Patient Advocacy – Health Care Social Media

Social Spotlight: Isabel Jordan

Posted on November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 by Editor

This week I am delighted to interview Isabel Jordan, a founding member and Chair of the Rare Disease Foundation. Under her leadership, the organization has built partnerships between families and researchers through their Research Micro-Grant Program.

Isabel is the mother of a young man living with a rare disease and has drawn on her post-secondary degree in biology to become a strong advocate for patient partnership in research.

I am a huge admirer of the work you do in forging closer links between clinical researchers and patients and their families, Isabel. Can you tell us some more about the role that social media plays in your work?

IJ: What a great question. I feel like everything I do right now uses social media because I’m fully myself on social media. The project that I feel has used social media the best and where I’ve learned the most has been the #ItDoesntHaveToHurt project with Dr. Christine Chambers.

I talk about this one a lot because she and I met on Twitter – and in fact, she found a lot of her collaborators online. And the point of the whole project was to use social media to get the best evidence-based paediatric pain information directly to parents and families. What information, you may ask? Well, the subjects were chosen based on the input from the parent panel she recruited – I was a part of that panel. While I had been using social media for a long time, I felt like this project used so many platforms – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram to really engage different people where they are. I felt like a real collaborator, not a token.

So you’re a long-time user of social media but can you remember back to the time when you realized that it could be much more than just a way to keep up with family and friends?

IJ: Like most people, I started using Facebook to connect with family and friends far away. But the real magic moment came for me on Twitter. I signed on to it because I had the feeling it could be important for my foundation, the Rare Disease Foundation, but wasn’t sure what to do with it. I started off anonymous because I didn’t really understand the nature of the platform or what I could do with it. But what got exciting for me was when I began to realize that there were whole communities of people out there that I could connect with. There were parts of me that were feeling really isolated – the part of me that couldn’t work any more as my caregiving duties for a child with a rare disease prevented that, the part of me that lived in a small town and wanted to connect with a greater rare disease community, and of course, the part of me that wanted to find other nerdy adults to enjoy and share all of our science and science-fiction fun online. When I started to thank other people for posting things that I found useful, helpful, funny, uplifting, suddenly, conversations started happening. Suddenly, strangers became acquaintances became friends.

Is Twitter your favorite social media platform or are there others you enjoy using?

IJ: Definitely Twitter although I also enjoy Instagram as well. I love taking photos and love art and seeing a visual insight into other people’s worlds is enriching. I find Facebook off-putting a bit, although some community spaces within Facebook have been very really helpful in navigating specific rare disease issues.

I first met you on the #hcsmca Twitter chat (no longer active). Are there any other chats you take part in?

IJ: I loved #hcsmca while it lasted – that’s one of the things that really drew me into Twitter and led to a lot of wonderful connections. I also take part in #hcldr, but the timing is just terrible for those of us on the west coast. And I absolutely adore Liam Farrell’s #irishmed. I’m finding taking part in any of the tweet chats more and more difficult. It’s hard to make time and it always seems like they’re either at dinner time or when we have a medical appointment!

What advice would you share with others who are just starting out with social media?

IJ: It’s interesting – I’ve met quite a few people in person now that I first met on Twitter. And here’s the thing, for the most part, they’ve turned out to be pretty much the same in person as they are online. The people I choose to engage with, the people who get the authentic interactions are those that bring their real selves. So yes, talk about your professional lives, talk about your work, but bring in the other things that give you joy, entertainment, humour. Those are the things that make us human and relatable. And one more thing, recently I’ve come to realize that there seems to be a generational divide, those in my kids’ generation are pretty clear on understanding that the things they put on social media are permanent and potentially public, even if they are on private forums. I think that those that are in my generations (X) and those even younger than me could stand to learn that lesson. If you wouldn’t shout it while standing on a soapbox with others watching, you might want to think twice before posting it on social media.

Super advice Isabel. It seems we still need reminding of this. I also really like your advice about bringing some personality and relatability to social media. We connect with each on a human level, even when that connection is digital. So, I like to end these interviews by asking for a favorite quote. Do you have one you’d like to share with us?

IJ: Well my email signature has included this quote for the past 10 years. And I believe it just as strongly now as I ever did

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

I love that quote too and I’ve seen it play out enough in our communities to believe the infinite wisdom of those words.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your social media story with us, Isabel. I continue to be inspired and learn from you and highly recommend others do the same, particularly those who want to learn more about how to engage patients in equal partnership.

