Introducing LunaYou

Written by

The Business Innovation Factory is thrilled to announce the launch of LunaYou: A Maternal Wellbeing Program Designed For You.  LunaYou offers women the ability to manage risk factors, track their health and wellbeing goals, and access a Wellbeing Coach to help them throughout their pregnancy, and in the first three months after their baby is born. LunaYou encourages women to share their journey with their personal support network and their Wellbeing Coach. Each woman is unique, and deserves personalized support that is both respectful, and culturally sensitive to her individual needs.

By putting each woman at the center of her pregnancy journey, LunaYou focuses on personal power, and creating the confidence needed for the woman to take charge of her pregnancy and have influence over her wellbeing, leading to better maternal health outcomes. BIF will be starting small (what we call a prototype), with just 25 women in 2020. The unique characteristics of a prototype is the ability to model a new system solution on a small scale. One key component that needed to be addressed in the prototype, was the inherent racial bias in the current healthcare system. The stress of experiencing daily racism is causing measurable harm to women and ultimately contributing to poor maternal health outcomes. We intend to model a different experience by catalyzing a micro-culture of racial sensitivity, respect, and honest communication.

How did we get here?

Over the past week I have reflected on my time at BIF and been amazed at my own transformation which has prepared me for this moment.  I have grown from a part-time bookkeeper (with two small kids at home) to an integral, full-time member of the team (with two teenagers at home). Over the past 7 years, I have been excited by many of our projects from afar, mostly from behind a screen, sometimes proofreading, but mostly doing paperwork (my strong suit), and planning our annual summit.  It wasn’t until one of our more recent projects, Teachers for Equity, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that I had actual hands-on project experience. The impact of that project both on me and on the educational community has been astronomical. It began with a few extraordinary leaders, developing communities of practice, who spread the work of equity to students, leadership, communities and beyond – it was amazing to witness the ripple effect and play a small part in that work.

Join Us!

So how does that relate to LunaYou?  Well, we have made a complete pivot at BIF during the last year focusing on our own project with all hands on deck. We have self-funded the first phase of the work and are now raising funds to give us the freedom to truly focus on LunaYou and focus on changing the lives of the women participating. Personally, I feel my past work with BIF has all been leading to this moment: The launch of LunaYou. I am so excited to begin this journey as we have been working on the assets, creating websites, developing an app, building stronger community relationships, recruiting pregnant women and so much more. With our 14 years of experience designing new business models, this is our moment, and 2020 will be our year. We have the first woman recruited and we are ready to begin the program January 1, 2020.  Please join us on our journey!

 

Reflecting on #BIF2019

Written by

Our annual BIF Summit has always been magical for me – the planning, seeing the details come together, making sure everyone is checked in at registration and knowing I have played my part in making it happen.  This year it was time for something new – we needed to make a change, a pivot, a transformation. Mid-summer I got a call that the summit was back on – but needed to be different. I was lucky enough to be part of the team to see BIF2019: Wellbeing come together from start to well, I don’t want to say finish because it is an ongoing experience for me.  It has stayed with me not only because the videos are just coming out and we are releasing them, but also because it truly struck a chord with me on multiple layers. This was a focused event on wellbeing – an issue important to all and all that we do.

BIF2019: Wellbeing was a smaller, more interactive event which combined storytelling, networking and co-creation spaces.  This year was a truly unique experience – I left with an action plan on several fronts; I have communicated with a homeless man and formed a connection that was truly personal, shared the wonders of telemedicine with my friends, thought about unwritten rules, reached out to my government leaders about change, thought about struggling well and what that means to different people at different times, and I have turned on quiet music in our home again as it brings a sense of wellness ever present in the background.  I do not claim to be a creative person, but as a family we have created 30-minute blocks of time painting or dancing before dinner as a way to let go of the day. It has been hilarious.

With all of the running around, behind-the-scenes things to take care of during the event, I didn’t get to see every storyteller in real time, but I guarantee I will watch all of the videos and be rejuvenated throughout the year.  I am grateful for everyone’s participation and bringing their best selves to BIF2019: Wellbeing. While still digesting the incredible moments, I am putting together a living document where we can share our reflections and inspirations.  Let’s keep the connections and conversation going! I’d love to hear from you: what was most memorable to you, what was your big take-away? Any photos, graphic notes, or napkin sketches you’d like to share? You can reach me at vguck@bif.is Let’s keep wellbeing on the forefront of our minds!

Reimagining Maternal Health

Written by

“To prevent women from dying in childbirth, first stop blaming them. Two-thirds of all U.S. maternal deaths are considered preventable. Racism – not race – is a critical factor.”
-Monica R. McLemore, RN, MPH, PhD

Women in the U.S. are more likely to die in childbirth than any other high income nation This is a social issue, a racial issue, and an economic issue.

BIF has designed a new personalized wellbeing model to improve maternal health and wellbeing outcomes. We believe that if we personalize the experience for the woman, equipping her with the trusted information, support, and tools she needs to lead a healthy pregnancy, her maternal health outcomes will improve.

 

Learn More   ·   get in Touch

Introducing the PMxD Maternal Health Prototype

Written by

In the last few months since we shared our Personalized Medicine by Design (PMxD) conceptual business model, we’ve been hard at work evaluating initial health and wellbeing challenges for the Prototype phase of the PMxD design process. One challenge had particular urgency and that is why we have chosen to launch the PMxD Maternal Health Prototype.

PMxD is a transformational business model designed by our founder and Chief Catalyst, Saul Kaplan, that puts individuals at the core of a personalized health and wellbeing experience leading to improved healthcare outcomes. At the heart of the PMxD model, individuals are enabled by four core capabilities: Unleashing Personal Agency, Understanding Patterns of Wellness, Activating Personal Networks of Wellbeing, and Integrating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The PMxD model has been informed by 70 BIF business model design projects over 14 years in healthcare, education, and social services.

