A clever way to provide life-saving oxygen

Scientists from Uganda and Australia have worked together to come up with a device that produces oxygen without the use of electricity. Although this solution was originally intended to help address the high rate of children suffering from pneumonia, it is now also relevant for those suffering from respiratory issues due to COVID-19, especially in rural areas.

Many people across the United State cannot eat unless assisted, but this often leads to feelings of losing independence. To combat this outcome, researchers have developed a robotic assistant that can assess a plate of food and accurately deliver the items to the individual's mouth.

Lame Deer Health Center in Montana is the first Indian Health Service facility to use telemedicine in its emergency room and clinics. The rooms are equipped with cameras and television monitors and a button that can call specialists or support staff from all over the country. Patients at this facility are now able to see medical specialists or have their cases evaluated by specialists from their rooms, providing more comprehensive healthcare to patients in a rural setting.

Even though most central line infections are preventable, they are a leading cause of death in the United States. The core of the problem resides in a hospital's approach, whether they put the effort into treating patients like they are in a car crash or a plane crash. Roseville Medical Center looked at the mistakes of other hospitals and have revolutionized how they treat central lines with a new checklist, a specialized vascular team tasked with the central lines, and annual competency tests for contract nurses.

When a heart attack happens, the time of care and treatment is of utmost importance. Many people die of heart attacks every year because too much time passes between the care of emergency staff and the hospital cardiologists. New protocols, and new technology that transmits the EKG of a patient to the hospital before arrival, enable medical professionals to quickly and efficiently treat patients, thus saving lives.

In Louisville, KY, many people suffer from allergies or asthma and need to take inhalers to assist their breathing. A new inhaler called Propeller Health connects to Bluetooth devices to help patients track their inhaler dosages as a form of self-surveillance. The data collected also has a broader impact, offering scientists insight on people’s breathing patterns in different geographic regions as well as the effectiveness of certain medicated inhalers.

Mayday Health is a health-education nonprofit that helps patients in states that have banned abortion figure out how to get abortions anyway. For people living in states where abortion is banned, Mayday provides step-by-step instructions for how to obtain abortion pills, as well as medical information about the safety and reliability of medication abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.

The Festus Fajemilo Foundation teaches parents how to care for children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and helps fund treatment and surgery costs for families who can’t afford it. The foundation connects with parents through social media, radio, TV, and public lectures like its annual “Go-Folic” campaign which encourages women on the importance of folic acid and has reached 10,000 people so far.

Northwell Health provides telehealth services and support to Ukranian doctors and hospitals in need of assistance during the war as they face an increased need of medical care.

The Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children works in partnership with the Florida Center to identify children with fetal alcohol syndrome disorders and helps family members create care plans for the lifelong effects of the disorder.