Transcription:
Tech and Your Health

Unknown Speaker:  This is BayCare HealthChat, another podcast from BayCare Health System. Here's Melanie Cole.

Melanie: Health and wellness technologies are everywhere today. On the podcast, we're going to share information on a variety of wellness, devices and apps that can help monitor and improve your health. We're also talking about BayCare's unique service offering, BayCare TechDeck.

Welcome to BayCare HealthChat. I'm Melanie Cole and joining me is Maija Nevard. She's a health technology coach with BayCare. Maija, I'm so glad to have you with us today. Before we get into this, how has technology, in your opinion, reframed our wellness and the ability to keep track of it, motivate us and help us to be more in charge of our health.

Maija Nevard: Thank you, Melanie. Yes, so technology has changed a lot, especially since COVID has come into the forefront. We've seen a lot of things go virtually. So as the health coach, we really just educate our customers on the options of different wellness devices and apps that really just take the guesswork out of if you're getting a proper amount of physical activity, nutrition and sleep by using health trackers, smart scales and nutritional apps.

So for example, if you're trying to lose weight, you can set a goal within a nutritional app like MyFitnessPal. And this app will recommend how much of a calorie deficit you would need to safely reach your goals. Within many of these apps and devices, we really recommend that you take advantage of the goal setting options. So you can make sure each day you're getting those 10,000 steps or whatever you set your goal at either if that's working out three times a week. Because when we are accountable for what we're eating and how much physical activity we're getting, you have better health outcomes and are more likely to achieve our wellness goals.

Melanie: I couldn't agree with you more. And as far as accountability, I mean, we really only need to be accountable to ourselves. But some of the technology helps us to see that where wouldn't necessarily know it, we think, "Oh, well, we walked a little today. Maybe that was close to 10,000 I'm supposed to get," but this actually shows us. So tell us about the concept behind TechDeck and how that's helping patients and listeners to take accountability for their health.

Maija Nevard: So the concept behind the TechDeck is a resource for health and wellness technologies that will help our clients and customers live a healthy lifestyle. We use the integration of technology and health coaching to provide support and coaching for a variety of wellness apps and devices that will help our clients monitor and improve their health.

The TechDeck is a small retail store inside of the health hubs at Bardmoor and Bloomingdale Health Hub within BayCare. And we have iPads at this station and all the devices out on display where the patients can demo the different things that we offer as well. So we can really match them up with what might be the best lifestyle for them, so they can get on board with their wellness journey and start monitoring their health outcomes a lot better.

Melanie: What a great initiative. So tell us about diabetes and hypertension as examples. Tell us about the apps and devices and the coaching that you provide for these specific situations.

Maija Nevard: Sure. So we offer blood pressure monitors from a few different brands like Withings and Omron. These are smart blood pressure cuffs that connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth. As you get into the habit of using the blood pressure devices, you can see how your blood pressure's trending over time. I think this is really the incentive to use these products.

If you're trying to make healthy lifestyle changes, you can see again at a glance, as you mentioned, "I've been cleaning up my diet. I'm exercising more frequently. I see my blood pressure is now starting to trend down since I've been monitoring it." it's also very helpful when the patient does visit their doctors. They can say confidently that they know in and around where their blood pressure is falling regularly. And they can share that data with their provider as well.

As far as hypertension, we partner with Dario, which is a smart glucometer that is compatible with both Android and Apple. You would plug the adapter piece to your phone's charging port, where you could take your blood sugar. You put the blood sample on this test strip, and that goes into the adapter piece.

As you continuously use the Dario smart glucometer, you're able to get a better understanding how your blood sugar trends and when you've noticed you've needed to use less or more insulin in the past. You can also opt in to Dario's health coaching, which is monitored by diabetic educators and nurses.

A great safety feature of Dario is if you're having a hypoglycemic event, it will notify whoever is on your emergency contact list of your GPS location, the time the reading was taken and how low the reading was.

In addition to those devices, we do offer the health coaching where a customer who's just walking in, who's interested in health coaching could get those services as well as if their doctor referred them. So really, it's an all-encompassing resource for anyone who's visiting the health hub.

