My key takeaways from The Dartmouth Institute have been the systems-level focus in addressing healthcare change and the drive for continuous quality improvement. They informed our decision to support the fight against COVID-19 with a symptoms tracker app."
ANDREW QUAO MPH'10
A health tech entrepreneur, Andrew Quao MPH'10 is helping to track the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana, West Africa. Quao and his co-founders swiftly iterated their health monitoring app, Redbird, so that people could self-report their COVID-19 symptoms (or lack of symptoms). Redbird's symptom tracker also collects information on user location and exposure to risk factors such as whether someone has been in contact with COVID-19 patients.
With over 2,000 app check-ins to date, Redbird has since expanded its symptom tracker for use in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.
The app also focuses on addressing post surge challenges that organizations face as they reopen, enabling businesses to track and manage potential outbreaks among employees. Redbird is now piloting their adapted tool with a Cancer Treatment Center in Ghana.
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I am constantly thinking of ways to overcome obstacles related to social determinants of health."
JONATHAN SMITH MPH'18
As Director of Healthcare Transformation at the Community Care Network of Kansas, Jonathan Smith is laser focused on combating distance and transportation barriers to help Kansans get the care they need closer to home. Telehealth emerged quickly as an important solution during the pandemic and is one he is helping health centers execute on throughout the state.
His team at the Community Care Network has been hosting biweekly online roundtables with federally qualified health centers in Kansas to discuss telehealth implementation, workflow, billing, and best practices.
"I'm happy to report that 100% of Kansas health centers are offering telehealth services to patients during the COVID-19 public health emergency," Smith says. "I am hopeful that the government and insurance companies see the benefit of offering expanded telehealth services and will continue to reimburse for telehealth services once this public health emergency is over."
Smith also appreciates that technology like Skype can keep him connected to his little brother from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City.
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I think my medical knowledge helps with the boots-on-the-ground aspect while my MPH helps with big picture analysis."
LAUREN READY MPH'16
With medical school classes and clinical time on hold during the pandemic, medical student Lauren Ready MPH'16 has been volunteering on the triage phone line at the Providence, RI department of health. She helps to answer medical-related questions regarding COVID-19. Her medical expertise has been especially helpful when answering triage questions from callers about experiencing shortness of breath or chest pain.
Ready says the triage phone line team also documents everyone calling and where they work to determine possible outbreak clusters and trends. Her Dartmouth Institute training on geographic variation in health care delivery through Dartmouth Atlas work has often come in handy. She has been able to apply similar knowledge to analyze why regions of Rhode Island could have higher rates of infection than other areas.