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>View discussions about this entry Country: United States
Organization: Universal Therapeutic Services
Focus of activity - Service/process
Year the initiative began (yyyy) - 2004
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
Define the innovation - What is the main focus (product, services, etc) of your innovation? Who are the primary beneficiaries? How does it make health and/or health care more affordable, accessible, and simpler to achieve/use? How does it differ from what currently exists in the market? Intervention is provided in the context of the consumer’s own environment and is delivered by means of a Mobile Therapy Unit that carries equipment and supplies, essentially to the client’s home. This innovation integrates the traditional forms of treatment along with alternative less expensive forms to yield a more comprehensive, holistic, and affordable way to control or eliminate symptoms. This empowers the consumer to take a more active role in treatment planning along with their physician and therapist. This will ultimately lead to better informed consumers who take more responsibility for their own health outcomes.
Context for Disruption: - Describe how your innovation is transforming traditional health or related systems in the short and long term. Education, intervention, and referral to community services are provided to consumers with breathing problems such as; asthma, emphysema, COPD, and chronic bronchitis to name a few, as tools for prevention and symptom management. These components are accomplished through a client-centered approach to Occupational Therapy. By empowering the consumer with knowledge and options available; affordable, accessible, and simpler ways of treating exacerbations are achieved. For example, in-home nebulizer machines and portable oxygen tanks are available to those in need thereby reducing the number and frequency of visits to the physician’s office or hospital emergency room. Clients have more independence and less stress when treatment is provided in an environment that is private and comfortable. Add to this an educational component that teaches inexpensive ways to control symptoms such as exercise, healthy eating, and relaxation techniques. Currently, traditional treatment for these types of disorders focus on daily use of medication, expensive tests, and very little focus on physical, mental, and emotional rehabilitation. Without proper education and training people are less inclined to explore alternative methods that could be beneficial since many physicians and government agencies still do not support its practice.
Delivery Model - How does your innovation reach its target populations? What mechanism(s) (e.g., communications, distribution channels, etc.) do you have in place? What is your current market penetration? How do you measure this? Currently I treat through a referral system that includes; physicians, homecare agencies, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and self-referrals. The success of this innovation is measured by decreased exacerbations, positive client feedback of symptom management, and increased referrals. As more referral sources become aware of this type of holistic intervention a greater share of the market will be serviced.
Key Operational Partnerships - What key partnerships have you established to make your disruptive innovation model possible? Who are your partners (business, social, government, other) and what are their roles? How central are these partnerships for your initiative. There are no key venture capital partners at this time but partnerships have been established with homecare agencies, physicians, rehabilitation clinics, and health insurance companies. The role of these partners are to make referrals but in doing so education and awareness regarding treatment options such as; yoga, therapeutic massage, nutrition, and exercise need to be provided to these key partners in a collaborative way. This collaboration is central to the relationship. This component of the innovation is considered a marketing expense but only in relation to non-billable time in the form of meetings, presentations, and in-services. Insurance companies are slowly beginning to realize the cost effectiveness in prevention programs that keep the insured healthier longer.
Financial Model - Describe the financial model for your innovation. What percentage, if any, of the total operating costs does earned income (from products, services, or other fees) represent? On an informal basis both cash flow forecasting and capital budgeting have been used over the last three years. The total operating cost of this program comes from earned income. This innovation is based on a fee-for-service. Any optional equipment needed by the consumer for continued engagement in learned activities are the responsibility of the consumer after services have ended. Although affordable alternatives, donations, and slightly used equipment and supplies are generally passed on to those in need.
Effectiveness - What has been the measurable impact of your project to date? How many people have benefited from your program in total? What policies, communities, or institutions have been influenced to make fundamental changes because of your work? Measurable outcomes are based on improved symptom complex; decreased severity, frequency, and exacerbations requiring hospitalization for the respiratory illness. Approximately 70 clients have benefited from this innovation since it began. Inner city Supportive Housing programs have welcomed such in-kind services with positive results over the last three years. Through education and role modeling, facilities are reacting more favorably to interventions like acupuncture, visualization, and naturopathic remedies. In order to track long term consumer benefits of this innovation a follow-up component will be added at intervals of 3, 6, and 12 months to see if carry-over and positive change continues post discharge from services.
