Webicina.com Social Media Story Contest: Meet The Winners! December 12, 2011

Webicina.com launched a challenge in which stories from patients and medical professionals about how social media helped them were invited with grand prizes (Lenovo Thinkcentre, iPad2 and Amazon Kindle Fire, among others) to win. A special prize goes to someone who can tell his/her story at the Doctors 2.0 and You conference in Paris with registration fee and accommodation covered.

Now all the fantastic stories presented through Prezi, slideshow, video, Twitter, Facebook and blogs are in and the members of the jury, Lucien Engelen, e-Patient Dave deBronkart, Denise Silber, Kerri Morrone Sparling, Dr Mike Cadogan, and Dr. Ves Dimov made their decision. Here is the final list of winners!

Congratulations to everyone who submitted their stories which will be featured on Webicina one by one as each story must get its attention, each one represents real and clear values of using social media in medicine and healthcare.

The Winners!

1) The winner is Katherine Leon from the US with her story The “Tap Code” of Social Media in which she shared how she managed to cope with postpartum spontaneous coronary artery dissection by joining Inspire.com’s related community. She won a brand new, Lenovo® Multi-Touch m90z ThinkCentre, an all-in-one powerful computer with a 23” full HD monitor. An excerpt from her fantastic and inspiring story:

While forging relationships on the community, I wasn’t aware of the term “social media.” I would talk with my husband about “my SCAD friends” or “my online friends with SCAD.” They were just as real and important as any “in-person” friend in my life. Even today, our taps on the cell wall usually don’t translate to our families or social circles. But in the world of social media, we truly communicate and gain understanding of our fears, confusion and struggles.

2) The silver medal goes to Susan McKinnon from Australia who told her story about Transient Global Amnesia and Social Media on Youtube. A really moving story illustrated with many pictures. She won an amazingly thin and light iPad 2.

3) The third place belongs to Sarah Ezekiel from the UK who discussed her diagnosis of motor neurone disease and her journey through social media. She won an Amazon Kindle Fire, the newest model of the world’s bestselling e-reader. An excerpt from the story:

There are great MND communities on both twitter and facebook. We share research news which gives hope and keeps us upbeat and positive. Without social media, everyone would sit in isolation and feel hopeless. I actually find tweeting very cathartic and can voice frustrations as well as share good moments. I’ve made connections with wonderful people all over the world. Some have helped me to fundraise or raise the profile of MND. Life with a terminal illness is a veritable rollercoaster but social media has made everything much easier and more enjoyable for me.

Special Prize goes to Dr. Tamás Horváth from hungary who can present his story at the upcoming Doctors 2.0 and You conference! He described how he built the online presence for his medical practice through a Prezi slideshow. Click on the image below to see his Prezi.

Everyone who submitted their entries receive a Webicina T-shirt (either an e-patient or a web-savvy physician format).

We hope you enjoyed this contest and based on the success of it, I’m pretty sure Webicina will launch similar competitions soon.

Until then, please keep on using social media for good reasons and let’s prove that social media can facilitate the developments of medicine and healthcare. And the best way to demonstrate this is sharing your own story!