The project started in Évora, is expanding to other regions and has partnerships with the IPSS District Union, Regional Secretariat of the Union of Portuguese Mercies and Espírito Santo Hospital, among others.
Create IT, a Portuguese company focused on the development of critical and business support multiplatform systems, has just launched +Próximo, a free application for early detection of situations of respiratory complications, in the context of COVID-19, with the aid of an oximeter.
"We made ourselves available from the first hour to distribute the oximeters to nursing homes and other institutions in the district to help speed up the project," says Inácio Esperança, President of the Évora District Firefighters Federation.
The oximeter indirectly assesses the oxygen saturation in the blood. This measurement, with the data recorded in the App, will anticipate the identification of possible cases of respiratory infection and will help in the fight against COVID-19. The +Próximo app will thus allow providing, more quickly, the necessary measures to ensure the most appropriate care for users.
“As a community, we know how essential the role of professionals who work in the day-to-day lives of nursing and other institutions is essential, as they are there, every day, to take care of those who are most dear to us, who we keep the best memories and for whom we want the best in this challenging time. Counting on the enormous commitment of professionals to guarantee the well-being and safety of users, we decided to show our gratitude, developing the App +Próximo to help them in the early detection of cases of respiratory infection, allowing to safeguard teams and users ”, explains Nuno Guerra, CEO of Create IT.
The purpose of +Próximo is to help health or support professionals in monitoring users of nursing homes and other institutions. The recommendations made in the context of the application were created based on the indications provided by the Service of Medical Specialties and Clinical Management of the Espírito Santo Hospital in Évora. To obtain the application for free, institutions simply had to access register on a platform created for the effect.
"In the application algorithm, the typical pathologies of users who belong to this risk group (due to their age) were considered in order to allow them, with the help of the App, to arrive at the right time at the hospital", says Teresa Cardoso, Director of the Pulmonology Service of Espírito Santo Hospital in Évora. Luis Cavaco, Member of the Board of Directors of the same hospital highlights that “In order to support the community we serve, we cherished the project and we thank the donation of oximeters to the institutions that need them, ensuring a close and attentive care network in relation to these groups of risk".
The +Próximo App meets the necessary criteria, both for pre-screening the evolution of COVID-19 in users most vulnerable to the virus, who need a diagnosis and closer monitoring: the elderly.
"The agility of the entire team was essential to guarantee a quick availability of the application as well as the availability of oximeters to the institutions in the district that most needed them," says Tiago Abalroado, President of the Direction of the District Union of Particular Institutions of Social Solidarity in Évora.
To facilitate the work of professionals and caregivers who accompany users, the +Próximo App allows collecting data, on different scales, of the following symptoms: Cough, Fever, Oxygenation, COPD, Throat Pain and Headaches.
Depending on the symptoms, the application classifies the user as to the risk associated with their health status, recommending the appropriate level of care, and also keeps the data history to follow the user's evolution. With this monitoring, an early detection of cases of respiratory infection is possible, namely by frequently checking the oxygenation, identifying respiratory problems even before more serious symptoms, which allows professionals and caregivers to also anticipate the actions to be taken.
"This initiative strengthens trust and facilitates the work of nursing homes professionals as it allows close and regular monitoring of the situation of each user", says Manuel Galante, President of the Évora Regional Secretariat of the Portuguese Mercies Union.
The project was launched in Évora, has partnerships with regional entities such as the Union District of IPSS, Regional Secretary of the Portuguese Mercies Union, Espírito Santo Hospital, E.P.E. as well as other entities such as OutSystems, Fenacerci, UDIPSSs, Confecoop, Baixo Alentejo Local Health Unit, National Association of Social Gerontology, and is already being extended to other geographies either through networking with regional entities from other districts or through direct contact with Nursing Homes, Residences and other institutions across the country.
"It is worth mentioning the opportunity of the project to have been extended to social responses of a residential nature for people with disabilities, which, although being residential responses, are distinguished from responses for the elderly due to the nature of the audiences covered", says the representative of ConfeCoop.