Just a short little post to follow up on the CNN article from a few posts ago and the story about VSee and telemedicine for disaster relief a few posts before that.
First, there’s a new article in CNN today regarding CrisisCamp and the results of their weekend creating tools to help Haiti. It’s a nice read, and if you read that article, there are links to places where you can join with their ongoing efforts and contribute. I assume at least a few of you are serious techies with hearts! I won’t comment any further on that article here because it can speak for itself (and I have duties besides writing these!). Please check it out.
Instead, I’ll devote a quick paragraph to a couple of the ways VSee is being deployed. (Hopefully, the groups using VSee for this will call us—they promised to!—so that we can show you screenshots and let them tell their stories here.) For one organization, HELP (mentioned in this post for supporting aid groups), satellite linkups, laptops, and a high end camera are being used to stream images of earthquake victims to doctors here in the US so that they can instruct aid workers caring for the sick and wounded. This is by far the most important function, and allows doctors, especially those unable to travel to Haiti, to care for a much greater number of people than they could even were they physically present. A secondary, and much more minor, role for VSee is transmitting those images back to press and public here to raise further awareness of the plight of both those needing aid and aid workers. This helps aid organizations raise funds to support future disaster relief efforts.
Now I can talk to my friends everywhere.