Today we are proud and excited to introduce the PMxD Maternal Health Prototype: A Personalized Wellbeing Model to Improve Maternal Health Outcomes for Black and Brown Women

 

 

We are mobilizing the PMxD Maternal Health Prototype, starting in our home state of Rhode Island, to co-create opportunities with Black and brown pregnant women (25 in the initial prototype cohort) to access the information, practices, and support needed to help them achieve better maternal health outcomes for themselves and their babies. We believe that maternal health outcomes will improve if we center women in the model and focus on wellbeing, provide seamless integration of care when needed, and equip women with what they need for more successful maternal health. In the PMxD Maternal Health Prototype women will be empowered to trust their instincts, and seek help earlier if they experience heart health or mental health warning signs. Ultimately, women will have increased personal agency and confidence to positively influence outcomes within the prototype, and increased equity in care will reduce racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.

We welcome you to follow, engage in, and support our PMxD journey, it’s a collaborative process, and together we can start by improving maternal health outcomes in the U.S. 

Learn More About the PMxD Maternal Health Prototype

Personalized Medicine by Design: Story Cure

Written by

Since beginning work on our Personalized Medicine by Design (PMxD) project six months ago, I have been revisiting many of the projects we have completed over the last 14 years. We have seen the same themes emerge time and time again when we explore health and wellbeing for individuals and families. Distrust in the current healthcare system, lack of empathy from providers (ie. not truly being heard), lack of mental health resources, struggling with basic needs (eg. job security, education, access to healthcare, food, and housing), and on the flip side, the power of community to help one another.

In every project we undertake, co-designing with the community is a core principle, PMxD is no different. Our first community visit was in West Philadelphia with host Yolanda Wisher the Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary. Yolanda created an incredible program called Story Cure, which took place at at the Community Education Center in West Philadelphia. Story Cure featured poetry by Trapeta B. Mayson, story circles for sharing experiences with health care and self-care, and a tea making workshop to nourish the soul.

Nothing prepared me for listening back to the audio of the stories shared. With headphones on (it’s true what they say, that audio is an intimate medium), I heard stories of frustration, pain, self actualization, and healing. The stories were haunting, so raw, and personal. As Trapeta B. Mayson later commented, “it was the work of courageous people”. But, one thing was abundantly clear, the system was not designed for the community it was serving.

Capturing the beauty of the experience, poet Trapeta B. Mayson, who listened as people shared, magically turned prose into poetry and performed “Stories Cure” at the end of the event. Listen in with us, hear for yourself, and honor those who choose to share their voices.

This is Story Cure.

#BIF2019: Wellbeing

Written by

Reports of the BIF Summit dying are exaggerated!

In January 2019, we announced that after 14 years of helping institutional leaders make transformation safer and easier to manage, we planned to leverage what we’ve learned, and the transformation tools we’ve created, to pivot toward directly launching new, human-centered personalized business models with patients, students and citizens at their core. We want to increase our impact by directly designing, prototyping and commercializing transformative business models in healthcare, education and public services.

Our BIF pivot is well underway starting in health and wellbeing with the launch of Personalized Medicine by Design #PMxD and our initial prototype focused on an important and urgent design challenge: transforming maternal health outcomes for Black and brown women in our home state of Rhode Island.

As much as we’ve loved hosting every one of our 14 inspiring Collaborative Innovation Summits over the years, we know in our hearts that the BIF Summit has to transform too.

At BIF, we share a core belief that transformation of our most important social systems is about catalyzing the organic emergence of self-organized purposeful networks. Our Summits have always received high grades on the self-organized part as thousands of us over the years have experienced first-hand the strategic importance and inspirational power of storytelling, and enabling random collisions of unusual suspects (making a #RCUS). But in order to increase our collective impact we must add new elements to our Summit experience and community tool kit, we need to get better at making our self-organized networks more purposeful.

Since announcing our BIF pivot we have heard and received an outpouring of encouragement from our community and past Summit attendees. We’re both inspired and amazed by the responses we received since announcing that we’re reimagining the BIF Summit. We clearly hit a nerve! So many of you shared stories with us about the personal impact that engaging in the BIF community and attending our annual Summits have had on you, your organizations and your communities. You made clear to us your hope and expectation that BIF would be back soon with a new improved Summit experience.

We heard you and agree.  The BIF Summit is back!

BIF is proud to present:
#BIF2019: Wellbeing
October 22-24 in Providence, Rhode Island

#BIF2019: Wellbeing combines two BIF superpowers, storytelling and making a #RCUS, with an immersive opportunity for all of us to roll up our sleeves to help design the next practices and new business models that enable individuals and families to take charge of improving their own health and wellbeing. We will not be admiring the challenges of today’s institutionally driven healthcare system, they are well known. Together we will bring BIF-style optimism to imagining a better, more personalized, future. A more inclusive and equitable future that unleashes personal agency, with the information, tools, practices and access to the expertise and resources necessary to improve our own wellbeing.

#BIF2019: Wellbeing will combine an intimate in-person convening at BIF in Providence for 100 participants with an open access platform to engage a larger motivated community remotely and directly in the Summit’s storytelling, conversation and design process. The Summit experience will include a mixture of storytelling, design sprints, share-outs, and networking. Our collective output will help unleash new system solutions to be prototyped in the real world. Summit storytellers and participants will represent a diversity of perspectives, views, identities and experiences across industries, sectors and disciplines. A focus on wellbeing pushes us all to go beyond the usual healthcare suspects and silos to open up new transformative solution horizons and approaches.

Learn More: Schedule, Logistics, and Sign-Up