Camden New Jersey, one of the US's poorest communities, faced a crisis of overuse of hospital emergency services by its poor, making for costly but worse outcomes. Dr Jeffrey Brenner, a primary care physician, developed a medical outreach programme offering better care at much less cost. He recently received a McArthur "Genius" grant of US$600,000 ($706,300) in recognition of his work. In New Zealand we've had a tradition of folks in sheds, men and women with an abiding curiosity and an urge to make something new.
If regular people in Brooklyn, US, can make something astonishing , what could possibly stand in the way of people here, making their way to ideas and products. Let's remember that Apple Computers began in a garage in which Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were tinkering. We don't need garages. We've got sheds.
What follows is a couple of suggestions for products or projects that already have a definite market and, if carried out, will alter our social and economic future for the better.
Our ageing population will be needing hearing aids, which now cost $5000 to $8000. That's because they're all made by three firms in Switzerland and Germany. They're not ultra-complicated devices, they are simply miniature amplifiers. My smart phone costs $300 and has a capability far in excess of the roomful of computers (and millions of dollars) that sent astronauts to the moon. It's not a fantasy to believe that someone with engineering and computer skills with access to a 3-D printer could create a hearing aid to sell for the same price as my smart phone.
Another suggested project has the potential of increasing our local economy, meeting social needs, and saving people money they can otherwise spend on local goods. It's fact that our country has only two competing food-marketing chains. Together they function as a monopoly and as a result our food costs are among the highest in the OECD despite our being a net producer.
What we can do is form a local community-based food co-operative. A volunteer staffing and membership subscription could result in a buying power that make at least locally sourced food affordable to all. It might be the stimulus to genuine competition in the food market.
These are just two suggestions. If this community wants collectively to pull up its socks others can certainly come up with more and better ideas. Paraphrasing my 3-year old granddaughter, Gemma, describing any new activity, "I (We) can do it.!"
Jay Kuten is an American-trained forensic psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand for the fly fishing. He spent 40 years comforting the afflicted and intends to spend the rest afflicting the comfortable.
