The nurse and Coordinator of the Surgical Block of the Instituto Mário Penna, Éder Júlio Rocha de Almeida, received a tribute from the City Council of Betim for developing the application “Socorro pela Mãos” that connects deaf people to emergency services. Éder also received the award from the Regional Nursing Council COREN-MG and, also, first place in the award for theses and dissertations by the Council of Science and Technology in the health and accessibility segment.
According to Éder, who specializes in urgency and emergency care, the initiative took place in 2018, when he came across the story of a deaf boy who witnessed his father getting sick with many chest pains and was unable to call for help.
Therefore, in the master’s degree in technology applied to health, Eder conceived and developed the application that has a simple interface. “The program is easy to understand and, through icons present in it, the disabled are able to call for help”; explains.
The app can also be used by people who can’t read yet, as the icons are extremely intuitive. It is in the process of patenting and will be available soon for iOS and Android.
Éder also says that he is already negotiating with the head of government and the secretariat for people with disabilities, together with the first lady’s team and deputies so that the application can be implemented nationwide and free of charge. “Through the application it will be possible to give a voice to nearly 28 million hearing-impaired people who are unable to call the ambulance, police, firefighters and other emergency services that are currently only activated by telephone”; stands out. Finally, the professor stressed that several companies are already interested in investing in the platform.
Instituto Mário Penna also listens to the hearing-impaired – Instituto Mário Penna’s quality service must be accessible to everyone. Therefore, hearing patients can consult in any unit, with the certainty that they will be very well understood.
Through the Mário Penna Te Ouve Project , with a simple click, our doctors and nurses can communicate with deaf patients and family members through the intermediation of a virtual book interpreter, in real time.
All so that the deaf can talk about their symptoms and hear the doctor’s diagnoses and guidance without any communication problems.