JoAnn breaks barriers to health care every day, untangling the complications of geography and gap in health care service delivery to bring needed medical treatments and relief to underserved populations. She connects patients in remote areas to hospitals anywhere in the world to get treatment. If you were a refugee in Rakhine, Myanmar who needed medical treatment for cardiovascular disease, malaria, or pregnancy-related problems, you’d be able to get that treatment right then and there. JoAnn has the solution and would connect you to hospitals in Yangon or wherever the need and care would match. In fact, as of the writing of this spotlight, JoAnn is in Myanmar doing exactly that for patients in need.
JoAnn is a telehealth entrepreneur, but, what she calls herself is a “doctrepreneur.” By the time you finish reading about her, you’ll agree that the word humanitarian should also be applied.
Innovations in the telehealth field are making it possible to connect remote areas to doctors and specialists in tertiary hospitals around the globe through medical devices and mobile infrastructures for health examination, remote monitoring, and patient management. The difference telehealth is making to communities is that destitute areas can get timely and advanced treatments, refugees and people in disaster zones can be treated before disease spreads, uninsured domestic workers in other countries can get care from their homeland, and the elderly, disabled, and homebound can get easy access to physicians and care that can prevent worsening illness. Lives are not just being changed; they’re being saved.
JOANN CASTILLO
(Philippines)
CEO & President, Powerfirm Ventures International, Inc.