Follow Isabel on Twitter @seastarbatita on Instagram seastarbatita_photography and check out her writings on her blog Modelling Change.

This post is part of an ongoing conversation that explores how patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers use social media to communicate their work. For more interviews, click here.

social spotlight

Social Spotlight: Rod Ritchie

Posted on November 23, 2018November 25, 2018 by Editor

This week it is my great pleasure to shine a social spotlight on Rod Ritchie. A 68-year-old, semi-retired, Australian print and web publisher, Rod uses social media to advocate for guys with breast cancer. His informative website MaleBC.org is a compilation of the latest diagnosis, treatment, and research on breast cancer in men.

I first came across you through my own breast cancer advocacy work and you were keen to remind me that men get breast cancer too. While of course, I knew that to be a fact, male breast cancer is something that I’m less aware is spoken about on social media. How are you using social media to address this?

RR: Social media is at the core of the work I do. Being a publisher and writer, with plenty of media experience, I find the mediums work well for those with the time and inclination to feed the hungry beasts. With breast cancer, men are not always in the conversation. Let’s face it, they are typically loath to seek medical attention and often to even talk to family and friends about medical issues. Research has proved that their later diagnosis leads to a poorer prognosis.

But there are plenty of keen men and many amazing women, patients and medical professionals, who are willing to chime in, share information, and who are very supportive of guys dealing with this disease. I feel particularly privileged to be interacting with medical people and I really appreciate the professional way they share information, their humanity and concern for patients, and the insight they bring to the whole range of topics, particularly on Twitter. With social media you can be both proactive and reactive.

I love that recognition that we are in this together – that social media can be a meeting point for health care professionals and patients. Can you tell me some more about how you are both proactive and reactive on social media in raising awareness of male breast cancer?

RR: Not so much these days, but a few years ago, most mainstream breast cancer websites were gender specific to women. It was as if they hadn’t heard about men. Every time I saw a Twitter post not gender neutral, I’d react and publicly draw attention to the fact.

Calling out gender blindness in breast cancer Tweets and Facebook blogs seems like a full-time job. I always think it’s a bit lazy of a writer to be neglectful or dismissive of the male perspective, since we go through equal hassles and tribulations during treatment, we have the same concerns about recurrence, and we feel more marginalized than is necessary.

When I see a study or a trial posted on ClinicalTrials.gov, I check out whether men are invited to apply. Then ask, if not, why not. Lack of research on men and breast cancer is holding our understanding and treatment back. It’s also often useful to post a quote from a research article, along with the link, so that my credibility is seen to be linked to scientific research. It’s only by raising your integrity that a social media reputation is consolidated and followers gained.

Correcting misinformation about male breast cancer and reporting on the latest research is most important to me. Since I completed my NBCC Project LEAD patient’s advocate course, I’ve been able to more critically examine scientific reports and technical papers. Where I see a useful study, I link it up on Twitter. I also keep a record of these trials and studies on my website MaleBC.org and my digital news magazine MaleBCReport and use social media to promote these outlets.

Last month, we had Breast Cancer Awareness Month with all the attendant pink hoopla, which to my mind, reinforces the stereotype that breast cancer is a “woman’s disease”. How did you react to this? What did you do to counter-balance this gender stereotyping of breast cancer?

RR: October is a big month. My aim is to have a few memes to spread around and to counter all the pink hoopla that inevitably spreads at this time of year. It always amazes me that breast cancer has become the shopper’s disease and that the seriousness, concern, and anxiety of living with the disease gets swept aside for a sort of celebration of how well managed this incurable disease has become. And while men rightly feel marginalized, I feel very distraught for my metastatic friends who have to endure all the crap that gets posted at this time of the year. I curate the Pinktober Revolution page on Breastcancer.org and have published a specialist site on the topic at PinktoberSucks.com.

As a member of several Facebook breast cancer and prostate cancer patient pages, I’m supporting men (and women) who go there with questions about diagnosis and/or treatment. I’ve been amazed at the similarities between men discussing prostate cancer amongst themselves, and women discussing breast cancer. The men are very open talking about the myriad problems of prostate cancer including sexual side-effects. Just like women are when they talk about breast cancer.

