What Is Medical Financing? Getting the medical care you need in the U.S. can be very expensive. Even if you have health insurance, your insurance provider may not cover many procedures that are considered to be “elective.”
"I hope to do that with this book; to change the way chronic pain is understood and treated, to ease suffering and to help shift society to a higher level of engagement, ownership, empowerment in whatever they’re dealing with. Pain is the perfect subject because it is both literal and metaphoric. It is entirely human. If people can find relief from the case I make and the business we’re building that would be tremendous. And if they move beyond just analgesia and into a higher level of joy, connection, productivity, then maybe the world can be a bit better for all of us."
I had the pleasure of interviewing Brendon Lundberg, about his book Radiant Relief, A Case For A Better Solution To Chronic Pain. His vision for changing the way, the 100 million person, $600billion a year problem of chronic pain is understood and treated is ambitious as well as inspirational. Radiant Relief is about a novel approach, creative thinking and disruptive innovation, which has the potential to help millions of people have a better quality of life, and to shift society in a profound way. His is a compelling story for anyone to read and understand, not just those directly affected by chronic pain.
My backstory is pretty ordinary. I am just a normal guy that has the privilege and opportunity, and felt called to try to do something impactful by addressing the global pain problem in safer, more effective way. I have a business background, which has been spent mostly in healthcare, across a variety of clinical environments. That professional experience, coupled with my personal and family trials, struggles and and experiences combine to prepared me to see the need, to recognize opportunity, and to have the courage to build something no one else had.
Oh man, I mean, anyone who has ever built a business knows that it is a complete rollercoaster of emotions, momentum, progress and learning. Aside from probably being a parent, there is nothing that demands more, challenges more or rewards more than building a business. I feel like this is what I am meant to do and have wanted to forever, but it is process of learning, of self realization and self actualization, of evolution that only happens by doing it. I am sure I am not the only entrepreneur who has said, “who do I think I am?” or felt like an imposter, or felt the critical weight of someone else opinions. I have learned to love it and there is nothing I would rather do that build a company, but it is definitely a mindset game before it is tactical or strategic one.
I do remember many years ago, in my early 20s, I had an idea for a business completely unrelated to what we do at Radiant, in fact in was in the hospitality industry. Somehow, I got a sit down meeting with the GM of the Ritz Carlton in Scottsdale AZ, where I lived at the time, to pitch him on this idea. He patiently and politely listened to my ideas, which culminated in me asking for a $40million dollar investment by Marriott to this unprove and probably totally stupid idea. He could have been such a jerk, but miraculously wasn’t and instead somehow, gently told me I was way out of my league with that idea and approach.
Well, our whole business and clinical premise is super exciting to me. I love everything about reinventing a care model to address an epidemic problem like chronic pain. We’re doing it in a completely novel and innovative way, on new science that most don’t really know (including most medical professionals) and against the industry old guard of big pharma and device companies, to build an elegant, thoughtful and effective solution to the enormous problem of chronic pain. I think we have unique opportunity to shift society; to not only ease a lot of suffering, but to genuinely create a paradigm shift about how we think of health and how we look at healthcare and life itself. I couldn’t’ be more excited really.
Many: innovators, creators, leaders who make the world a better place. People who live passionately and without apology in pursuit of their dreams. People who work to advance society forward in innovative and disruptive ways, and also people who just work hard to take care of their families, humble, ordinary people.
I grew up in a fairly religious home, so probably most from stories of good vs. evil, the little person, ordinary person made great because the circumstances required it of them — that “David vs. Goliath” archetypal narrative. I wasn’t a big reader personally as a kid, but I came from a family of storytellers, academics, and bibliophiles. Somehow, through osmosis, an appreciation and value of literature and literary themes translated to me, which I really didn’t earn on my own. I have also really been drawn to creativity, to art and architecture for as long as I can remember. And I grew up a product of the DIY ethos of punk rock and indie rock that also informs me in a profound way even to this day.
I hope that Radiant Relief, A Case For A Better Solution To Chronic Pain will make a profound impact on the world. At the end of the day it’s business book, a thesis on a different type of healthcare solution. But I hope it resonates in way that disrupts the status quo. I have also been honored that many people have messaged me and told me that they couldn’t put it down. They’re probably just being nice. But I tried to make it my personal story of struggle, and so if there is an element which compels the reader forward, I suspect that it’s as much that I tired to be vulnerable and honest about my own journey as it is the actual “case for a better solution to chronic pain”. Pain is very human. So I tried to make the book more human than academic for example.
Well, not sure even now that I consider myself “an author”. But I would say go for it. Put pen to paper, create, express, challenge. Believe in yourself and be okay with it being messy. Go to the conflict or create the conflict, and have fun no matter what you’re writing about.
I hope to do that with this book; to change the way chronic pain is understood and treated, to ease suffering and to help shift society to a higher level of engagement, ownership, empowerment in whatever they’re dealing with. Pain is the perfect subject because it is both literal and metaphoric. It is entirely human. If people can find relief from the case I make and the business we’re building that would be tremendous. And if they move beyond just analgesia and into a higher level of joy, connection, productivity, then maybe the world can be a bit better for all of us.
Wow, well, many people. What a blast it would be sit down for a bite and chat with anyone who has been a passionate and accomplished innovator, creator in their space. I love food and I love people, so that is too hard to narrow down. That said, I’m pretty Donald Glover and I would be fast friends. Tell him to call me.
Originally published at medium.com
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