By Linda Golik, Health & Wellbeing Consultant, Bellin Health
The year 2020 started out as a dream come true for me. After obtaining an additional degree as a returning adult and deciding to make a career jump to a new industry because of my love and passion for health and well-being, I landed my dream job that combined my background in multimedia production and my love of helping people with their health. Just as I was savoring this amazing fresh start, we started to hear about this unknown virus, and by the end of February, our work began to revolve around the changing information that was coming our way. I do not think anyone could have anticipated the roller-coaster our year would end up to be as COVID-19 changed the way we did everything, both personally and professionally.
As a new Bellin Health employee in early 2020, the norms of change and innovation were very apparent to me right from the start. The department moved quickly to meet the needs of our employer and community partners, and I soon became swept up in the activity as I tried to absorb all the details of being in a new workplace – let alone during what quickly evolved into a worldwide pandemic.
Our department was looking for effective ways to communicate information, but with everything changing so quickly, you could also see the magnified emotional status many people were experiencing. Stay away from your friends? Work from home while your kids try to do online school? These were the recommendations that we as a health organization, as well as companies around the world, were giving, and I started to think, “What kind of toll is this taking on everyone’s mental health?”
We began doing weekly “Employer Town Hall” segments featuring key leaders and medical providers to keep our employer partners informed. We decided to include an additional segment called “A Mental Health Moment,” which was a quick 5-minute blurb from Bellin Behavioral Health Specialist Charles LaTorre. The feedback from listeners was incredible as we could see that our community was thirsty for this type of information.
We decided to partner with our Bellin Health Psychiatric Center and Charles, who is a natural at giving people calming recommendations on not only how to manage life during COVID, but also how to build resilience during this time, by doing a monthly webinar series renamed “Mental Health Moments.” The webinars are casual discussions between the therapist and myself as we talk about what struggles people may be facing and come up with practical ways to keep managing the changes we are all facing. We also now tie the information into our monthly Lifesaver Wellbeing Series, which is free to organizations and individuals. The idea that there is no physical well-being without mental well-being is beautifully communicated via this platform.
I will be forever grateful that my department was open and innovative enough to allow the new kid on the block an opportunity to try something different as a need arose. It’s a great example of how if you respond to the needs of your customers and truly listen and do the right things, along with allowing staff to thrive by using their strengths, great things will happen.
To date, we have done nine of these segments and have had more than 6,500 views of our segments live, on recorded playback, and via our social media channels. By providing a variety of ways to take in the content, we make watching convenient for the viewer, and we continue to see our viewership increase every month. Another bonus is we have a substantial Bellin Health following, so we are also helping our own achieve some balance during this challenging time.
If you are asking yourself, “How can I bring information in an engaging way to my customers?” I invite you to consider the following questions.
- What are my viewers/customers looking for right now?
- What are the tools we have for delivery?
- Who are the right people to partner with to deliver this content?
As COVID-19 and vaccine distribution continue to flood our news channels and our inboxes for those of us who work in health care, consider how your organization can look to the needs of your people and customers. With change being the norm, this is a wonderful time to think outside the box. Ask your colleagues what their ideas are, and do not be afraid to try something new. If Bellin had not allowed me to try this new idea, there would be thousands who would not have received the valuable content we have delivered. With the freedom to use the gifts and talents all of us possess, we will come through the pandemic as people and organizations that are more resilient, as well as sewing the hope in all of us that a better tomorrow is yet to come.
CareNiva Launches AI-Powered Telehealth Platform to Enhance Level of Patient Care
CareNiva announced the launch of its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Telehealth platform. CareNiva leverages cutting-edge AI technology to deliver a global healthcare solution for providers. Physician visits can take place across all platforms, making it easy and seamless to deliver care from anywhere at any time. Along with its telehealth platform, CareNiva is offering the CareNivaLabs app, which enables doctors to capture key data points. The goal is to augment quality decisions made during patient visits.
“CareNiva is taking telehealth delivery into the future to solve the healthcare accessibility problem,” said Jay Talaviya, CEO and Co-Founder of CareNiva. “Because the overall telehealth trend is significant and rapidly emerging as the future of healthcare, we expect to power the coming exponential growth of telehealth visits.”
The CareNiva platform comprises an all-in-one HIPAA-compliant solution. It offers all the features a doctor needs to engage in an effective medical practice on a telehealth basis. This includes visit management, which is a weak spot in many current telehealth solutions. It’s easy to use, for both doctor and patient. With CareNiva, a physician can increase practice revenues and expand his or her patient base with relative ease.
The company is looking to disrupt the technology-enabled healthcare delivery industry, which has an expected market size of over $550 billion by 2027. The telehealth market is growing by 25% year over year. The COVID-19 Pandemic has increased the quick acceptance and adoption of video visits based on safety, privacy, and convenience as almost 80% of primary care visits can potentially convert into Telehealth visits. Telehealth visits are cost-effective and can reduce overhead by 50% or more. This is a win-win for providers and patients. Professionals have been very comfortable with the new online culture as it helps their businesses thrive in competitive markets. For more information about CareNiva, visit their website at careniva.com/provider or send an email to hello@careniva.com.