You really do work social media to the max Rod! Take us back a little in time to when you first discovered that social media could be a tool in your activist armor?

RR: After finishing treatment for breast cancer four years ago, and deciding to spread the word that men get breast cancer too, I found my message falling on deaf ears in the mainstream media. Even the so-called “pink charities” were initially deaf to this inconvenient fact, and I discovered their websites were hardly acknowledging men, were very pink, and the institutional mindset was almost entirely women-centered. Alongside this, male breast cancer was an orphan disease, with a low profile and one that, upon diagnosis, left most men in a state of shock and more or less embarrassed to have a “woman’s disease”.

Little discussed, even among men, it soon became clear to me that more could be done to promote awareness. I mean, women had long been aware of and encouraged to do breast screening and self-examination, but men, especially those with a family history of breast cancer, were unaware of their risks. And when they were diagnosed, they were loath to even use the words “breast cancer”. I even know of several men who told their friends they had chest cancer!

I also discovered, that most men disappeared from view after initial treatment, and very often did not want to talk about their experiences to family, let alone in the public sphere. Even major public digital communities, such as Breastcancer.org with nearly 200,000 members, had very few men posting regularly when I turned to it for information four years ago. As in happens, I stayed with that community and now I’m the only man with the disease posting regularly there. Under the username Traveltext, I have made many cyber friends and feel very connected to members of forums such as Pinktober Revolution, IBC, and with the occasional man who comes to the almost moribund Male Breast Cancer boards. These are mostly young men worrying about breast lumps which almost always turn out to be cysts. I appeared in a video to support this charity.

Where men could be reached, however, was in the relative anonymity of social media spaces such as Twitter and on closed Facebook pages. And coming from Australia, where annually only around 150 cases are diagnosed, I had the chance of connecting with some of the 2,500 men diagnosed each year in the United States, and those from the United Kingdom, where 380 guys are diagnosed annually. I work as the stories editor for the Kansas-based Male Breast Cancer Coalition and get to read what dozens of men have been through in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

You’re a social media super-user – of all the social networks you use, which do you enjoy the most?

RR: Twitter and Facebook in that order. All my interactions on Facebook are on closed groups because I don’t want my personal Facebook interactions to mingle with health communications since it is unnecessarily confusing and potentially distressing to friends and relatives to have the option of reading about all the matters that I bang on about. Facebook, without word limitations, allows people to discuss their issues, dispense advice, give treatment experiences, and generally cheer patients up. Some posts are a wealth of information, others are just chatty. But Twitter is no-frills, basic information sharing and is where medical professionals and patient advocates quickly exchange information, answer questions, and post links to sites that contain the full story. The rapid-fire nature of Tweets means it needs lots of attention, but you soon learn to scan and look out for people who regularly post interesting material and comments.

Breast cancer is obviously your main focus. Do you take part in any breast-cancer related twitter chats?

RR: I’m interested in all breast cancer topics, regardless of gender, since treatments for men and women pretty much identical using the same protocols which depend on patient’s staging and cancer type, etc. Notwithstanding this, I zero in on all discussions and research relating to breast cancer in men. I try to catch the weekly #bcsm Twitter chat, which runs for an hour from 8pm Monday EST in the United States. Because that’s 11am Tuesday where I live, it’s often not possible to tune in, but I’m certainly there when my favorite topics are up for discussion.

What advice would you share with others who are just starting out with social media?

RR: I’d suggest spending time getting to know the lie of the land with the topics you are following and the people who are consistently making the best posts.

Post when you have something meaningful to say, not just for the sake of posting.
Always be polite, and don’t become embroiled in dramas that arise from conversations outside your experience.
Like comments that enlighten or interest you.
Proof your text, since errors reduce your credibility and because you can’t alter posts, only delete them.

I really like that advice, Rod. It reflects a measured and mature approach to engaging with social media that not everyone brings to the medium. Speaking of mature, I get so tired of the argument that social media is only for young people, — you clearly prove that this isn’t so.

RR: I was in print publishing when the introduction of computers revolutionised the whole process, so I’ve been computer literate since the mid 1980s. As soon as the internet became a solid publishing format 20 years ago, I was there, applying my publishing and writing skills. At one time I owned over 100 web sites. So, age does not weary those of us techies who grow old! And since the average man gets breast cancer at 65, you’re unlikely to get many young guys with knowledge on this topic!

