Back in June, several of my blogger friends had submitted applications to become a nominee for the WEGO Health Awards for Best in Show Blog. I had joined WEGO a few months earlier, but really did not know much about their Annual Awards. I submitted an application. Then we had 6 weeks to get votes and endorsements. So a group of us worked on endorsing each other and getting our friends to vote for us. The voting period ended in July and then the judging of all of the nominees began.

WEGO received over 6000 nominees in 15 categories, which ranged from Rookie of the Year, to Patient Leader Hero. The 5 finalists in each category included the top 3 vote getters and 2 others chosen by the judges. I had applied for just the blogger category, but some one nominated me for 2 others as well. I don’t know if that helped, and I know I was not a top vote getter, but last week, on the designated date, I received an email from WEGO that I was one of 5 finalists in the Best in Show Blog category. What an honor! As far as I can tell, I am the only Parkinson’s person in any of the 15 categories.

So what is WEGO Health? It is an internet company that believes in the value of Patient Leaders as an integral part of our health care system. Patients with many different illness are trained and given the opportunity to connect to health care companies, providers and others as patient experts.

From the mission statement:

“WEGO Health is a mission-driven company connecting healthcare with the experience, skills and insights of Patient Leaders. We are the world’s largest network of Patient Leaders, working across virtually all health conditions and topics.”

WEGO collaborates with startups, life sciences companies, non-profits, agencies, government and all types of organizations across health care. They offer enterprise and on-demand solutions that allow organizations to leverage patient experience and expertise in the design, development and promotion of their products and services.”

In other words, WEGO seeks to empower Patient Leaders and Influencers (sounds so much nicer than “Bloggers”) to work with the health care industry in a meaningful way. There has been a noticeable trend in the last few years to include Patient Leaders in the decision making process for drug trials, treatment protocols and more. Our experiences and our opinions do matter. If the trend continues, I think that we will start seeing a bigger change in how chronically ill patients, such as People with Parkinson’s, are cared for in the not too distant future.

In the end, I did not win for Best Blogger, but I can try again next year. Apparently it usually takes 2 or 3 tries to be named the winner in a category, according to several people I heard from. In the meantime, I get another cool badge to put on my website! That is if I can figure out how to do it. Woo hoo!