About France

On February 25^th 2012, the Mayors of Haute-Corse held their General Assembly at the community venue in Sisco (Corsica / France) and invited the company HEALTHCOMMS and its representative Paul MOONEY to present its software. (See further details on www.healthcomms.ie). Charlotte JEHANNO delivered a presentation of the concept in French and assisted Paul for his 3 day trip.

She also secured two interviews with regional medium: one with the regional TV programme “FR3”, the second with the regional daily newspaper “CORSE MATIN”.

Here the services which were provided for HEALTHCOMMS:

• Translating different commercial literature,
• Nationwide documentary translation and voice over
• Liaising with the Corsican health adviser,
• Presenting the concept at the Haute-Corse Mayors’ AGM
• After meeting follow-up

FR3 Interview:

Translation of the interview done by Charlotte Jehanno, on behalf of HealthComms
“…. The meeting also provided an opportunity to present an Irish software, which allows people living on their own to ask for some help or advice. They just need a computer and a broadband connection.

“Thanks to the software we have developed, people are able to communicate not only with their friends and family members but also with medical services or carers. It is particularly important for the elderly, the people living on their own in rural or urban areas”.

It would cost €20 per month for the subscribers. The software is presented as a cost-effective solution for local authorities with the advantage to reduce non-emergency interventions. All these aspects will be further analysed”

Journalist: Pierre NICOLAS / Cameraman: Marie-Laure DAGUENEL –

February 25^th, 2012 – 19-20PM NEWS -FR3

CORSE MATIN Interview:

Please, click on this link to get the article

An Irish solution to the medical wasteland in Corsica

Yesterday the mayors from Haute-Corse held their General Assembly at the community venue in Sisco. About 50 mayors attended the Assembly to discuss a broad range of topics.
In the morning, road safety, security and loose animals (a recurring issue) were on the agenda. The afternoon meeting was devoted to an interesting and innovative concept put forward by HealthComms. This Irish company presented their software, an application designed to support communication between users and the emergency services. Paul Mooney, a computer engineer and co-founder, explained that: “Through a Webcam and Skype, users are connected to the computer of 7 other people: friends, family members, GP’s and, more importantly, emergency services if needed. We launched the project in November 2011 and we have now penetrated the Irish and British markets. Corsica is the first region of France where we are giving a presentation.”
Avoiding non-emergency interventions
Jean-Louis Bordonado, an emergency physician for the SAMU, welcomed this concept: “Membership costs €30, then you need to pay €20 per month. There are also applications available for iPhone or iPad. For emergency services such as ours, it will allow us to make the distinction between emergency and non-emergency interventions, because as you may know, 80% of our work is related to non-emergency cases!”
Daniel Di Giambattista, a doctor and fire brigade’s chief, also praised the concept even if he expressed some concerns: “This system is still dependent on electricity, so power cuts due to thunder storms as they sometimes occur in Corsica may be a problem. Moreover it is also dependent on phone lines. That said, I think this software is comparable to remote alarm systems but it is more sophisticated. Indeed when we see patients online, we will assess more easily their health status, we will be able to see if they are sweating or if they have breathing difficulties.”
HealthComms has thus succeeded in convincing the audience. As Dr Josette Dall’Ava Santucci pointed out: “If I have well understood, our ministers intend to allocate funds for telecare. With this money, we could finance this technology and it could allow the older people who are the most disadvantaged to be connected to the software.”
Gilles Simeoni, a local councillor, asked the following question to the prefect: “Do you think it is possible to get a co-funding from the Region, the State and Europe in order to set up this system in Corsica?”
Paul Mooney will fly back to Dublin today. Yet he does not know for sure if he will come back to Corsica. However, if local councillors work on the project, Corsica might become the first region of France where this type of telecare services is used.
Journalist : Christophe LAURENT – claurent@nicematin.fr
Published on February 26th , 2012 – CORSE MATIN