National Donor Day

February 14th is not only Valentine's Day, but also it is National Donor Day. Did you know that (as of this post) over 110,000 people are waiting for a donor organ? And talking about organ donation, don't forget about being a blood donor. Did you know that every two seconds, an American requires a blood transfusion? In the video above, I talk about National Donor Day on local TV news. If you found the video helpful, I encourage you to check out other videos about health related topics at MikeSevilla.TV.

People Power Revolution: Philippines 1986

With the events in Egypt over the past three weeks, it reminded me of thoughts when I was barely a teenager of a different type of revolution. If people didn't already know, my heritage is from the Philippines, even though I was born in the United States. The homeland of my parents took a lot of interest to me during the mid 1980s.

The story was similar to today in that the people rose up and, in essence, took over the government. What's really interesting is that when you search the term "People Power Revolution," in Wikipedia, it takes you to the nonviolent demonstrations and revolution that took place in the Philippines in 1986. Starring as the dictator at that time was Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos who was in power for two decades.

This story begins with the assassination of the president's chief rival at the airport in 1983. There were a lot of rumors that the Philippine president was involved. And, for the next two and a half years, the tension was building until presidental elections took place in 1986. Marcos was declared the winner, but there were accusations, especially from the international community, of election fraud.

Corazon Aquino was the leader of the opposition movement. It was her husband who was assassinated and she was the one running against Marcos. It was at this point, from February 22-25, 1986, when the peaceful demonstrations took place. Many remember the color yellow on television while watching the protests. It was estimated that 2 million Filipinos took part in the demonstrations.

The Wikipedia article gives a pretty good timeline of what happened during those few days. Yes, there was no twitter or facebook back then, but the article goes into how the rebels were able to use traditional media - like radio stations and television stations - to update the country on what was happening.

The transfer of power was peaceful and President Aquino became internationally known even to a point where she gave a speech in the US Congress and was named Time Magazine Woman Of The Year for 1986. What's interesting now is that there really has never been one person named as the "leader" of the Egyptian opposition. I find that interesting.

What people don't know about the Philippines and what people won't know about Egypt is what happens after the change in leadership. It's going to be pretty rough for a while. The graphic above outlines the multiple attempted coup attempts in the years following the 1986 People Power Revolution. What will happen in Egypt? It's hard to say. But one thing is certain, it definitely could get worse before it gets better...

Social Media Prepares Docs For Traditional Media

Thanks to KevinMD for mentioning me at the podium during his keynote address at the Texas Medical Association meeting over the weekend. Want to see the entire talk? Click here to review the session which runs about an hour. To see some small snippets, Kevin put some on his youtube page. In the video above, the first part shows Kevin's section of the talk about social media and traditional media. The second part of the video above is my interview with him talking about the same subject. Happy Monday everybody!

Dr. A Show 202 Wrap-up: KevinMD

Thanks again to KevinMD for being my guest on Doctor Anonymous Show 202. We talked about his upcoming keynote address at the Texas Medical Association meeting this weekend. You can catch his keynote live on ustream at around 9:30amET on Saturday, January 29, 2011. More details at the Texas Medical Association website.

We also talked about some issues having to do with health policy like health care reform/repeal and the Medicare SGR "doc fix." Other topics included the state of the medical blogsosphere and are blogs "dying." Finally, the tables were turned on me in the "Ask Doctor Anonymous" segment where he asked me how I balance my social media life along with my analog life. And, he asks me what advice I have for docs who are curious and who want to get involved in social media.

The video above has the key parts of my interview with KevinMD. You can listen to the entire audio podcast on the sidebar. Or, if you like, you can go to the show's iTunes page, download show 202, and listen at your leisure. I also invite you to check out the show's facebook page and hit the "Like" button at the top.

You can also check out my youtube page where there are interviews of me on local TV news talking about general health topics. Finally, if you listen to the very end of the audio podcast, you'll hear me singing and taking part in a parody song - Really! Thanks for your support of the show!

Dr. A Show 202 Tonight: KevinMD

Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at 9pmET

I invite you to join me tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 202 when our guest will be Dr. Kevin Pho who is "Social media's leading physician voice" according to his LinkedIn page. Kevin is author of the KevinMD website. We had a great conversation recently which I will be playing on tonight's show. One topic we'll be talking about will be his upcoming keynote address at the Texas Medical Association meeting this weekend. This keynote address will be broadcast live over ustream begininng at 9:30aET on January 29, 2011 at this link.

Another topic of conversation is health policy issues like health care reform/repeal and Congress' continued avoidance to pass a permanent fix to the SGR. We also dialogue about the current state of the medical blogosphere. And, finally, in the last segment of the interview, the tables are turned in the "Ask Doctor Anonymous" segment. What will KevinMD ask me? You'll have to tune in to find out...

As some may know, the network that I am a part of, BlogTalkRadio, is going to be going through some changes. And, I have written on this blog before that I am considering a different home for the show. I'll make my announcement tonight about what is going to be happening to The Doctor Anonymous Show.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Dr. A on Technology Today Podcast

I was asked to be a guest on the Technology Today Podcast on Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 4pm Eastern Time. This show is hosted by Ajay Gupta who is a cyber security expert. And, each month on his show, he highlights the area of Health Information Technology. On the show's blog this week, they wrote the following post called "Is Social Media A Health Care Delivery System?"

Social media is a lot of things to a lot of people. Individuals use it to reconnect with old and make new friends. Businesses have certainly begun levering social media as an avenue to reach consumers. Can it really serve as a mechanism for the health care industry to deliver medical care?

Join us Thursday at 4pm Eastern on Business.VoiceAmerica.Com as we discuss this and look into how doctors are beginning to engage their own patients and even wider populations on sites such as facebook, twitter, YouTube and through individual blogs.

Dr. Michael Sevilla, of DoctorAnonymous fame joins the show to share his insights from over four years of activity in incorporating various forms of social media into his medical practice.

You can listen live to the interview at Business.VoiceAmerica.Com at 4pm Eastern Time on Thursday, January 27, 2011 for the Technology Today program. You can join the discussion at 866-472-5790 and by text at 240-731-0756. I also encourage you to check out their facebook page, you can find them on twitter at @TechTodayRadio, or you can e-mail the host at a-gupta@technologytodayradio.com - Hope to see you for the Technology Today show!