[Health] OLPC Health Projects

Tue Aug 18 09:38:46 EDT 2009

Hello Kirsten,

How did this project go over the summer?  What tools did you end up
using?  I'd be interested in seeing such a program tried out with XOs,
and in hearing more about your ideas for how to represent (and
gather?) health information.

SJ

On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 11:44 PM, Kirsten Austad<keaustad at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
>     I have been on the OLPC health list before, but to reintroduce I am a
> first year at HMS.  This summer I and another student will be working with
> the PIH-affiliated program in Chiapas, specifically with the health
> promoters who have asked for an easier way to use clinical algorithms for
> diagnosis and treatment of common disease (already designed by a
> physician).  Presenting these medical flow charts on paper is often
> confusing due to the overwhelmingness of all the information on the page at
> once, so we will be spending this summer looking at whether some sort of
> technology could be used to make the clinical algorithms easier to use for
> the health promoters.
>
>      The director of our project Dr. Palazuelos has been working with groups
> who are using PDAs for similar projects, but there are some worries about
> the utility and sustainability of PDAs in rural Chiapas (power source,
> durability, etc.).   In thinking about how to get around these problems, we
> thought of OLPCs whose design seems perfect for what the PDAs lack.
>
>     I was wondering who we could potentially speak to about this issue and
> whether OLPCs are allowed to, or have ever been used for, this sort of
> "off-label" purpose.  Of course these are just preliminary ideas that we had
> and wanted to check in about and brainstorm this as a potential solution, or
> to see whether it could take us in a productive direction.  Any guidance
> would be much appreciate, thanks so much for your time,
>
> ~Kirsten
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Kirsten Austad
> MD Candidate, Harvard Medical School, Class of 2012
> BS, Medical Microbiology & Immunology and English Literature, University of
> Wisconsin-Madison, 2007
> cell: 608-209-1001
> e-mail: Kirsten_Austad at hms.harvard.edu or keaustad at gmail.com
>
> "We should not go to the people and say, 'Here we are. We come to give you
> the charity of our presence, to teach you our science, to show you your
> errors, your lack of culture, your ignorance of elementary things.' We
> should go instead with an inquiring mind and a humble spirit to learn at
> that great source of wisdom that is the people."   - Che Guevara
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 7:29 PM, Samuel Klein <meta.sj at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Kirsten  and Julia,
>>
>> There have been enough health related discussions and projects to
>> warrant its own discussion list, and occasional meetings by phone and
>> in person.  You should start with that list -- copied here.
>>
>> SJ
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 3:05 PM, Kirsten Austad <keaustad at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Hi Mika and SJ,
>> >
>> >     Ben, thanks so much for putting us in touch!  I am adding another
>> > person
>> > to the conversation, one of my classmates Julia who was extensive global
>> > health experience and worked with the Partners in Health program in
>> > Rwanda
>> > and has lived in various places in the Americas.  We were talking about
>> > the
>> > possibilities today of utilizing OLPC for global health, and are both
>> > very
>> > excited.  We would love to meet with either or both of you--Mika and
>> > SJ--to
>> > discuss what you guys have thought about in the health applications of
>> > OLPC,
>> > what Julia and I have been brainstorming, and if there is someway for us
>> > to
>> > get invovled (both here in the U.S. or on-site).
>> >
>> >     We are at the Longwood Medical Campus near the Brigham, but can
>> > travel
>> > over to Cambridge if that is where both of you are based.  Our schedules
>> > are
>> > variable at this time due to Anatomy Lab, but if you two want to throw
>> > some
>> > days and times out there we can surely find one that works.  Looking
>> > forward
>> > to it!
>> >
>> > ~Kirsten
>> >
>> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> > Kirsten Austad
>> > MD Candidate, Harvard Medical School, Class of 2012
>> > BS, Medical Microbiology & Immunology and English Literature, University
>> > of
>> > Wisconsin-Madison, 2007
>> > cell: 608-209-1001
>> > e-mail: Kirsten_Austad at hms.harvard.edu or keaustad at gmail.com
>> >
>> > "We should not go to the people and say, 'Here we are. We come to give
>> > you
>> > the charity of our presence, to teach you our science, to show you your
>> > errors, your lack of culture, your ignorance of elementary things.' We
>> > should go instead with an inquiring mind and a humble spirit to learn at
>> > that great source of wisdom that is the people."   - Che Guevara
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 2:19 PM, Benjamin M. Schwartz
>> > <bmschwar at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Kirsten,
>> >>
>> >> I am writing to introduce you to Mika and SJ.  Mika is an MPH (?)
>> >> student
>> >> at HSPH. SJ is OLPC's "Director of Content" or something.
>> >>
>> >> Kirsten is an MD student at HMS.  She has experience working in clinics
>> >> and in education in Ghana and the Dominican Republic, and is interested
>> >> in
>> >> doing curriculum design and evaluation with OLPC.  She has a travel
>> >> grant
>> >> through HMS (?) that she could use to travel to a deployment,
>> >> implement,
>> >> and evaluate such a curriculum... and that's just the beginning.
>> >>
>> >> Mika wrote her MPH thesis on an ethical approach to determining which
>> >> medicines are "essential" in developing countries.  She has become one
>> >> of
>> >> the organizing leaders of the OLPC health projects.
>> >>
>> >> SJ is OLPC's "Director of Content" or something like that.  He is
>> >> responsible for OLPC's curriculum projects, and can definitely put you
>> >> in
>> >> touch with the right people in the right countries.
>> >>
>> >> Some resources to be aware of:
>> >> As of today, it is possible to buy an XO in the US for $400, $200 of
>> >> which
>> >> is a tax-deductible charitable donation (not that grad students
>> >> typically
>> >> itemize deductions...).  Info about that program is available at
>> >> http://www.amazon.com/xo
>> >>
>> >> If you think you need an XO for an OLPC-related project, but can't
>> >> afford
>> >> to buy one, you can apply to the Contributors program at
>> >> http://projectdb.olpc.at/index.php?register=1.  (For curriculum
>> >> development, you probably don't actually need an XO.)
>> >>
>> >> The OLPC Health wiki pages are at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Health.
>> >> There's a great deal of information there, but it is terribly
>> >> disorganized, and since it's a public wiki its contents reflect the
>> >> priorities of many different authors.
>> >>
>> >> There is a mailing list for OLPC health-related discussion at
>> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/health.  That's a good place to ask
>> >> questions, though you're also welcome to ask any of us directly.
>> >>
>> >> That's all for now, I think.  Welcome to OLPC!
>> >>
>> >> --Ben
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>
>