Maine hackathoners partner with digital health provider to check for COVID-19
Courtesy / MyHealthMath
A "stay at home" motivational website emerged from virtual brainstorming sessions known as hackathons.
A month after Maine hackathoners launched a motivational "stay at home" website for residents during the pandemic, the tech developers unveiled a partnership with a digital health firm for a COVID-19 self-monitoring tool.
A diverse group of innovators led by Portland insurtech startup MyHealthMath, launched pledgetoprotectme.org in April that invites Mainers to take the pledge to stay at home and stop the spread of coronavirus.
The idea, and several others, came out of virtual brainstorming sessions known as hackathons, organized by MyHealthMath and co-sponsored by the VIA Agency, SaviLinx and Cross Benefit Solutions, with support from Startup Maine and Maine Startups Insider.
Dr. Elizabeth Cote, a physician and chief mission officer of MyHealthMath, told Mainebiz that 250 individuals so far have taken the pledge through the site, which is "empowering people to make safe decisions in the midst of so much misinformation and conflicting guidance."
Taking the initiative to the next level, Cote approached GetWellNetwork, a Bethesda, Md.-based digital health technology company led by founder and CEO Michael O'Neil.
Cote said that she and O'Neil are friends, and are both Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellows.
The partnership between the two groups will give all Mainers access to GetWellNetwork's COVID-19 self-monitoring tools via its digital solution by signing the Pledge to Protect ME pledge.
Currently used by more than 200 health facilities nationwide, GetWell's free, user-friendly symptom tracker lets individuals monitor their health and that of family members, and when to seek help.
Cote said that while her group is apolitical, it support's the state' guidance related to the pandemic., and aims to get more people to sign the stay at home pledge through its website.
"It's a public health drive, like safe sex," she told Mainebiz. "We see folks resisting recommended guidelines, so we'd like to mitigate the risk as much as possible with education about self-care, self-protection and monitoring, that at the same time lowers community risk."
She also said she thinks the pledge, and GetWellNetwork's self-monitoring tool, can be key components of return-to-work strategies that create safer work environments.
"Workplaces can make policies that reflect best practices and use the pledge for education and reinforcement," she said. "They can also avail employees of this very sophisticated self-monitoring system that will help their employees track symptoms, know how to recover at home, as most affected people do, [and] know when to seek care."
That, in turn ,will reduce the burden on the health care system as well as the cost, as well as alert employers if a work location starts to get "hot" so they can pivot accordingly, she added.
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