Melanie: Well, it certainly is. So with the pandemic, what are some of the new initiatives, as far as things that people can do? Telehealth, virtual event classes. Tell us about how the pandemic has enabled healthcare providers to be a little bit more innovative and creative in their offerings.

Maija Nevard: Oh, this is a great question. So since the pandemic, we have had to get innovative and creative with how we can keep in connection with our patients and customers. So the TechDeck has started offering virtual events and educations on wellness and devices every month. Next month for February, we will have a virtual event called Heart to Tech Connections, which will be a fun interactive event where our health coaches will play matchmaker and match up the participants with the best devices for their lifestyle. You can register on BayCareEvents.org, and it will be held on February 11th at 11:00 AM.

We also plan on creating our Fitbit 101 Class, which used to be an in-person event, but it will be virtual as well. This class would be a great opportunity for anyone who is not as tech savvy as they would like to be, but is wanting to get coached up on how to use the devices as well as people who are already on the Fitbit platform, but want to learn how to get the most out of their device.

Melanie: So tell us a little bit about some of the things you're most excited about that are going on in the technology world to help people. You mentioned a few at the very beginning, things that can help you keep track of the food you eat and the calories that you burn, which ones are you most excited about that you've seen out there?

Maija Nevard: I love the new Fitbits that have recently come out. They've added some new features, which now allow the smartwatches to do temperature readings and EKG readings as well now. So they're getting more advanced, which is going to be really helpful now that COVID is here and temperature checking is extremely important, as well as this EKG readings, to be able to do it at the comfort of your home at any time is going to be lifesaving for people.

In addition to the new wellness devices that are out now, I'm excited for the virtual patient experiences that are coming out and how well telemedicine has been embraced. In the future, we would love to have the TechDeck really expand upon health coaching virtually.

Melanie: Tell us how this works as far as the relationship with physicians, Maija, and what other providers are involved. Tell us about other resources such as dietician, fitness instructors. How does this coaching all work?

Maija Nevard: Sure. So apart from our customers that are just casually browsing or walking in, we do receive referrals from our physicians. Our physician support the TechDeck by referring their patients to us who could benefit from health coaching, by making some changes to their lifestyle. Depending on that patient's diagnosis, we could recommend a blood pressure cuff, sleep tracker or one of our wearables to get started in monitoring their health.

In addition to the physicians, we also have a close working relationship with the dieticians and the fitness centers who support us by participating in some of our virtual events. Recently, we had a diabetes virtual class where one of our dietician was part of a live panel discussion, which focused on managing diabetes, using health technology. Our fitness team was part of the same virtual class as well, where one of the personal trainers talked about the importance of physical activity under the disease state of diabetes.

And on top of all those collaborations, we also partner with our wellness committee, which supports team members within BayCare. So we just really make aware all of our offerings since they can benefit from the use of a wellness device or health coaching too. So the TechDeck really supports all the resources within the health hub, from our primary care physicians, getting connected to our patients, to the doctors, to imaging and lab. We have iPads located at the TechDeck where the patients can access their patient portal information and we're a support to them in that way as well.

Melanie: What a great initiative this is to help patients. So Maija, as we wrap up, tell us a little bit about your outcomes and successes that you've seen, and while you're at it, offer listeners your best advice for using TechDeck with BayCare and taking control of their own health.

Maija Nevard: Sure. So the greatest success has really been just seeing the community embrace all of the offerings and really just getting on board of being more accountable for their health and seeing the changes that health coaching has brought some of our customers and patients. And the main takeaway is really that we would like anyone visiting the health hub to know that technology doesn't have to be anything to fear if you're not the most tech savvy. We are here to support customers every step of the way on their wellness journey. We support the setup of the device and any troubleshooting the patient might experience. But we really just want to help them be proactive in adhering to their health and wellness goals, making sure they're being active, and attending our virtual classes and taking advantage of our health coaching.

Melanie: Thank you so much, Maija, what an interesting episode, and really this technology is exciting in helping people to be their own best health advocate. Thank you so much for joining us today.

To learn more about recommended devices and apps at BayCare TechDeck, please visit our website at BayCare.org for more information. That concludes this episode of BayCare HealthChat. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other BayCare podcasts. I'm Melanie Cole.