Ali KHOUTABY
Al Akhawayn University
Mary Grace Neville
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In order to ensure the education of the patients and the optimization of their treatment, My Diabetic Mate is an organization whose main purpose is to develop tools to support diabetes patients by training and helping them to enjoy a better, healthy life. Their mission is to prevent the dreaded complications of diabetes and help the patients accept their disease. Thus, the organization is committed to providing a quality education and good health and well-being since its goal is to assist patients so that their disease is no longer an obstacle in their life.
Diabetes is a disease that touches more than 430 million people around the world. If not treated well, it can cause severe damage to the body in the future, such as blindness, renal failure, heart disease, and many other chronic diseases. Therefore, the education of patients is essential, and My Diabetic Mate is their solution for that.
My Diabetic Mate's process of educating the patient starts by teaching them how to use their treatment (insulin injections) correctly and efficiently to avoid any complications.
Up until now, patient education has mostly been done through workshops organized by a few hospitals and sometimes by outpatients trained by diabetologists in therapeutic education. This practice is therefore quite restrictive and is unfortunately not sufficiently accessible to patients because it is limited to a few hospitals around France.
My Diabetic Mate's mission is to make this training more accessible through developing a platform (web+mobile application) supported by health professionals to allow the patient to be trained from home.
Thus, patients are not forced to spend their day or sometimes even their week in a hospital. Their treatment will be more representative because it is performed in real conditions. In other words, when patients have their treatment at a hospital, they get health measurements that might be inconclusive. However, if they get a home training, patients can get their measurements in real conditions (during their daily activities, and while eating their own food, not hospital food). Therefore, My Diabetic Mate developed a tool whose access is not only simple but also very effective for health professionals because it is completely automated; the doctor sees the patient only at the end of the training to discuss the career and validate and adjust the treatment at the end of their adventure on the platform.
Yassine, founder of the project, pharmacy student, and diabetic expert: "I myself had difficulties to access such training. My diabetologist was forced to direct me to a hospital's therapeutic education service whose availability was limited to 4 months." Yassine's first inspiration was the fact that he has diabetes and knows the struggle that every diabetic patient can go through. He wants to improve his and other patients' lives and make life easier. The founder also stated, "After 3 years in pharmacy, I learned many things about my diabetes, and I would like to share my experience to help diabetic people maintain a better life."
According to Yassine, My Diabetic Mate's main assignment is to transmit knowledge to all those in need, which is why it wants to offer a free basic plan to the patient: a plan that will help them get more comfortable with their disease and improve their treatment, all while being in their own home.
Also, by using this platform, hospital structures save a lot of time because the process is automated. Rather than focusing on the transmission of information, the health care team can focus on the diagnosis and support of the patients.
"In the ambulatory, we want to offer healthcare professionals a simple and fast tool. The doctor takes care of validating the data collected by the patient and our platform takes care of all the rest! Our tool thus allows him/her to offer outpatient training rather than directing his/her patient to a hospital structure whose management times often takes several months," explained Yassine.
In order to develop a complete platform complying with safety standards in France, significant costs are to be expected. Various expenses are mainly related to the development of the web platform and the mobile application for 25,000 euros, the hosting of health data and the shooting of videos up to 15,000 euros. In addition to that, the rest of the staffing would allow My Diabetic Mate to undertake effective communication campaigns.
My Diabetic Mate is also fortunate to have Leo, a film student involved in filming, and Othmane, a business student involved in the financial side of the project.
"We had the chance to win the Start'in ESS favorite prize and the medal of honor of the city of Paris. This has served us well with the Paris City Council, which has recently continued with a collaboration with the Faculty of Pharmacy in Paris," said Yassine.
Thanks to My Diabetic Mate, diabetes will no longer be a burden on the patient's life. This latter will be able to enjoy his/her daily activities, whether work or others, without thinking about their illness as an obstacle.
Patients will be able to carry out workshops and train according to their needs from their home. They will be following videos at the same time to train them on topics of their choice and teach them to adjust to the treatment correctly. This will add a part to the patients' lifestyle, where they will have access to videos on cooking, nutrition, sport, and psychology to offer them complete assistance and to help them to blossom in their bodies.
The platform also benefits doctors and hospitals around France, since it is a time-saving tool that enables them to focus more on the patient's treatment rather than dealing with time-consuming information processes.
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Yassine Bellahnid, CEO
My Diabetic Mate is an organization that created a platform that will make a diabetic's life easier and healthier. The organization is providing videos and hospital formations in order to educate the patients regarding their disease. Thus, its main goal is to adapt the patient's treatment to let them live a normal life and be aware about the dangers of their malady.