I like to end these interviews by asking for a favorite quote. Do you have one you’d like to share with us?

RR: Quotes are a big thing on social media, especially inspirational ones. But while I like many of them, and I certainly get their value, I feel, as patients, we are hard-wired to expect the worst from your disease and we sometimes need to pay more attention to medical professionals who have seen many hundreds of people in our situation.

Years ago, when I was trying to tell my breast cancer oncologist about my medical worries, she said: “Never have any pre-conceived notions about any stage of this disease.”

That advice has stood me in good stead as I realized that most of my fears were baseless and I really needed to get on with my life in remission, rather than obsess over what might or might not become a medical issue.

Rod, that’s a wonderfully inspiring piece of wisdom for all of us to take on board. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us your social media story. I enjoyed getting to know your work better and am in awe of all you do to raise awareness and support men with a diagnosis of breast cancer.

This post is part of an ongoing conversation that explores how patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers use social media to communicate their work. For more interviews, click here.

social spotlight

Social Spotlight: Sue Robins

Posted on November 16, 2018November 24, 2018 by Editor

This week it is my great pleasure to shine a social spotlight on Sue Robins.

I first came across Sue through her eponymous blog suerobins.com and was captivated by her writing. Her thoughts and opinions on the role of story in medicine and how to affect meaningful patient engagement chime with my own and I’ve been hooked on her writing ever since.

Sue is a New York Times published writer, speaker and mother of three. Her youngest son has Down syndrome. Her work experience over the past decade includes paid family leadership positions with Kinsight, BC Children’s Hospital and the Stollery Children’s Hospital. She is also the senior partner in Bird Communications, a health communications company in Vancouver & Edmonton.

Sue self- declares herself a” rabble-rouser” and “health care big mouth”, which tells you quite a lot about who she is both on and offline. She is passionate (and outspoken) about family leadership, patient & family engagement, storytelling and nurturing compassion in health care, human services and education settings. Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2017 and has recently completed active treatment. This life experience grants her the unique perspective of being both a patient and caregiver in the health system.

Sue, I really admire your outspokenness, which I know comes from a place of deep commitment to the ideals you believe in. I’ve been personally inspired by your writings on patient engagement and how we seem to have strayed from the true meaning of the term. Could you tell us some more about the role that social media plays in your activism?

SR: I participate in patient and caregiver activism and Twitter is one of my tools. I deeply believe in storytelling, peer support, patient/family power and grassroots leadership in the worlds of health care and disability. I have a son with Down syndrome and worked as a paid family member at children’s hospitals for many years to bring the family voice into the health care environment. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I added patient advocacy to my basket. Sadly, in my formal positions, I was never allowed to have an ‘official’ Twitter account – corporate communications departments in hospitals hold onto that power very tightly.

I consider myself a change agent and am always skirting around the edges with my own account, where I have autonomy and freedom to say what I want. I refuse to be muzzled.

Now I’ve become deeply skeptical because of the professionalization of the ‘patient engagement’ movement. I often share articles that offer constructive criticism of engagement (#hownottodoptengagement) and highlight the need for humanity in health care. Twitter is my sharing mechanism. I’m a writer by profession and also use my account to post essays from my own blog, www.suerobins.com.

I follow you on Twitter and you use it so effectively. Was joining Twitter when you first started to use social media?

SR: I was an early adopter of Twitter. When I first moved to Vancouver, I met family and patient leaders through Twitter who became treasured friends and colleagues in real life, like @seastarbatita, @tatterededge, @karencopeland3 and @couragesings. I feel fortunate to have found these awesome women and we lift each other up every single day.

We hear so many negative things about Twitter these days through mainstream media so I love that sense of lifting each other up. That’s been my experience too. Can you tell us some more about how you use Twitter in your work?

I have two personalities on Twitter – my health and caregiver advocacy (@suerobinsyvr), my health communications company (@birdcomm). I use Twitter to curate my own news and I’m ashamed to say that while I used to get three print newspapers delivered to our home, my Twitter feed has replaced that. I try to follow a variety of accounts so I don’t just have the dreaded echo chamber – where I only read news that validates my own (admittedly left-wing, environmentalist) views.

