Once upon a time there was a cute little village.
It had houses that looked like mushrooms.
This particular small village had a court jester that was being detained in a low security holding area. He was under watch for bothering the townspeople with nonsensical humor and wearing disturbing shoes.
Those monitoring the jester did not want to deal with him either.
They would often leave the keys to his cell dangling from a hook well within his reach. They did this for months.
They would often go on 4 hour lunch breaks to Applebee’s, just hoping he would have “escaped” by the time of their return. Finally, one day mid-lunch, the jester got the hint and left his cell for good. He stopped at the General Store and bought a root of turmericand galloped off into freedom and his new life.

He decided he wanted to help people so he headed to business school.
Business school would not accept him so he went to medical school.
Medical School looked like Hogwarts.

At ‘Hogwarts’, he spent 11 years learning the nuances of his craft.
Drug-eluting stents, islet cell transplants; PCSK9 injections; all kinds of wonderful things.
Things that cost billions of dollars.

One day, over a pint of ale at the local tavern, he and his fellow villagers were sharing the daily paper.
Together they stared down at the parchment.
“You know what? In this fine print it says that over 80% of cardiovascular disease is preventable. Wow, this prevention they discuss is as cheap as the dirt under our feet. Why aren’t we doing this?!”
They ran and grabbed the tavern’s abacus (sitting on the piano) and quickly calculated that some people wouldn’t have to die at 44 or 64, they could live to 94 or more.
A matter of fact, 100’s of millions of people were sick when they didn’t need to be.
They agreed that most all people could have scores of fun birthday parties.
They used the word ‘scores’ because it was a long, long time ago.

The jester and the villagers then decided that if they walked around the castle just one time everyday, they would be happy and healthy to their heart’s content.
This took about 30 minutes.

So, for years people walked around the castle (WATC). They loved it because they liked seeing their new friends and it was easy and they were now in charge of their own health.

Other villages in nearby lands started catching word. Many a townsfolk could be seen holding a cupped hand to their mouth as they whispered into an acquaintance’s ear.

There were also a lot of horses.

But it was all by word of mouth. You see back in 1017, that’s all they had. Then one day, towards the end of January 1017, the jester received a special scroll from the Kingdom in The Biggest Village Of Them All – it was reachable only by steam engine.

The scroll read as such,

The villagers scrambled to hurriedly tidy up their houses in preparation.
The visitors from this far away land did indeed come and they were extremely friendly and professional.

After their stay, the inhabitants of the host village gathered to see their visitors back onto their big black locomotive.
Waving goodbye until the carriers of the word disappeared, they then looked at each other. Their eyes shared that this could be good, potentially very good.
The local villagers that staffed WATC returned to their World HQ that evening.
They proceeded to invest many rubles into buying a bigger server, 2 additional phone lines, and plenty of Fage Greek Yogurts with Honey for their new volunteers.
You see…they had been warned that this visit would likely set off a Great Big Storm.

A Great Big (Beautiful) Storm that would cover all the lands.

Today’s Subject Line Today’s subject line, T.P., stands for tipping point. The ‘tip’ starts today. 2017 is going to be our coming out party. That’s a good thing. We want you to take ownership of what you did to put us all here. Maybe you started a walk, maybe you attended a walk, maybe you spread the gospel, maybe you’ve sponsored, or maybe you’ve spent countless wasted hours reading stupid newsletters. Point is – you significantly moved us all forward. You’ve made many sacrifices we do not know about and many of you have poured your heart and soul into this movement. Rachael, Jessica, and I are grateful, extremely grateful for everything you have done. You have made us a family. Now let’s all hop in the station wagon and go change the world. When we get there we’ll shake hands like Barry White Jr. Welcome to the Family! Preventative Care Health Services in Alpine, TX supported by the Texas Medical Association (Dr. Adrian Billings and Laura Gesick) Cortland Regional Medical Center and J.M McDonald Sports Complex in Cortland, New York (Molly Lane) Medical Society of Metropolitan Portlandin Portland, OR (Amanda Borges) UR Medicine Primary Care – Spencerport in Spencerport, NY (Dr. Didem Miraloglu and Nancy Wilson)