Archive for the ‘Jake’s CEO Blog’ Category
Christmas in Guatemala
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
The Kane Team took a second trip to Guatemala this December to install a second digital x-ray system at Salud Y Bienestar Clinica Municipal in Guatemala City. This project was under the direction of World Health Imaging, Telemedicine, and Informatics Alliance (WHITIA) and the Rotary. This clinic, part of the City Hall health clinic, will serve the urban underprivileged population with a CR digital x-ray system and high resolution monitors in 2 consultation rooms. The clinic will eventually be able to send images to radiologists in the US for reading once that connection is established. On a grander scale, the Salud Y Bienestar installation (in conjunction with Hospital Infantil’s system we installed in October) may now serve as a pilot site for additional installations in Guatemala.
Our partners in Guatemala are currently working a potential project that may yield a network of digital x-ray and telemedicine installations in the country. Kane X-ray will consider what our role will be in this exciting project, but it has been an incredible privilege and joy to serve with our partners in this project and especially on behalf of the people of Guatemala.
The original Christmas story is one of poverty, despair, and violence – and our friends in Guatemala have unfortunately experienced all of these elements in more than their share. But the people I have encountered in Guatemala also radiate other sides of the Christmas story – faith, hope, and love. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Fratti and their family and staff for exhibiting sacrificial love. Thank you to Jorge and Julio and your teams for exhibiting unending hope. And thank you to little Jessica, her sister and friends for reminding me about child-like faith. Merry Christmas Guatemala!
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Book Recommendation: FREE: The Future of A Radical Price
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
“There’s no such thing as a free cat.” That was my father-in-law’s advice when my wife and I (Jake) adopted our cat 2 years ago. I could tell by his chuckle he was a long time veteran of “FREE” cats and knew I had been duped. As predicted, our “FREE” cat cost us $500 in veterinary bills just a few months later when she swallowed a string.
FREE by Chris Anderson challenged me to go beyond the psychology of free being “too good to be true” and recognize that cross-subsidizing a product could actually decrease barriers to entry. We’ve used this approach to launch our Go Digital for FREE! Program to help single doctor and low volume practices convert to digital. We found we could leverage our Service4Life program in a unique way to make a new digital x-ray system – FREE.
NOTE: Beyond cross-subsidy, Chris points out information in a digital era can actually be free – using the examples of Wikipedia and YouTube. I found this point revolutionary and will be expanding on it in future posts. In the meantime, enjoy Chris’ book.
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Plotting Goodness
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
I’m not really sure why this particular quote has impacted me so over the past 3 years, but I came across it during my final MBA research paper on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To me it basically says there’s a lot of suffering in the world, a lot of injustice, a lot of poverty, a lot of people plotting evil – but do something. Do anything. Just don’t do nothing.
As it says on our website’s Giving Back page, I truly believe that those of us in the medical community can do far more than just donate money to humanitarian causes. We can leverage our time, talents, and businesses to save lives. This sentiment was echoed by Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM in his book Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? “Individuals can be enormously generous… yet they lack the heft and leverage that corporations can bring to the solution of large systemic problems.” At Kane X-ray I’m so pleased that our team is doing just that.
With our CSR initiatives, we’re leveraging what we do best, health imaging, and delivering x-ray equipment to hospitals in need in developing countries. We’ve partnered and consulted with some of the best people in this arena, but we’re still learning a lot about planning, managing resources, and communicating across boundaries. We’re learning that plotting goodness isn’t as easy as it should be, but it is worth it. Several customers, employees, and vendors have already committed their support to our work in Guatemala and it will be my pleasure to keep you updated on our progress.
At the same time, I would like to offer a challenge: consider what your business uniquely offers, consider what charitable project you can realistically take on – and do it. Just start. You’ll figure it out as you go.
Feel free to contact me regarding our Guatemala project or I’m happy to share what we’ve been learning as well jthompson@kanexray.com.
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