By Nancy Tannler
The people of Portland are fortunate to have a wide array of healthcare providers to choose from for the health journey. The spectrum ranges from ancient Ayurvedic and Chinese herbalists to the most current nutrition, oncology and cardiology specialists.
When a person decides to have a routine check-up or has a health concern, they usually have a care provider they will choose to go to first.
The process of diagnosis begins here with intake records that are originally kept private by this initial contact person. If a patient is recommended to a different health specialist or chooses to seek other modalities, the intake method generally starts all over again or records have to be transferred. This delay can take time and cause the momentum towards wellness to slow down.
This process is something Eli Eichenauer and his brother Joe decided to address by building a new health provider/patient website called WebLively. The website follows an OpenNotes model1 and gives primary ownership of all personal health information directly to the individual.
In most instances, ownership still resides with the institution taking the visit notes.
Eli is a longtime holistic wellness professional who came to the realization that the systems currently in place aren’t working to the patients best advantage.
Joe is a website developer and together they came up with program that stores and shares patients’ records
The idea of WebLively is to build a collaborative wellness network where individual clients and health professionals have access to shared knowledge, procedures and visit notes taken by participating members. This can make the patient’s care more efficient, improve communication, and, most importantly, may help patients become more actively involved with their health and healthcare.
Everyone who participates in WebLively should know that their personal health information is secure. The site is HIPAA compliant and keeps all records 100% protected through encryption and security best-practices. The individual has the capability to set the parameters around what gets shared and with whom.
WebLively is free to the individual with a minimal interface fee for the health care provider and it is open to everyone.
Eli Eichenauer believes this type of online, community-based shared information system will accelerate a person’s time spent healing. It will enable patients to easily read notes written about their care, and it will bring more transparency to medical records.
According to Eichenauer, “The health and wellness centers throughout the city were the first attempt to build a more holistic type of patient care. They are effective but, WebLively takes it a step further by connecting all the different medical and alternative healers participating.”
This collective wellness network approach is empowering to the individual because it cultivates a large support group with the individuals best interest at the core.
Weblively.com is informative and easy to use.
Taking care Portland (TCC) will host the thirteenth donation-based volunteer driven community supported, survivorship event at TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont, on Sunday April 24, at 2:30 pm.
TCC invites all cancer survivors, their caregivers and family members touched by the disease to come experience a community supported day of care. WebLively will provide TCC practitioners and participants information about how the WebLively site works.
Suggested donation is $35, but contact us at Info@TakingCarePortland.com with any questions. Guests can sign up for this event at the Taking Care Portland Website. To sign up for this event see TakingCarePortland.com.
1 OpenNotes is a national initiative working to give patients access to the visit notes written by their doctors, nurses, or other clinicians.
