Biomedical Engineering student Christy Lee’s experience volunteering at busy hospitals and long-term care homes inspired her startup venture PatientCompanion, a communication app meant to improve patient experience and help reduce workload and stress for nurses.
PatientCompanion allows patients to make specific requests that will automatically prioritize the request on the nurses’ end. Non-medical requests for water or blankets can be distributed among personal care workers, volunteers or other available staff, which will ultimately reduce the workload for nurses at hospitals and long-term care homes.
Lee presented PatientCompanion at three separate pitch competitions — GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase, Velocity Pitch Competition and the Biotec Pitch Competition, where she competed against other Canadian university students and their startup ideas in the health-tech space.
“My goal is to help as many people as possible,” says Lee, who plans to develop other venture ideas that bridge health care and engineering.
“That is why I chose the Biomedical Engineering program because I know I could help many people in the public and health care industry. Learning from the engineering perspective, I was able to gain knowledge and skills from both the development and the product side. I want to continue trying to build new products or new ideas and making sure I can help as many people as possible — not just in Canada but across the world.”
Go to PatientCompanion is a tech-solution to support nurses for the full story including the app’s upcoming pilot program.
Waterloo Engineering student Christy Lee is the founder of PatientCompanion.