Sarah Thompson, the host of television show STL-Live, interviewed our CEO, Blake Marggraff, and Stephanie Lessmeier, Director of the Hope After program at Provident Inc. about our recent partnership to bring technology to mental healthcare services, particularly for suicide prevention.
Previously, staff at Provident made outbound cold calls to at-risk patients, once a week, or if patients left a message with Provident, staff would call them back. In the past, it was up to the patient to call the crisis line when they needed help, but the problem is that a lot of people have trouble making that call.
Epharmix helps by giving patients a non-judgemental way to say yes I am having thoughts of suicide and connect them with care immediately, without the patient needing to dial the phone and speak to someone.
Provident chose Epharmix to add a layer of technology to its Hope After suicide prevention program in order to give patients at risk for suicide more convenient access to mental health services and improve follow-up care through automated texts.
The technology, known as EpxDepression, asks patients about their mood and if patients report a low mood, it also asks about thoughts of suicide, and if they report yes, Epharmix connects patients to Provident's suicide hotline to get care right away. Additionally, the platform administers the PHQ-9, a tool used for monitoring the severity of depression.
Patients enrolled in the system have given positive and personal feedback, saying, "It feels non-judgemental", "It gives me hope," "It gives me confidence," and "It makes me feel like I have a partner in getting out of this hole."
We are honored to work with Provident and the Hope After program to support at-risk patients and help their staff reduce the number of outbound calls, so they can spend less time cold calling and more time helping patients.
View the two-part video below.
Video: Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz_2W_RSFec&utm_content=buffer69106&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Video: Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O-4awNtbyw&t=1s
To experience how the platform functions and feels from both the perspective of a provider and patient, try our Demo