Do you use other social media networks aside from Twitter?

SR: I enjoy Instagram. I deactivated my Facebook account years ago. It reminded me too much of high school and I had grave concerns about how Facebook shared people’s information.

I have three accounts on Instagram. I have a guilty pleasure of scrolling through photos of wedding dresses, as my daughter is getting married next summer. I do carve off my different personas into three accounts. One is my private family account and the other two are public – @healthsquawk, my rabble-rousing where I post about healing from breast cancer and @foodiesuz, which is a fun account where I post pictures of eating out. My advocacy work tends to be heavy and often times dark, so it is important to have a joyful interest – food is that for me.

I like that sense of balancing the heavier work-side of Sue with the fun side. You have a lot of different things going on in your life, so which topics particularly hold your interest? Do you take part in any regular health-related twitter chats?

SR: My topics change depending on what’s up in my life. When I was deep in treatment for breast cancer, I was obsessed with following #BCSM and folks like @ninariggs, @cultperfectmoms and @adamslisa. I miss the wisdom of all three of these powerful women.

Now that I’m in what I call cancer healing mode, I do follow those who talk about the gritty reality of breast cancer, including the life of our sisters with metastatic breast cancer, like @the_Underbelly and #breastcancerrealitycheck.

You’ve mentioned some great accounts to follow on Twitter which is so helpful for newbies starting out. Thinking back to my own first forays into Twitter, it can be quite overwhelming. What advice would you share with others who are coming to social media for the first time?

SR: I’d suggest thinking about why you are on social media. Being clear about your intention is important with any aspect of your life. Is it to follow news? Share articles? Engage in conversation or debate?

I think it is okay to take a break. I took a Twitter break for nine months earlier this year. I had tipped into spending too much time looking at my stupid phone and I wanted to put my head up and be more present in ‘real life,’ especially with my son. Those notifications are addictive and I had lost balance. I also had experienced harassment from (white, privileged) men. Now I put my phone in the bedroom when I get home and limit my social media time to early mornings, which feels healthier to me.

That’s valuable advice for all of us Sue, whether we’re new or seasoned social media users!

So, I like to end these interviews by asking for a favorite quote. Do you have one you’d like to share with us?

SR: “Your silence will not protect you.” – Audre Lorde

That quote could be written for you!

Thank you so much Sue for taking the time to share with us your social media story. I’ve picked up some tips and reminders about maintaining balance through listening to you. Wishing you continued success in the work you do.

This post is part of an ongoing conversation that explores how patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers use social media to communicate their work. For more interviews, click here.

social spotlight

Social Spotlight: Jo Taylor

Posted on November 7, 2018November 8, 2018 by Editor

This week I am thrilled to kick off the social spotlight interview series again with one of my favourite people – Jo Taylor. Founder of After Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Jo is a straight-talking Northerner and a force of nature. A fearless patient advocate and campaigner living with secondary breast cancer, she inspires me every day with her energy and passion.

Jo, I am in awe of the work you do. I know you have several projects on the go, so can you tell us a little about some that are close to your heart right now?

JT: Currently I’m working on my #abcdretreat . I held 3 this year and the plan is to get sustainable funding that can support 5 residential a year and other additional ones but not redirecting. I want to be able to franchise the model as people have now asked my advice in replicating. I know it works and I can inject the right ideas and know how into producing them in different areas.

A lady from the last retreat wants the franchise in the Isle of Wight! I’ve also had interest from America and Canada. Social media reaches the places others can’t. It’s unbelievable how it’s grown in the last 2 years. I did a pilot 2 years ago with 9 breast cancer people. I now know how it works best and people gain so much out of it! There’s lots of ideas but can’t say too much at the moment. A business plan is in the process and there are two other grant funds that again I can’t talk about that I’ve applied for. Only time will tell if these things work out. Fingers crossed.

I’m also involved in the #busylivingwithmets campaign that started last month in Breast Cancer Awareness Month. While metastatic breast cancer is terminal and cannot be cured, because of improved treatments more women are living longer than ever with it. Even so, many misconceptions and lack of information about this diagnosis persist. A stranger called Elizabeth Richards contacted me and like many other women she knew very little about MBC, yet the more she found out, the more angry and amazed she became that the illness was side-lined. Elizabeth’s view was that as long as metastatic cancer wasn’t mainstream people would not be aware of the limited treatment options available to them. If they knew, they’d demand more.

