital agencies, to foster the development of digital healthcare through technical transformation.

Oxford is positioned to capitalize on the bold impact of a tech revolution in the healthcare industry. Ms. Blackwood mentioned the recent investment of £113 million in the Biomedical Research Centre under Professor Keith Channon. This is a world-class research institute for medicine and data capabilities. The health official also noted that Oxford has a pipeline of computer science and information technology employees graduating from university which will further their cause of using a technical revolution to innovate the healthcare system.

Founded seven years ago, Incuna is an ingenious firm that creates digital health products and services for specific customer needs. One of their first products is ePatient, a patient platform that has transformed how people with cancer are given the necessary care and medical monitoring. Incuna built this technology from scratch and this allowed them to include patient input and feedback on the patient platform. Medical practitioners and researchers have validated the use of ePatient and it is now in use in 14 countries, helping take care of thousands of patients.

The success of the forward-thinking company has prompted it to create an office in Singapore to address the need of clients in the Asia-Pacific region. It also recently held a hardware hacking workshop for health.

Cyan Collier, Incuna’s creative director, said: “Our aim is to demystify the process of creating new health technologies”. The company believes that with the technology in place to support ideas, they can be transformed into reality. Taking bold action to devise new ways of delivering healthcare can help to tackle numerous existing health problems – not only in the UK, but across the world.

Apart from enjoying the support of local politicians like Ms. Blackwood, Incuna is also being backed by the European Cancer Network. This will mean more patients will be involved in the company’s cancer research and be given access to cutting-edge medicine and treatment. These advancements will have a bold impact on society as a whole.

Now more than ever, people have put a premium on health, and receiving quality healthcare has become non-negotiable. Companies like Incuna continue to revolutionize healthcare by using technology to innovate in digital healthcare. At the same time, scientists are developing robot surgeons, rehabilitation robots and hospital robots which have the ability to perform complicated tasks while crunching the patient to healthcare provider ratio, to a more ideal number.