Mobile Health: Bridging Rural Communities and Healthcare Technology

ISHAN VAISH – While more than 15 million Americans live in rural communities, these areas are consistently underserved when it comes to access to doctors and other medical resources. Rural Americans have worse healthcare outcomes than their urban and suburban counterparts. They also face longer wait times and higher fees even though they are more likely to be living in poverty. In an effort to relieve this problem, Mobile Health has set out to design an app that improves rural Athens-Clarke county residents’ access to mental and physical healthcare resources. I spoke to Oliva Datta, their VP of External Affairs, about her journey with Mobile Health and the organization’s mission.

Hi Olivia! For people who might not know, what is Mobile Health?

Mobile Health is an organization that started a few years back at UGA. We do pop-up clinics and give healthcare supplies out for free to the rural community in Athens. We go to the Public Library and Mercy Clinic, and places where we can give supplies like brushes, toothpaste, condoms, etc. In response to our free physicals and donations, we ask people to fill out surveys about what people would want from a healthcare app. We use this data to compile what people wanted from a healthcare app. Our executive board is responsible for designing the app, and members of the app development team are the ones programming and creating the app. Our app is dedicated to mental and physical health. Physical health would have things like a pedometer, free exercises, or [monitoring] water intake. The mental health will have hotlines for suicide, drug abuse, and contact information for free clinics. We don’t have a general body because our focus is on creating the app.

Why was an app the best way to meet the needs of these underserved communities?

The main concern people reported on surveys was a lack of knowledge and access to healthcare facilities. They didn’t know where to get free healthcare or proper, nutritional meals. We wanted to develop an app where people could get all the contact information they needed and things they could change within their lifestyle in an affordable easy way. This app will provide that information.

What has working on an app been like?

Getting the data was really eye-opening. The UGA campus is so posh and up-to-date, but driving a few miles to the Farmer’s Market, it’s very easy to see the problems people have. Seeing how excited people were that an app was being created was very surprising. In terms of development, we’re a tight-knit group. Everyone on our team has been open-minded and easy to work with. The fact that we’ve been working on it for so long has been really good. I’ve never created an app before, so I am definitely learning a lot in the process. It’s been very wholesome and good to know that we are helping people out.

How did Mobile Health develop?

Initially, Mobile Health had a general body. We had guest speakers, professors, and healthcare professionals. They would talk about telemedicine. Unfortunately, we had a lack of members and things for our members to do. We wanted to find something within our organization that members could do but also something that would have a larger impact. Instead of having a general body, we wanted to focus on creating something. This led us to create our app because it was something that would have a larger impact. We initially wanted to fund technology for underserved countries, but we realized there were many rural communities within our county that needed help. Creating an app that people could use on their phones that would help them with healthcare is where our goals have shifted to.

Where do you see Mobile Health in a year?

By the end of the school year, we want the app to be out, and we want to promote the app via clinics, libraries, and public centers so we can gather feedback. We are not sure if we should continue to have a general body or if we want to stay as a small group and develop a new app. Our focus, for now, is creating the app and getting it published. Once that is achieved, we want to see peoples’ interest and whether we want to expand and create another app in the future..

What are your opinions on telemedicine? How do you see technology impacting healthcare through apps like this one?

With Covid-19, it’s so hard to have face to face interactions. Rural communities do not have easy access to healthcare. This app is a bridge between people’s questions and the answers they need. The goal is to make these resources accessible. Having more apps like this will get the information people need and will improve the overall health of rural communities.

Where can people connect with Mobile Health?

 Sure! Check out our Instagram @uga_mhealth. It’s where we share information about joining our team as well as updates on our work!

Copy Editor: Sophia Bartell

Photography Source: Bianca Patel, Ben Harner