By Mark Krajnak, Manager, Corporate Communications, Johnson & Johnson

Most people have heard about Earth Day, which was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 (a mere three days before I was born, in fact.), and will celebrated again in just a few weeks.

But how many people know about Earth Hour, a new global initiative is taking place today? Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Earth Hour will take place at 8:30 p.m. your local time and encourages people to turn off their lights which organizers hope to capture as a vote that signals support for governments to take action against global warming.

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. Last year, there was a more of a global groundswell and in 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote.

Hearing that Johnson & Johnson intends to support this initiative as well
(by simply turning out all non-essential lighting for one hour at our offices and facilities) my family decided that we too are going to take part in this initiative. Saturday evening in my house usually includes make a nice, “comfort-food” type dinner, getting our two-year old ready for bed, walking the dogs one last time and settling in for a movie. We’re still going to do all of that, just without the lights on. It’s not that hard and it goes toward a great initiative.

Associação Saúde Criança Renascer
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
 
Renascer provides health education and psychosocial support to more than 1,000 families. Its goal is to reduce repeat hospitalizations by providing medical and educational aid to mothers with chronically ill children. Johnson & Johnson supports Renascer’s peer-to-peer activities, including its young mothers and teenagers pregnancy prevention programs.
 (Photographer: Kelly Shimoda, a Johnson & Johnson – International Center of Photography Fellowship recipient)

Last week, Dr. Paul Stoffels, Company Group Chairman, Global R&D Pharmaceuticals, had a guest blog post on CNBC where he explored the promise of personalized medicine which, in his words, is “the aspiration that we can provide the right treatment for the right patient at the right time and the right dose.”

It’s a great aspiration, and one that is well-suited to today’s information-powered world. As Paul explained:

Mike Samuelson, Director, access2wellness
Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.

Nearly two years ago, access2wellness.com was launched to provide uninsured and underinsured individuals with a resource to more easily access prescription medications. Since that time, over two million people received information about access2wellness and many have utilized the service to secure free or discounted medications. With the current economic downturn and unemployment reaching new heights, a growing number of people are trying to save money in any way by forgoing or reducing medications. While this behavior can save short-term, out-of-pocket expenses, controllable health issues could escalate into excessive medical costs and undesired outcomes.

According to The Kaiser Family Foundation, a one percent rise in unemployment raises the current 45 million uninsured population by 1.1 million. From 2001 – 2007, those who could not afford prescriptions grew from 10% to 14% and almost two-thirds of uninsured, working age adults with at least one chronic condition could not access their medications. “I’ve seen patients today who have stopped taking their cholesterol-lowering medicine, because they can’t afford it” said Dr. James King, Chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, in a recent New York Times publication. Layoffs, shrinking bank accounts, rising medical prices and widespread anxiety that the economy is likely to worsen are prompting people to split pills, forgo screening tests such as colonoscopies, delay elective procedures and turn to home remedies as cheaper alternatives. Hospitals report that as unpaid medical bills are on the rise, pharmacists see a spike in cheaper generics and demand for low-cost care is climbing.

According to a HIPPOCRATech post about the access2wellness service: “The hardest thing for anyone to admit is that they’re not being compliant with medications because of a cost issue.” Not only are patients impacted, healthcare professionals and family members become frustrated when non-compliant patients fail to achieve their desired outcome.

So what can we do to help the growing uninsured population? Healthcare providers, family members and friends of loved ones can share information about assistance resources such as access2wellness, TogetherRxAccess, Partnership for Prescription Assistance or NeedyMeds, to help the uninsured gain access to prescription medications. Recent market research indicates that 63% of US adults are not familiar with the term prescription assistance or patient assistance programs. Many assistance programs are available online or by calling a toll-free telephone number. For qualified individuals, the programs are free to use and provide access to free or discounted prescription medications within a short time after applying.

(Marc’s note: Periodically Mike or others from the Access2Wellness program post to JNJBTW.)

This image captures the familial relationship between children and caregivers…

Project Mercy, Inc., Yetebon, Ethiopia
 
Project Mercy provides education, health care, and other services in Yetebon, a community of 70,000 people. Teaching vocational skills, disease prevention, and nutrition, Project Mercy hopes to break the cycle of poverty. Johnson & Johnson provides HIV/AIDS education and orphan support resources. Project Mercy strives to offer a community-family model of care that builds on community and extended family relationships. (Photographer: Willie Davis, a Johnson & Johnson – International Center of Photography Fellowship recipient)

For the third straight year, I had the pleasure on Friday of attending the New Jersey FIRST Robotics Competition at the Sovereign Bank Arena in nearby Trenton. As I’ve mentioned previously, I find FIRST fascinating, and though I wasn’t able to stay for much of the competition, I was once again struck by the enthusiasm of the students and their energy.

This year, one of the judges, Laura Corsetto, had participated in FIRST when she was in High School. Now employed by Johnson & Johnson’s Cordis Corporation, Laura helped kick-off the NJFIRST activities by explaining how FIRST helped her with her career. I managed to catch up with her later that morning — though the quality of this video isn’t all that great — her story is nonetheless compelling: