TIME innovation coverAmong TIME magazine’s 25 best inventions of 2015, most relate directly or adjacently to health and health care.

Among the 25 are:

  • The EKO Stethoscope
  • A gluten-sniffing sensor, the 6SensorLabs Nima
  • The Sproutling baby monitor
  • Nike Flyease 8 shoes, that you can tie with one hand
  • Cogni-Toys Dino, the toy that talks back
  • Eko Core Stethoscope TIME best-inventions-201607A smart refrigerator that can fix you a glass of nutrient-enriched water
  • The TZOA environmental tracker for personal pollution sensing, measuring atmosphere in a specific area (e.g., temperature, particulates such as dust, pollen, mold, and car exhaust), and UV ­exposure
  • Doppler Labs Here Active Listening earbuds
  • The Star apartments in LA, “housing that welcomes the homeless”
  • Chickpea pasta from Banza
  • Juno desktop DNA analyzer from Fludigm
  • The drinkable book, a book that filters water, so people so the 663 million people on the planet who don’t have access to clean drinking water can drink it, without harmful bacteria
  • Sproutling baby monitor TIME best inventionsTHINX period-proof underwear from Shethinx.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: TIME magazine’s selection reminds us that health is supported, created, bolstered where we live, work, and play. These are the social determinants of health (in Twitter terms, #SDOH), our everyday living and choices that fall outside of the healthcare system — nothing to do (in today’s workflows) with doctors or hospitals. #SDOH are food and clean air, safe places to walk and safe water, education and safe places to live.

THINX period proof underwear best-inventions-201609An article in today’s Hospitals & Health Networks talks about Cooper University Medical School and Virtua Health, working in Camden, New Jersey — one of the nation’s lowest-income, high-crime communities. Cooper and Virtua have a program dealing with homelessness and health, Housing First. The program is “giving homeless individuals relatively easy access to subsidized housing and then providing necessary physical and behavioral health care designed to limit their need for heavier duty care,” the article explains.

Star Apt 14-11 MMA 1204.JPGAnd so we laud the Star Apartments project, cited by TIME, which incorporates a ground-floor medical clinic, a garden, an outdoor running track and classrooms. Safe housing? Check. Medical services? Check. Exercise and a safe place to do it? Check. Educational opportunities? Check.

The Star Apartments are administered by the LA County Department of Health ­Services serving people who are homeless and may be dealing with substance abuse, to help people “re-­establish stability in their lives,” TIME magazine writes. This amazing facility was built right in the middle of so-called Skid Row, according to the innovative architect Michael Maltzan’s description of the project.

There’s no health in life without stability, safety, and education. Kudos to TIME for curating such a terrific list – baked with health.