Archive for December 2022
Merry Christmas and thank you for your support
What a year!
It is hard to believe the year end is upon us in what seems like a flash, and how much we have delivered in the tail end of the year as we resume face-to-face life. The general feeling from the people we speak with is that they are tired and in the same breath looking forward to the new year. What is most important is that people are optimistic about the future and focused on taking the necessary time out to re-energise and start the new year brighter and with resolve to have a strong and positive impact in 2023.
Since its inception Cardihab has been paving the way for Digital Cardiac Rehabilitation to become a core part of clinician workflows so that more patients have a better road to recovery post cardiac event and/or procedure.
This year we have celebrated numerous milestone achievements and heard heartening accounts from patients and clinicians who have benefited from our programs. A new publication in JMIR arrived earlier in the year, reinforcing the impact we can have on improving patient uptake, and signaling important insights for hospital readmission rate reductions. New real world evidence was also presented at a range of scientific congresses in Australia and the US, with uptake in local media and publications pending.
We were thrilled to begin our journey in the inaugural ANDHealth+ program, and initiated our collaboration with Queensland Cardiovascular Group’s Atrial Fibrillation Institute. With thanks to funding from the Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA), we began our journey towards a Heart Failure specific digital therapeutic in partnership with the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.
As we come to the end of 2022 I am both humbled and proud to be part of the Cardihab mission and thankful for the wonderful team of passionate and dedicated people that I work with each and every day. We often reflect on the impact we are making with people that work tirelessly on improving access to cardiac rehabilitation across Australia.
In collaboration with customers, partners, suppliers and through the important support from our investors and grant funding, the opportunities we are creating will not only propel Cardihab’s impact for patients, but elevate the capabilities within the Australian ecosystem to deliver quality digital therapeutics that change the way we manage cardiovascular disease in Australia.
On behalf of the Cardihab team I would like to sincerely thank you all for your support and commitment throughout the year. We wish you a happy and safe Christmas, and an energised and prosperous New Year.
All the best,
Helen
Read more about our 2022 highlights on our NEWS page.
Cardihab powered PERCEIVE study into the effects of long COVID gains national attention
The PERCEIVE study—run by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and powered by Cardihab— looks to understand whether COVID-19 causes damage to the heart and impacts functional capacity. It also aims to understand if best practice management (e.g. heart medication or exercise training) can restore function.
As reported on 9 News, recent outcomes of the study have shown that the significant reduction in capacity following a bout of COVID-19 is likely due to deconditioning, rather than structural heart damage, and therefore exercise rehabilitation is a recommended course of treatment.
While findings to date have provided valuable insights into the long term effects of COVID, researchers are keen to broaden the study and are inviting further participants to join.
Interested parties who have had COVID-19 and are over the age of 45 are invited to participate in the six month study with screening appointments available at specialist clinics in Melbourne and Hobart, as well as Sydney in the coming months.
Melbourne researchers are prescribing exercise as part of a study into how best to treat long covid, with regular physical activity shaping up to be a potential treatment. @EmilyRice28 #9News pic.twitter.com/UeFsD41e0R
— 9News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) December 11, 2022
Cardihab enables home-based, digital cardiac rehab for remote North Queensland patients
Cardihab is proud to be enabling home-based, digital cardiac rehabilitation to remote and regional patients recovering from heart events through our partnership with Mater Private Hospital Townsville.
Mater Clinical Exercise Physiologist Shaun Whiley and Mater Private Hospital Townsville Executive Officer Steph Barwick recently spoke to Channel 7 Townsville about the successful initial uptake of the Cardihab program with patients from North Queensland that otherwise may not have had an opportunity to complete a program.
“So far we’ve had a number of patients complete the program and have said they loved the fact that they were able to do the program, and were given the opportunity. It can be quite confronting (for patients) going home to a rural area after having gone through a cardiac event and not knowing where to go, what is their exercise capacity, so it's really been fulfilling to get them back to normal function,” said Shaun.
North Queensland-based cane farmer and Mater patient Stephen Fabbro discussed his experience using the Cardihab digital Cardiac Rehabilitation platform in helping him to manage a program post heart surgery that he otherwise would not have been able to do due to time constraints and the long distance to the Townsville-based rehab centre.
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is a significant health problem in rural Australia with rural populations experiencing a 20-30% higher CVD prevalence¹. Offering effective interventions that suit the needs of the patient helps to bridge the gap in care that exists.
Cardihab CEO Helen Souris says, "we're thrilled that Cardihab has been integrated into the Mater’s cardiac rehabilitation program and so well received by patients in the area."
Read more at Mater News.
References:
- Estimating the Return on Investment of a Randomised Controlled Trial on Telehealth-based Medical Nutrition Intervention in Rural and Regional Australia - Associate Professor Haitham Tuffaha & Professor Stephen Birch University of Queensland