Dear Colleagues and Friends of NAAMA,
First and foremost, I would like to thank each and everyone of you who is contributing in anyway to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it is direct patient care, virtual care, support of community events, or other ways. It has been so uplifting to see how our community has come together to help those in need.
We are partnering with our colleague, Dr. Abdelkader Hawasli, to promote virtual care and home self monitoring. Please read his letter below, we appreciate any help you can provide. Let us rise up the the challenge!
Best,
Leila Hajjar, MD, MHSA, FACOG
President, NAAMA MI
Dear Colleagues:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I am reaching out for your help as potential volunteers in providing medical advice and distributing pulse-oximeters to suspected COVID-19 patients. The idea is to limit ER visits to only those patients whom are on the verge of developing pulmonary complications that can be identified by the drop in their oxygen saturation using the pulse-oximeter.
This will be done by either mailing or hand delivering, based on patient's geographic location, one million pulse-oximeters to suspected patients based on their evaluation by a physician via a video consultation using the secure HIPPA compliant telemedicine app for DrOnline. I have donated 1000 pulse-oximeters for this task and hope to expand it to one million or more.
DrOnline is a new open platform telemedicine company utilizing video chat. It has been in the development phase for overseas/global use for the last two years. The planned launch date is January 2021. However, amid this crisis, an emergency version will be released dedicated to serving suspected COVID-19 patients. The patient’s and doctor’s Apps will be available, free of charge, for both IOS and Android systems within the next 2-3 weeks.
To those who are interested, please sign up as volunteers on the currently available desk top version or you can donate to the “One Million Pulse-Oximeter Challenge”. We need to create a large team of volunteers, in Michigan and hopefully in other States, from internists, family medicine, emergency medicine, pulmonologists, infectious disease and others who feel qualified and want to help. We need funds to cover the cost of the pulse-oximeters, mailing and hand delivering them.
Together we can do this project and make a difference.
Please sign up on the desktop version of DrOnline until the doctor’s app is released by following these steps:
Go to “DrOnline.me” using Google Chrome
Click on “I’m a Specialist” at the top left
Click on “Sign Up”
Create an account
Go to your email for a message for verification
Close DrOnline.me site and reopen it again
Go to “Log In” and log in to your account
Click “Sign in” and complete putting in your information
Choose your specialty category
Choose a second category “Coronavirus Consultation”
You will receive an email that your sign up is complete
Go to “My Calendar” and put in your availability
Please email me back once you complete your sign up to send you how to navigate through the app or if you have any questions about donation at drhawasli@dronline.me.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Abdelkader Hawasli, MD,FACS, FICS, FASMBS
Vice Chair Department of Surgery
Director, Minimally Invasive Fellowship & Robotic Surgery
Director, Bariatric Surgery
Past President of Staff, St. John Hospital Medical Center
Associate Clinical Professor , Wayne State University