Patient intelligence health solution provider Self Care Catalysts has received $100,000 in funding from the Rick Hanson Institute (RHI) to support and engage people with acute spinal cord injuries (SPI) in their rehabilitation.
The funding will go towards Self Care Catalysts’ health solution platform, Patient Storylines. It will be lead by CMO Jared Adams, MD, as well as Ben Mortenson, PhD and Patricia Mills, MD, of the University of British Columbia. It’s one of eleven projects targeted for funding by the RHI, forming a portfolio of programs to help bridge the translational ‘valleys of death’ in the SCI research continuum.
Patient Storylines will target individuals recovering from SCI in a year long research study conducted within the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, British Columbia’s largest rehabilitation centre. “Ultimately, Patient Storylines helps to increase patient engagement in the rehabilitation process and improve adherence to rehabilitation plans by opening up vital communication channels,” said Grace Soyao, Self Care Catalysts’s founder. “We are incredibly excited to work with RHI’s SCI Research arm and to be involved in helping this organization pursue new interventions and innovative technologies in the field of consumer-centric mobile health.”
The project is expected to kick off in the fall of 2014.
“The more informed and engaged the patient and family, the better the outcome after a severe spinal cord injury,” said Adams. “However, SCI education is often difficult to achieve during a compressed and emotionally challenging hospital stay. Furthermore, the coordination of care around a spinal cord injury is also complex due to the number of providers involved. Patient Storylines empowers the patient through the daily provision of bite-sized nuggets of information; engages and motivates the patient through patient, provider, peer and caregiver generated health quests; and connects health allies (also known as the ‘circle of care’) through a networked messaging systems.”
Self Care Catalysts is a health solutions company powered by patient intelligence and analytics. The startup builds “innovative, patient-centred and technology-driven self-care solutions” for patients and meaningful analytics and insights for healthcare organizations and pharmaceutical companies.