Giving Nigerians Better Access to Healthcare Services through Medical Concierge

Posted on: Thu 03-12-2015

The tight and busy schedule of most Lagosians many a times make it difficult for them to pay adequate attention to their health or that of a sick relation requiring a standby assistance. Peace Obi writes that with the introduction of Medical Concierge by Greyheart Medical Consultancy-providing palliative home care to patients in the comfort of their homes ranging from elderly patients to surgical stay homes opens another window of accessibility to quality healthcare services to Nigerians.

To some observers, there are some days Lagos traffic and the forces behind it would seem to be in an agreement to limit Lagosians' movement thus making movement in and around the state a herculean task. And on one of such terrible days, journalists in Lagos from different platforms defied the 'order of the day' to assemble in Ikoyi for business as usual - a press briefing and a launch of an uncommon venture in healthcare delivery - the Medical Concierge by GreyHeart Medical Consultancy (GMC).

Briefing journalists on the firm's preparedness to take quality healthcare delivery to their patient's door step, the Managing Director Adaeze Ibekweh said that, "the medical concierge is a unit of trained professionals that provide palliative home care to patients in the comfort of their homes ranging from elderly patients to surgical stay homes. The objective of the medical concierge is to provide whatever patients need without them having to go to a hospital."

Speaking further, Ibekweh said that the aim of the Medical Concierge is to bring the best and efficient medical care right to the patient’s door step also hinted that the team comprised doctors, nurses, nutritionists, physiotherapists, residential assistants among others who are committed to providing affordable palliative home healthcare to its clients in the comfort of their homes.

Indeed, home healthcare delivery may not be entirely new in this clan, given the fact that some medical conditions sometimes require that the services of a professional be engaged to attend to such patients at home for convenience and better result. However, the uniqueness in the Greyheart's medical concierge is that it is a coordinated platform that has a regular pool of professionals from where clients and patients can depend on for their home medical services in different areas.

Citing an example of a family who has an elderly parent or an accident victim whose medical condition requires the services of a caregiver, house help or even a relation to stay with, the MD, noted that the three categories of persons are a mismatch for the services required for such cases. According to her, engaging the services of a medical professional will not only save the relations from the stress of moving the patients from home to the hospital for appointments but also save them their valuable time as it enables them to go about their businesses with the rest of mind arising from having their relations in the right hands that guarantees reliance and positive result.

"You need to have someone who is a professional, who can handle emergency, that individual that can provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to support and maintain breathing and circulation for a person who has stopped breathing. It has to be a medical professional who is capable of providing basic life support to a patient until adequate care can be given,” Ibekweh said.

Stressing on the team's preparedness to usher Lagosians and her environs into a new dimension in healthcare delivery, the Ibekweh said that they team is mobile and well equipped to respond to different medical cases that may be brought to them, and that all necessary documents and approvals from relevant authorities have also been obtained to smoothen their operations.

"The team is equipped and capable of handling different medical cases, delivering needed first aid treatment before the full and appropriate medical attention can be gotten from a full medical facility of the patient’s choice.

"We are available to nurse a patient to health in the comfort of their home and provide needed care in different areas of specialty that will help nurture a person back to good health and also prolong needed life expectancy.

"This works in a way that patients can call to set up appointments and the team will plan a schedule that suites the patient especially considering the unique needs tied to their ailments, Ibekweh explained.

She added that the services are available 24-hours of the day, on every day of the week, including weekends, with staff and medical specialists running shifts between day and night schedules with ideal shifts running between nine and 12 hours.

Collaborating the uniqueness of the medical concierge and readiness of every unit in the team to offer its services in such a manner that leaves their clients ultimately satisfied, the Nutritionist, Dumebi Nzemeke said that nutrition plays important role in the treatment and recovery process of a patient and for the Greyheart team, it is taken as serious as appropriate administration of drugs to patients.

Speaking further, Nzemeke who noted that the world of food and nutrition has changed in recent time said that doctors and experts in nutrition now recommend that people should dump the regular and old way of eating such food as eggs, red meat, carbohydrates, fat and oil to a new and healthier ways of providing their bodies with the required nutrients by eating more of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and less carbohydrates, stressing that "the old way has gotten many people into trouble. We now have rising cases of such diseases as heart diseases, cancer, kidney failure. It is becoming more rampant like an epidemic.

"That is why nutrition is important at Greyheart, it is an aspect that will be treated with utmost importance. We will ensure that our patients do not go back to bad eating habit that will take them back to their sick bed,” Nzemeke assured.

Reiterating the rising need for home health care, especially in handling some peculiar cases that fall within the purview of the physiotherapists, the Head Physiotherapist, Afuye Oluwasuen said that people with such health conditions arising from accidents, diseases that limit or make movement difficult can still maintain some levels independence with the services of a professional physiotherapist in place.

Stressing that the healthcare system are now witnessing a shift from what he described as common ailments such as communicable diseases to a rise in the diseases of the metabolism which used to be referred to as the diseases of the affluence such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes leads to the general weakness in people.

According Oluwaseun, such people are not able to carry out their daily activities with much joy and freedom as they would like to. However, he said that with the services of a professional physiotherapist, maintaining functional independence of such people as optimal as possible is achievable.

"There are some professionals who because of an accident, or paralysis arising from one disease or the other could no longer go about their work or business as effectively as they would like to, it is my job to maintain their functional independence as optimal as possible.

"Rather than come to the hospital with the attendant stress and discomfort, we take the services to their homes to promote their independence and keep them active as much as possible, Oluwaseun assured.

By: Peace Obi

This Day News

ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED