We’re excited to share one of 19Labs’ highlights from June.
A few days ago, we co-hosted a webinar with Echonous, the manufacturer of Kosmos, a handheld ultrasound that is one of the devices part of our GALE eClinics. We were joined by two experts, Dr Juan Carlos Ceron, the Telemedicine Coordinator at the Health’s Secretary of the state of Oaxaca (Mexico), and Dr Xochitl Leon Cruz, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist. Dr Juan and Dr Xochitl discussed the challenges of healthcare in remote areas, and how the deployment of advanced, affordable eClinics are improving access to quality medical care in rural Mexico.
Don’t speak Spanish? We’ve got you covered! These are the key takeaways from the discussion:
#1 - GALE eClinics enhance prenatal care with advanced, easy-to-use devices
GALE eClinics’ enhanced Telehealth platform provides critical clinical information for doctors and patients by using smart devices such as portable ultrasound, urine analyzer, blood testing, ECG, and more. When it comes to prenatal care, the ability to answer clinical questions onsite in a timely manner helps improve medical outcomes and avoids pregnancy complications. Using the ultrasound is key and, with minimal training, rural doctors and nurses - who are not sonographers - benefit from the easy-to-operate probes to confirm pregnancies, provide guidance on how to minimize risk, and address simple but important questions like whether or not the fetus is in breech position. Additional clinical assessments include identifying low-lying placenta or placenta previa; orifices obstruction; pelvic assessment; fetus clinical evaluation; and more.
#2 - Access is one of the biggest challenges to rural prenatal health
Access to healthcare is a major challenge for patients in rural communities. In many cases, the pregnancies are unplanned, therefore, the mother isn’t tracking it and doesn’t even know that she’s pregnant. In prenatal care, this is detrimental because these patients often present for the initial diagnosis and consultation 3 or 4 months into their pregnancies. Those living in remote areas often have to walk for more than 1 hour to reach their local clinics. If rural patients need to consult with doctors in the main cities, those journeys could take as long as ten hours, costing them time and money. 19Labs, with the help of its partners Viasat and Vasanta, also provides internet connectivity (satellite and cellular) so local clinics, otherwise able to offer only primary care, can now connect to specialists in the capital and increase access to quality care in these remote regions. Most communities already see the number of patients seeking preventative care grow week after week, and not only when they’re seriously ill.
#3 - GALE boosts productivity of the Health's Secretary in Oaxaca, Mexico
Oaxaca is a great example of coordinated efforts to tackle important healthcare challenges. Through its Telemedicine Coordination, the state Health’s Secretary implemented a digital health program connecting most of its small primary care clinics in rural areas with specialists located in the capital, Oaxaca City. Specialists in OB-GYN, pediatrics, internal medicine, and surgery provide secondary level care so patients in these distant, mostly mountainous communities don’t need to travel for hours (or days) to see a doctor. GALE eClinics have improved the productivity and efficiency of these coordinated services with more diagnostic capabilities at the patients’ point of care, by sharing valuable clinical information with local doctors and specialists. The impact on the communities served has been significant. In addition to the economic impact (savings from unnecessary hospital visits that were prevented), there are multiple heartwarming stories of lives that were saved. And this alone is priceless.
To discuss how to bring GALE eClinics to your organization or community, please email sales@19labs.com.
About 19Labs 19Labs is the creator of GALE, a Next Generation Point-of-Care platform for pharmacies, schools, workplaces, and rural communities. GALE brings together cutting-edge diagnostic technologies from industry leaders like Zoom, Elo, Amwell, Samsung Mobile, MIR, Omron, Viasat, EchoNous, PAP Link, and many others in one smart, efficient, and cost-effective platform. It was designed from the ground up to be operated by non-healthcare professionals in locations with limited infrastructure and optimized for low bandwidth and intermittent connectivity. To learn more about GALE, please visit www.19labs.com.