1.   1. Society is starting to more formally recognize the importance of healthy diet on overall health. This is important as it provides business leaders and entrepreneurs to take advantage of this trend. 

     2. People want to help themselves, but most of the time don’t know how. This plays right into the hands of social entrepreneurs who want to help others simply for the sake of helping society.

     3. It takes the knowledge of others to help those without that knowledge. As discussed in the first article, the gentleman using the food service wants to make a diet change for his health, but doesn’t know how

     4. Change provides opportunity for business leaders and entrepreneurs. Changes in the way health practitioners are paid for their services and government regulation provides opportunity to be leaders of change in industries that might otherwise not have much innovation.

     5. It takes education to convince people to make a change for the better. While people will always be resistant to change, educating them enough to the point where they are comfortable to try it out is what matters.

     6. It takes the help of others (and other free resources) to make a difference. Many of the initiatives of social entrepreneurs would go out of business without the support of others, whether volunteers or through donations.

2. The two articles I chose both revolve around holistic medicine, which is the method of practicing medicine that seeks positive outcomes through natural and less invasive solutions. I am extremely interested in this aspect of medicine myself and try to incorporate as much natural healing as possible into my own life. The first story I read was about The Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA), which provides customized meals for extended periods of time for individual who need to tailor their diets to resolve their respective illness. For some, their diet should restrict carbs or sodium, so MANNA delivers meals for several weeks for those using their subscription, which is covered under insurance. This is very important as we are beginning to learn how important diet is in healing medical issues and even treating diseases. I like the program MANNA has created; however, I do not view it as sustainable for a couple reasons. First, food ingredients, especially healthier ingredients are expensive, so offering food options that are both affordable and nutritious is very difficult, so one of those things will probably be sacrificed. Not to mention the high costs of delivery. Secondly, MANNA relies on insurance reimbursement. However, insurance is being very picky with what they will reimburse and what they will not as they are enforcing practitioners and providers to curb costs. If costs are too high for MANNA, insurance will not want to fully reimburse them, resulting in a budget deficit.

The second story I read was about doctors and physicians opting to work their own private practice using subscription-based business models and catering to fewer patients. Many doctors realize that patients need more than 15 minutes with the doctor to see results, so specializing with patients seems to be the better option. However, these costs run high. Thus, practitioners will need to curb costs and rely on insurance or shy away from insurance. Many doctors are choosing different routes, so it is still uncertain what trend will play out over the next few years.

3. Most of the information I read in the stories were already known to me, as I follow the holistic medicine closely. I know people are starting to realize the importance of diet in solving their illnesses, but I did not know there were programs like MANNA that is directly catering to this issue. This is very encouraging to me since I know that adoption of services like this will increase in the near future, leading to healthier individuals and better functioning society as a whole. It is also interesting that so many people are becoming aware of the importance of alternative methods of medicine and willing to pay for them. Hearing that individuals are willing to pay higher copays for more hands on interaction with doctors is very encouraging as well, as it shows me the value of holistic medicine is increasing in the eyes of the ill. 

4. I read one other story discussing essential oils and how they are beginning to be implemented into every day use and as a role to solving the antibiotic resistance developed by the majority of Americans due to the way we raise livestock. I did not use this as my two stories since I am a bit unfamiliar with essential oils. I have personally wanted to begin using essential oils to enhance my sleep, but have yet to tried them. Another story I was interested in was about meditation, but the link to the full story required a subscription. 

5. I notice throughout the stories on StoriesU and throughout the course in general, many of the social ventures do not seem like sustainable business models. Since the very nature of a nonprofit is not for monetary benefit, I feel a lot of value is left on the table when we downplay the significance of financial risk within nonprofits. Thus, as a student in the business college, I think me and my peers have a lot of value that we can one day bring to a nonprofit. While we might not all have an entrepreneurial spirit, I think it is very noble to use your unique skill set to solve the world’s problems. At the end of the day, everyone wants to leave a legacy and say they gave back to the world; however, usually that requires some form of a resource, which is only obtained once the individual engages in some sort of for profit activity. 

1. What are three to six key points or impressions that you will take away from these stories?

2. Write a 200-word reflection that engages, analyzes, critiques, expands upon, and/or questions what you read or listened to.

3. Share your reflections on your experience reading, watching or listening to the solutions journalism stories. Did you learn new information; gain new understanding; see things with a different perspective than you had in the past? Did the stories reinforce an idea or thought you'd previously had? Did you meet new people, or learn about opportunities you were previously unaware of?

4. Were there other stories this week that you’d like to give an “honorable mention” -- that you enjoyed, but were not your top choice to share?

5. What else would you like to share?