INNOVATIVE TECH

INNOVATIVE TECH KEEPS PATIENTS CONNECTED TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Gazing at her newborn’s face through a small screen brought joy to a mother with COVID-19 who longed to hold her baby. A daughter witnessed her mother’s hospital room baptism. A son said goodbye to his father. These virtual interactions were made possible thanks to a lead gift by The John M. O’Quinn Foundation and a gift by the Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation. Before COVID-19, Houston Methodist Center for Innovation staffers began experimenting with Apple iPad prototypes in patient rooms to facilitate physician rounds and virtual visits with family members, and with Amazon Echo Dots so patients could ask Alexa to play songs. When the pandemic escalated in March 2020 and visitors were restricted, the tablets and Echo Dots were deployed quickly. Virtual physician rounds minimized clinical staff exposure, and patients’ video chats with their loved ones helped relieve feelings of isolation. Robert C. Wilson III, president of The John M. O’Quinn Foundation, heard hospitalized patients faced isolation, so he reached out to Houston Methodist. “Patients need to communicate with their families and doctors,” he says. “I asked how we could help provide the devices.” After learning how technology benefited both patients and health care workers, The John M. O’Quinn Foundation trustees doubled their gift. “The trustees loved doing this,” Wilson says. “It’s difficult for patients to be in the hospital without family. We thought the next best thing was to support the purchase of these technologies.” Murat Uralkan, director of the Center for Innovation, says the devices granted comfort to patients. “We treat patients like family, and we wanted to make sure they could connect with their own families,” he says. “We are grateful to all those who made these vital interactions possible.” As Houston Methodist realizes its systemwide goal of installing patient tablets and Echo Dots in every patient room, employees are expanding uses for these technologies. Music therapists employ tablets to record patients’ heartbeats and then combine those sounds with music, a way to help separated mothers and infants bond. The music therapists also create end-of-life recordings to serve as keepsake remembrances. MyMethodist Patient Tablets provide MyChart access for ordering meals and reviewing medical information. New applications are on the horizon. Plans for Echo Dots include hands-free communication among patients, families, doctors and nurses. All of this was made possible by the generosity of those who helped in a time of need. “When a stellar hospital like Houston Methodist has funding needs that come up, this foundation can move rapidly to get things done,” says Wilson. “Call us firefighters because we can be of help in short notice.”