Purpose and Direction

From time to time I will revisit my purposes for maintaining this site and I am always seeking direction from anyone who is willing to help.

Blogging is new to me and I have not yet grasped how to use all the available internet tools. In particular, I want to know more about organizing links, how to use bloglines and blogroll and how to insert a link to a reference into the text.

I want to network with more people and groups. My home is in Burnsville, NC and the BlogAsheville Group has been kind to include me. NC Bloggers and The Tarheal Tavern look like good activities to be involved with. Perhaps Greenville and South Carolina have similar groups or should start them. I will explore that possibility.

The blogs I have been reading are informative and entertaining. Perhaps I will contact some of these people for tips on the technical aspects of this medium.

Fixin' Healthcare will review and discuss health promotion and disease prevention from the perspective of individual responsibility and community commitment. Usually my definition of a community is a neighborhood or town, but there are a variety of communities these days. A group of bloggers who communicate regularly is a community.

I am very interested in any thoughts and activities related to health promotion and healthy lifestyles. This is a learning process with the intention to identify and implement effective means of promoting healthy habits.

Fixing Health and Fixin' Healthcare are titles chosen to signify that I believe the best way to reform health care is to promote healthy lifestyle and disease prevention. There will always be a need for health care (medical care) but far too many people have health problems that could be prevented or relieved by changing their habits.

It might be helpful for readers to know something about my background and a summary is listed for that purpose.

• BA degree from Northwestern University
• MD degree from Emory University
• Residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital (Washington University) in St Louis
• National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Epidemic Intelligence Service
• Faculty appointments at the University of Texas in Dallas (Parkland Hospital) and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
• Dean of the College of Medicine, interim President and Academic Vice President and Provost at MUSC
• Interim President at Winthrop College
• Founder of the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston (3rd largest 10K in the US) and Prime Time Festival to promote healthy lifestyle for retirees in the Lowcountry of SC
• Initiated a consortium of institutions in Greenville County to promote healthy lifestyle as a challenge to a similar project in Olmsted County, MN directed by Mayo Clinic

City of Greenville

Furman University

Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerec

Greenville Technical Education College

School District of Greenville County

The Greenville News