What happens in a mind of a technology enthusiast, who is simultaneously a doctor and a parent? Apparently, amazing things. Piotr Harasymczuk is the author of the original idea of Helfi, an app that serves as a mobile health book of your child, as well as a platform for medical consultations online. His idea is a lifesaver for all – parents, pediatricians, nursery babysitters, and even hospital crew.
“As a doctor and a parent, I know what both sides need. The obligations regarding medical documentation, as well as managing doctor-patient relationships, are a real trouble for many pediatricians. On the other hand, I know the hardships of newborn babies’ parents,” said Harasymczuk. “I wanted to simplify the bookkeeping, that’s why I began to search for technological solutions and experienced people who would be able to implement them.”
This is how Harasymczuk met Apzumi, a team consisting of a bioinformatics specialist Joanna Kasprzak, business virtuoso Paweł Wasilewski, and public relations expert Paulina Skrzypińska. The development of Helfi was divided into multiple stages; after completing each of them, the team tested the app with future users and tweaked it according to their feedback. This process allows them to present a well-polished MVP to potential partners.
Helfi has two main functionalities. The first one is a mobile health book of your child that stores all of its medical data, including the course of pregnancy. As the parent, you can give access to this data to anyone – a pediatrician, a nanny, or a midwife. All files created in Helfi comply with the regulations regarding medical data storing. Such an online health book is a great tool for all who have been using a physical document with illegible comments that never seem to fit into the provided space, or to doctors who work in two different clinics that use two separate IT systems.
The app also acts as a platform for communication between parents and doctors. It is helpful in all cases when parents want to ask the pediatrician some questions (say, about the type of milk or maybe “diaper contents”). It is estimated that almost 40 percent of all medical consultations do not require a physical visit; they can all be settled online, without spending precious time on traveling or queueing in the clinic.
Additionally, the app serves as a reference source – it stores a lot of information approved by the Polish Ministry of Health, including a scale of child’s functional development.
Helfi will be available in a B2B2C model. The app will be free for parents at the very beginning; future paid plans will include additional functionalities such as telemedical services.
The project was bootstrapped with an exception of an EU donation of approximately 85k EUR. At the moment, Helfi runs a crowdfunding campaign on wspieram.to. Additional funds will be used to add new functionalities, such as a medical conditions database, autodiagnosis or a portal dedicated for medical clinics. Apzumi also intends to find new team members, who will be responsible for the sales and customer care.
The crowdfunding campaign is open until 13th April.