NICE, NHS, charities there’s so much not happening and it should be. Secondary breast cancer patients need a real voice to push policy and make changes – patients need early diagnosis of mets, better treatments and surgeries. If the government really want the life expectancy to improve and the U.K. world cancer ranking to improve from 17th position, these are the things that are needed to make this happen.

I also am the founder of METUPUK who are looking at the aims and objectives detailed in the graphic below, and we’re committed to turning metastatic (secondary) breast cancer into a chronic disease instead of a terminal disease.

I’m also involved in steering groups for Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) in Greater Manchester and in the Greater Manchester User Involvement programme working in partnership with clinical groups and boards like the Greater Manchester Breast Pathway Board which I attend as Secondary Breast Cancer patient representative.

I truly am in awe of all that you do Jo! So, tell us what role social media plays in all of this work. How did you get started with social media?

JT: All these things use social media to push their profile. I was on Twitter with my own personal account and wanted to see how Twitter worked and how I could use it after creating my website After Breast Cancer Diagnosis – I spent a good year or so researching and understanding how it worked to be able to replicate this with my @abcdiagnosis Twitter account. I didn’t want to just take followers over from a personal account. Many did follow me from my personal account but it grew from there to what it is today.

Which platform(s) do you enjoy using the most?

JT: I use Twitter as my main platform. I have a Facebook page as well which I then expand on the information from Twitter as FB is wordier. I don’t link one media to the other as I feel it doesn’t work for me. I don’t use Instagram as I don’t feel this is a worthwhile medium for abcd. I find it unrealistic and more of a “celebrity” medium that just isn’t what I want to promote. Life isn’t all about the perfect photo and I am a real person not a posed and promoted one. I also feel this is damaging to people and our children. I don’t feel my “brand” is right on that medium.

I agree that Instagram is all about the filters and the projection of a perfect image, but I wonder if it might be worth experimenting a little to see if you could do something to shake this up? We should put our heads together sometime and see what we can come up with 😉

I ask all my guests the following question – but I probably should know the answer to the next question already. Which topics interest you – eg do you take part in any particular twitter chats?

JT: Any topics to do with breast cancer, secondary BC, patient involvement, advocacy interest me. I’m also massively interested in exercise with and after cancer so get involved in things to do with these subjects. I want to make a difference for other patients and people living with and beyond cancer. Exercise is something we can all do and at very little cost so I like to motivate people to do this.

I have a closed FB group for people who have been on the retreats and it’s great for them to keep motivated. We also have WhatsApp groups that keep them motivated and connected.

What advice would you give someone just starting out on social media?

JT: Connecting with people and actually chat with them! This is the one thing people don’t always do, they think they will just get followers by no interaction, I’ve seen it. You have to be part of the conversation, don’t be shy, talk, get involved, do Twitter chats, lurk until you feel comfortable in speaking but we all have an opinion and that’s the thing, we don’t have to agree. Don’t feel silly to stick your head above the parapet and have an opinion. Be kind – many people have cancer and sometimes things can be taken incorrectly too (Maybe my Northernness?!) I’ve been on the receiving end and sometimes easy to be misunderstood. Don’t feel silly to say I’m sorry I didn’t mean it that way also, I still can say something and the meaning isn’t taken in the right context. If something happens DM someone and there’s been times I’ve apologised or smoothed things over. Interaction is everything though, it’s just like speaking to someone face to face. Remember don’t say something to someone you wouldn’t face to face. There are real people behind these accounts (most of the time). Block anyone who is continually rude or upsetting. I’ve only had to block three people ever in the last 6 years and most of the time I’ve had only a good experience of social media.

I love that advice Jo, and I agree that is easy for misunderstandings to arise online. I appreciate that you care enough to smooth things over. It’s important that we build and nurture those online relationships we value too.

So, finally, would you like to share a favourite quote with us?

Favourite quote – too many to choose from but this resonates – no, exercise won’t cure clinical depression but whatever disease or problem, it certainly can make you feel a whole lot better if you try it.

That’s a powerful note to end on Jo, and as healthcare communicators, we both understand the value of a visual to get a key point across!

This post is part of an ongoing conversation that explores how patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers use social media to communicate their work. For more interviews, click here.