As the world leader in virtual care solutions, GlobalMed is active in every corner of the world. Our mission is to transform global health by bringing quality virtual care to the underserved – which is why our telemedicine solutions treat patients in over 55 countries.
Recently a GlobalMed contractor transformed a village in Kumasi, Ghana with just one telemedicine station.
Krystylle Richardson, author, consultant and host of the show Soaring with Eagles on the Voice America Empowerment Channel Internet Radio, has completed almost a dozen missions in places like Senegal, Jamaica, Nigeria, Kenya, Barbados, Bahamas and Ghana. When she joined the GlobalMed team, Richardson saw an opportunity to partner her humanitarian work with the company vision of transforming global healthcare.
“Sometimes I go into companies and say, ‘This is a great company I want to work with’ because of what they’re doing – and GlobalMed was one of those companies.”
Mission Meets Medicine
When GlobalMed CEO Joel Barthelemy learned of Richardson’s upcoming Ghana mission, he suggested she bring along the GlobalMed Transportable Exam Station (TES) unit. Designed to provide evidence-based care to patients in remote locations, the compact station offers a sophisticated military-grade PC, an integrated speaker and microphone, an integrated 1080p camera for video conferencing and secure store for image transfer capabilities.
Richardson trained on the mobile telemedicine station and made arrangements with doctors, nurses and a pastor in Ghana to set up the clinics. Over 300 patients showed up, most on foot.
“The first day we had the clinic at the school location, it was only supposed to be a one-day clinic,” Richardson recalled. “But there were so many people, we wound up extending it for several days.”
The TES unit was used for more than 1,000 individual exams, including eyes, throat, ears, and other examinations. Richardson and the team stayed up all night to make sure every patient was seen. They provided a variety of informational care, such as counseling patients with high blood pressure to make diet and lifestyle changes. Other patients were educated on basic care for specific issues, such as flushing their ears with warm water. The doctors and nurses committed to doing follow-ups with people who needed additional help.
The TES visuals were especially popular with the patients. “That was an Oh wow moment for patients to see the magnified image on the screen and see what’s in someone’s throat or ear, or what someone’s eyeball looks like up close,” Richardson said.
The team also provided inspiration and encouragement to two young sisters who wanted to be doctors when they were older; the team let them examine the TES station and view each other’s screens, then gave them latex gloves and face masks as keepsakes.
Creating a Tradition of Care
Richardson said the Kumasi community begged her team to return next year on another mission – preferably with more TES units. Her dream is that GlobalMed teams up with other medical and biotech companies, doctors and dentists for a bigger impact in underserved communities. Together, she believes, they would be able to formulate new approaches to transforming global care: “To help people on an ongoing basis, you must think of things differently based on what they have access to.”
Learn more about the Transportable Exam Station or other GlobalMed solutions.
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