Vision
We are an online community and a movement of individuals affected by chronic Lyme and associated diseases. We have many titles or labels including patient, family, neighbor, scientist, advocate, doctor, insurer, health policy expert, and legislator. We are here because Lyme and associated diseases are a growing, silent, often ignored, and misunderstood epidemic devastating our lives, our neighborhoods, and our communities. We want to learn about this illness and understand the experiences of those affected. We also have questions, ideas, and insights about this illness that we hope to share.
Through our collective and collaborative discourse on this Lyme disease commons, we give and receive support, educate ourselves, and gain valuable insights leading to innovation and transformation of treatments and lives. As a movement we provide support, foster science, inform and educate, produce legislation, and create health care treatment and policy changes. Our goals are to prevent the illness, find the cure, improve treatments, and assure access to high quality health care for ourselves and our neighbors. Alone we are divisible, at times invisible, but as a community we are invincible.
Medicine Bag
We have big plans for this site. Time, interest, and finances permitting once complete TickBytes Online will provide the following modules to support our collective vision:
- Incites: a new media newspaper with articles by Lyme literate journalists written for TickBytes Online that tell our stories to create and support a populist movement for change.
- TickBytes Reader: an Utne Reader like journal where we will collect the best of breed stories on Lyme disease from other sources,
- People's Co-op: interactive blogs and forums for discussing ideas, gaining insights, innovating plans, and transforming lives,
- Link Up: links to valuable Lyme disease resources and organizations,
- Intelligence: a Lyme disease library housing a variety of information resources ranging from documents on how to find and begin treatment to very specific medical or scientific journal articles,
- Enlightenment: online continuing education center, live medical case discussion forum, and a medical journal club,
- Kangaroo Court: a hosted appeals forum and resource center to respond to insurance company and medical board kangaroo court denials, investigations, or inquisitions, and
- Reveille for Radicals: a hosted political action forum for the Saul Alinsky, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., or Ralph Nader in each of us.
If you are interested in posting your Lyme disease blog in the People's Co-op for health care practitioners, people with Lyme disease, scientist, family members, or any other Lyme disease related audience contact us. We also plan members only forums for scientists but need to have hosts for this. If you are a journalist who wants to write stories about Lyme disease for the upcoming Incites newspaper module let us know.
Because we are internet-based TickBytes Online can meet the Lyme disease community information needs consistent with our vision at any time or place. We go where you go. For more information or to discuss ideas you might have for this site please contact Marty Ross, MD, Publisher directly or post in the Future Content forum so that we all might participate in the discussion.