The simplest solutions are often the most effective, especially in healthcare. By focusing on problems that matter, such as communication, we can positively impact patient outcomes, reduce costs, and enhance the patient’s healthcare journey. WelTel’s core technology links patients to their known healthcare providers through their mobile phones. Leveraging the use of interactive SMS-text messaging creates an opportunity for dialogue that is equitable, discrete, and convenient.

Here we explore the power that ‘simple is better’ through two WelTel patient healthcare journeys. These real stories demonstrate the effectiveness of simplicity in healthcare.

A toddler living with a congenital heart defect: A Life-Saving Connection

Imagine you're the parent of a three-year-old child with a serious heart condition. You're traveling abroad, and your child suddenly falls ill. What do you do? For one family, knowing that their child’s cardiologist, Dr. Katey Armstrong, could be reached using WelTel’s text messaging channel gave them peace of mind when their daughter became seriously ill on a family vacation in remote Australia. The WelTel platform helped strengthen their relationship with Katey and empowered them to reach out directly when they needed help.

Through the "Watching Patients" feature, Dr. Armstrong received a notification that the family was distressed. She was able to determine which facility could offer appropriate care and efficiently communicated details about the child's condition with the physicians in Merimbula, New South Wales. Efficient triage and timely communication ensured that the team could provide expedient treatment that saved the child’s life.

Through the simple yet significant connection that started with a text, Katey understood the needs of her patients and was able to reassure the family that everything would be okay.

Thanks to the power of WelTel, a healthcare team was able to collaborate across multiple time zones when it mattered most.

A Life-Saving Prescription Refill Delivered: Connection and equity

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many vulnerable populations, including Indigenous communities, were disproportionately affected and faced significant challenges accessing care. An Indigenous elder in a remote community ran out of insulin. Through WelTel's discreet communication channel, she was able to communicate directly with her community health worker (CHW) via basic text messaging on her flip phone. Using WelTel’s ‘Clinician Messenger’ feature, the CHW contacted the pharmacy to organize a prescription refill and delivered it personally. Upon arrival, she realized that the elder needed firewood and was able to ensure prompt delivery on a cold winter’s eve.

WelTel helped to identify social determinants of health for the elder whose access was challenged by remote living and lack of transportation.

WelTel’s ability to connect patients using SMS provided equitable access to health services for the elder, empowering her to ask for the care she needed in a safe and timely manner.

By removing access barriers through simple and effective modes of communication,

A direct line of communication with healthcare providers empowers patients to have a voice to take control of their health and access the care they need. In a fragmented, complex, and fractured healthcare system, simplicity may be the ultimate sophistication that can save a life. WelTel strives to remove unnecessary complexities and distractions that hinder the ability to deliver effective patient care. Let’s face it, time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.