Patient, Caregiver Scholarship Contest for Social Media Summit

Patient, Caregiver Scholarship Contest for Social Media Summit
Posted on July 26, 2011 by Lee Aase

As we are thinking about how to more fully bring the voices of patients to the Social Media Summit in Rochester in October, we realize that it can be difficult for patients to participate in an event like this.
We have Dave DeBronkart, Kelly Young and Tom Vanderwell among our Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media Advisory Board members because we want to be sure to have patient perspectives included. And while in one sense we are all patients, many of us also have job responsibilities that are our primary identity in the healthcare world. Those of us employed in healthcare typically have work-related sources of funds to cover costs of event registration and travel.
That’s why I’m excited that we have identified a funding source to provide a limited number of scholarships for patient advocates and caregivers to attend the Summit and related events Oct. 17-21, 2011.
Scholarships are available to individuals who:
have already demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing health and healthcare delivery via patient empowerment; and
have not, because of financial constraints, been able to attend this type of conference.
These individuals would include those who have been engaged with the patient experience, either as a patient or caregiver.
The Center for Social Media is now taking applications for five full scholarships to the Social Media Summit, Social Media Health Network member meeting and Social Media Residency. The scholarships will cover registration fees/tuition for the recipients to attend all three events and will also pay airfare and lodging costs. Each recipient may bring one companion to participate in the events at no charge, but travel costs for the companion are not included in the prize.
Applicants are required to complete a brief application and submit a 400-700 word essay telling your patient/caregiver story. Describe how your participation would serve the greater good of the health community during and after the conference. How would you hope to contribute to the conference discussion as a participant? What do you hope to learn?
Please also describe your experience using social media tools such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs. Patients and caregivers interested in the strategic use of social media to enhance health and healthcare but who have not yet become active are also encouraged to apply.
Recipients will be chosen though a combination of a public, crowd-sourced vote on essays as well as evaluation of applications by a panel drawn from the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media Advisory Board.
Applicants’ essays will be posted on Mayo Clinic’s new social networking community site, and the top 15 essays from the community vote will become finalists, from which the judging panel will select five winners.
To enter:
Download and complete the Official Application.
Submit your signed application along with your essay by Aug. 15, 2011. Essays should be sent via email to socialmediacenter@mayo.edu. Application forms may be scanned and emailed or sent via fax. See the Official Contest Rules for further details.
Note: If you are or have been a patient at any Mayo Clinic or Mayo Health System facility, you also will need to complete the Authorization To Release Protected Health Information in order for us to publish your essay.
We’re excited to be able to offer these scholarships, and look forward both to the contest and to having the recipients participate on a discussion panel at a general session during the Social Media Health Network member meeting on Oct. 19.
If you have questions about the process for the contest or anything related to the Summit, please ask them in the comments below or send them via email.
Please help spread the word about this contest to help involve patients and caregivers in the Social Media Summit. If you know someone who would be a good candidate, please encourage submission of an essay and application. We see social media tools having power to help patients and to make healthcare more patient-centered, and we hope this event will contribute toward that goal.

http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/2011/07/26/patient-caregiver-scholarship-contest-for-social-media-summit/