It's Showtime
Show Time!! For the last month, I have been busy setting up a web site and figured it was time to get you all on board. It is certainly NOT streamlined yet and will continue to add functionality but I wanted you all to be a part of its growth from ground up. Several observations and notes:
1. I enter this non-private venue with a certain bit of trepidation. I have felt that over the past 20 months or so, we have developed a kind of online “family” atmosphere where we could discuss issues involving your kids, many of whom I have had the privilege to care for in the office. Now we step into the wide-open web. Rather unnerving. The Facebook page will continue to be private and will require a statement of intent on the part of new comers. Comments will continue to be welcomed on the FB but not on the web page blog. It will hopefully be set up in such a way that the blog article will start in FB and will redirect after a few lines to the web page. At the bottom of the article, you will have the ability to click back into FB and leave comments if you so choose.
2. Links for recommended supplements are not active. I will be adding them as I have time. Links to articles and videos are live. I have gone through great angst in handling affiliate links to recommended products and supplements. I spend a lot of time weeding through various supplements to make sure they are safe for kids. The cost of this website is quite a revelation to me also. I justify the affiliate concept with several thoughts: a) I need a way for the site to pay for itself or it will not last long. b) I will eventually need to figure out ways of paying for my time in research. This is certainly a small way. c) The affiliate concept gives me the freedom to give links to multiple competing products and also the freedom to change to others that I feel are higher quality or more appropriate as I proceed through my research. I am open to comments from you folks on this. For those who are not familiar with this affiliate concept, it is a relationship with a company such as Amazon which allows them to reimburse our site a small percentage for referrals made from our site. This is anywhere from 3% up to 7%. This does not come from the purchase itself but rather from Amazon. It is a business relationship. I struggled with the concept of “conflict of interest” and came up with the thoughts listed above.
3. The purpose of the labs section under “Services” was to make it easier to order more comprehensive studies from Genova and Great Plains Laboratory. These will not be ordered from my office but via the web page and the insurance billing setup will occur between you and the lab. St Alphonsus is not set up to bill for these. Some insurances will cover these more specialized labs and some will not.
4. I am always open to suggestions of ways to make the site more user friendly and helpful to you. Please help out that way. This is a brand-new venture for me.
5. I will also be adding the typical disclaimers but need to make sure they are accurate as a lot of the advice that I give IS medical advice and IS meant to treat diseases and conditions from an MD’s perspective. The problem comes when we have discussions about issues that I have not seen you for and from folks that are not my patients. Then I will need disclaimers. So, stay tuned.
6. Communication with me needs to also change just a bit. The new email address is totally HIPAA compliant, much more than private messaging or gmail. So for sending 23andMe zip files and communications, please use drbrus@gutwellness.org. This will show up on the web page under “contact me” also.