Scaling up Strategy - What is your priority for the next 3 years and please describe why. Over the next three years I would like to create and market awareness DVD’s to be distributed to the medical profession and instructional DVD’s for consumers as a tool to reinforce learned concepts, exercises, and techniques after services have ended. Clients lose motivation to continue making positive changes in their lives after therapy ends. These tools along with periodic follow-up will provide the continued outside support needed to make permanent healthy changes in one’s lifestyle.
Origin of the Initiative - Tell the personal story that will help people connect to your work. How did the initiative start? Was there a particular individual or event driving the idea? Tell the reader the story behind the innovation. Besides treating clients with breathing problems in my private practice, I have incorporated a not-for-profit organization that provides free services to the formally homeless population living in Supportive Housing. Many of these clients have profound medical problems. Many smoke cigarettes and take asthma medication on a daily basis. This population responds well to education, positive role modeling, and the provision of therapeutic activities. I am especially interested in asthma because I also suffer from asthma since childhood. I have spent a good part of my life seeking out alternative ways to treat my symptoms in order to reduce or eliminate the dependence on medication. The activities, life changes, and techniques that I advocate in this innovation protocol are techniques that have worked for me. As I continue to educate, train, and treat others regarding these inexpensive ways to control breathing problems I have seen first hand that it can make a positive difference in the lives of others.
Contact Information:
Ralph Soldano
Occupational Therapist Universal Therapeutic Services (Individual and non-profit ) ralphso@juno.com 113 Phipps Drive West Haven, CT. 06516 United States Tel: 203.668.9035 Website: under construction Discussions about this entry
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"All I Need Is The Air That I Breathe"
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It has been my pleasure to have made contact with other like-minded individuals and organizations on such a global level from California and Arizona to Africa and Belgium. My modified long range plan now includes the continued collaboration with those who share a common vision towards integrative health care for all. Thanks Changemakers and RWJF for this unique opportunity. Good luck and best regards to everyone, Ralph
This entry centers on the concept of mobile vans providing needed services. Mobile vans have been utilized for at least 20 years with marginally effective results at a relatively high cost. There is not a large innovation or applicability, whether the van provides diagnostic and clinical care, or complimentary therapeutic care. What does UTS do that sets it apart from the other mobile van clinics?
Thank you,
Changemakers Team
Creating more mobile vans is not the center of this innovation although this van is equipped to use alternative fuel types that are good for our environment. The innovation is to help empower people to take more control of their health through awareness. People need to know what the choices are and how to make knowledgeable decisions. These are the weak links in the continuum between being healthy and being sick. This is about meeting people where they are; in a home, in a hospital, or in the street if they are homeless then to provide the awareness that is so sadly lacking. Many people do not take the initiative to question the physician as to other forms of treatments available. Physicians, in turn, are reluctant to talk about interventions that take control out of their hands. People have the right to learn and make informed decisions about other forms of treatments that may be beneficial to their health. Medication, surgery, yoga, diet, exercise, rehabilitation, meditation, herbs, acupuncture, and prayer are all connected and should be components of every treatment plan. It is one. This innovation is about a paradigm shift. The non-profit organization is called ITS-ONE; Integrated Therapy Services Of New England Incorporated. The work that UTS and ITS-ONE does focuses on people with breathing problems but this change in the way people think, feel, and act about their health can be applied to other disorders such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, substance abuse, and depression. This innovation would be the same whether I drive a car, ride a bicycle, or use the internet to interact with the consumer.
Creating and marketing awareness and instructional DVD’s and to establish a different type of Wellness Center that teaches people how to live happy and cope with the challenges of everyday life in the twenty-first century is what UTS / ITS-ONE is all about.
Donna Daniel, EdD - I strongly support this approach and appreciate the 'grass-roots' nature of his efforts. It is exactly from this kind of observation-and-response on individual and small-scale community levels that the changes in American health care will ultimately occur, as corporate conglomerates become increasingly unresponsive to individual needs and offer cookie-cutter programs that try to fit patients in, rather than fit patients, due merely to the vastness of the programs they put forth. I'l rather see 2500 of this kind of project get funded in any one area than one massive NIH grant to a research hospital lab which will use animals and chemicals to 'come at' the 'problem' without actually ever shifting awareness to the ensouled human beings the research is ultimately promoted to benefit. Practitioners are remarkably intuitive, and their responses direct and individualized, even if unintentionally, because they are with the patient in the moment.
Fund this guy and his direct services - and then get him to promote his design nationally with the funding needed to train others and provide the Mobile Units - put the money in the hands of those who provide the services, not big agencies with dozens or hundreds of staff - please!
Good luck, Ralph! Keep up the good work.