Patrick Kennedy

I am empowered because no one knows what my risks are for an asthma attack better than I do.

And that's true, frankly, for my addiction.

But what I now have as a result of technology are additional tools that can validate where my risk profile is and start to allow me to calibrate what it is that I need to do in order to

move in a more positive direction and away from a place of risk.

So that's one area of technology.

Obviously, we need more communication in general throughout the medical system and the broader healthcare system.

What's never been included in the, quote, EMR is what's going on in the community, what someone's

social determinants of health look like in terms of their access to housing, employment, transportation, food.

These things can impact health as much as anything and yet we do not have peer support social workers and the like who can be real assets for someone and their healthcare in the community plugged into the medical system.

That's going to be a game changer for the healthcare system to

really see those paraprofessionals as integral in the delivery of health care for especially high risk population.

If we can just get the reimbursement to be aligned with what it will mean in terms of reduction in total cost of care and start to put those risk models in place and talk about whole health and put this in a framework together

As I said, we can map this out.

We have done great things as a society.

We have achieved incredible feats.

The notion that this is beyond our ability, it just flies in the face of all the evidence in our history.

um so why is it that we're taking so long to do what we need to do to tackle this problem the thing that we're fighting that's the biggest barrier is this sense of inertia and this defeatism that this is too big a problem to tackle if you had some smart aggressive people roll up their sleeves and say no no folks we can manage this boy that'll really open up possibility because here

We need hope.

We need someone just to say, this is totally doable.

Employers have to recognize that this is a big battle for them because if they don't create a culture in the workplace where everyone takes their mental health seriously, where they're supported, where they're made to feel as part of,