In the fall of 2012 Medixine and the Organisation for Respiratory Health in Finland provided the city of Vantaa with a new health forecasting pilot service for self-care of people suffering from respiratory diseases. The aim of the service was to encourage self-care, prevent symptoms and reduce hospital admissions caused by COPD, for example.
The service is easy to use for both patients and health care providers. Based on automatic voice calls, the service warns patients with respiratory diseases of high-risk weather conditions and viruses that can worsen symptoms in the winter time. Voice calls also remind the patients how they can take appropriate action to keep themselves well. In addition to the phone calls based on two week forecasts , users of the service also receive text messages reminding them about necessary vaccinations. The users also received a booklet for more information.
The pilot is free of charge for the patients, and has raised a lot of interest in Vantaa. The patients could register to the service in the Web or with a text message. The pilot lasts for the winter season 2012-2013, ending at the end of March.