An exciting day for PFC - implementation of mHealth has begun

If you read the last update you know Partners for Care is partnering with Global H.E.E.D. to implement mHealth. We have been working with Global H.E.E.D. for the last 6 months developing the technical side of the program. Global H.E.E.D. Has done all the work on the technical side with PFC developing the medical protocols for the program. I came with four smart phones that were programmed with the medical protocols.

We have struggled with technical difficulties all week but this morning I received the following message from Dr. Vincent:
"We just recorded the first patient on the device and its working well. The data has also uploaded to the server." And, to make it even more special, the first patient - patient 001 was one of Pastor Hirbos's children. Pastor Hirbo has been with us all week and had brought his children with him to attend a camp.

The way the program works is we will have two of our non-medical staff collect information from a patient in the slum sending the information via the internet to a server creating a secure medical record. Dr. Vincent can access the information on his computer and provide recommendations in real-time to our staff who is with the patient in the slum. Our staff then advises the patient. The devises take and transmit photos of the patient for Dr. Vincent.

The advantage of mHealth are many including:

• Quicker access to healthcare for people living in a slum with poor infrastructure and limited transportation to health facilities
• Increased number of patients one physician can manage as he has more people collecting information for him
• Improved follow-up to determine resolution of patient's complaint
• Better tracking of patient's compliance with treatment regime 
• Improved surveillance of diseases

Phase I of the project will be in Marurui slum. Phase II we are looking at implementing in Mathare Slum through Community Transformers with Nick and Charles. And, Phase III we want to implement in government facilities with Dr. Joe.
There are many key players to a successful implementation of mHealth including Dr. Vincent who is our physician using the program, Sam who is working with the technical team in the US, Dr. Joe who is our consultant on the project, Sammy who is the PFC Director in Kenya and the Global H.E.E.D. team - Chris, Sonny, Igor, Ling and Shreya.

We are all very excited to be involved in improving health care in Kenya.
A good day in Kenya....Connie

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Can't even begin to tell you how exciting this is!  This is just the beginning of great things to come! Partners for Care and Global HEED are on the verge of revolutionizing access to health care in developing nations.

Sharon Dicks