In this issue:
Smart Health Rounding Up Employers for Personal Emergency Health Record Project
Joint Venture’s Smart Health project has launched a personal emergency health record project aimed at reducing the cost and improving the quality of healthcare for Valley residents. The project will employ a powerful open source personal health record developed by Tolven Health to collect an individual’s health information from multiple sources, including labs, pharmacies, insurance claims, and healthcare providers, and make it available over the Internet anywhere, any time.
“Not having the right patient data at the point of care costs billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives in the US each year,” said David Katz, Executive Director of Smart Health. “With this innovative approach, patient records can be delivered securely in seconds to any physician anywhere in the world, using a PC, a smart phone or any java-enabled device.”
Smart Health is seeking employers interested to participate in the project. For more information, click here. (PDF 624KB)
Kara LaPierre Named Joint Venture Vice President
 Kara LaPierre, a former program director the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, has ben named to a vice president position at Joint Venture and will serve as executive director of the Silicon Valley Economic Development Alliance (SVEDA).
LaPierre will coordinate SVEDA’s regional marketing efforts, including upgrades for two of Joint Venture’s key Web sites – Silicon Valley Online and Silicon Valley Prospector. She will also oversee Joint Venture’s efforts to maintain a unified building code for the region.
“I can hardly think of anyone more ideally suited to this assignment,” said Joint Venture President Russell Hancock. “Kara brings deep ties to the business community, marketing savvy and experience, four years in Sacramento working on technology policy, and advanced degrees in public administration and political science. Equally important, she brings superb skills at communication and relationship building.”
Click here to learn more about Kara LaPierre.
Joint Venture Killing Off Cell Phone Dead Spots, One at a Time
Almost everyone with a cell phone has gripes about dead spots, and carriers are eager to fix the problem by building more cell sites. But knee-jerk local opposition often stymies planning commissions or city councils, who wind up rejecting cell-site applications even when they meet all zoning requirements.
Joint Venture’s Mobile Coverage Initiative is racking up an impressive string of victories, reversing application denials in communities including San Jose, Sunnyvale, Los Altos and San Mateo County.
The winning formula: encouraging cities and counties to adopt best practices for reviewing cell-site applications; distributing primers to city staffs and elected officials; and building a Web site where residents can tag dead spots and convey their displeasure to both the carriers and local government.
Click here to learn more about the Cell Phone Coverage Initiative.
Joint Venture and the Commonwealth Club present “The Right to Learn”
Joint Venture and the Commonwealth Club present the second installment in their new series “Valley Views” on September 6th. The program features Stanford University education professors Linda Darling-Hammond and Susanna Loeb, discussing implications from a large, multi-year study showing inefficiencies in California’s effort to recruit, train, and retain excellent teachers.
Click here for more information.
|
|
Joint Venture Spotlight
Meet Liz Kniss, Joint Venture Co-Chair
Former Mayor of Palo Alto, an executive at Sun Microsystems, a public health nurse, and a dedicated mother and grandmother, Joint Venture Co-Chair Liz Kniss has served as Santa Clara County supervisor for District 5 since 2000. Her earliest involvement with Joint Venture was when she helped organize NetDay, which brought then President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to the Bay Area to help wire the public schools.
Click here to read the full profile of Liz Kniss.
Save the Date
February 22, 2008
The State of the Valley Conference
Bigger and better than ever, Joint Venture’s annual State of the Valley conference will be held February 22 next year, from 8 AM to 2 PM at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. The conference will feature the release of the 2008 Silicon Valley Index, luminary speakers, dialogue and discussion, exhibits, music and dance, and more. Look for details in upcoming editions of Valley Vision.
|
