GoFundMe for end-of-life patients without access to healthcare: #telemedicine

At Call9, we created beautiful experiences for thousands of patients and their families experiencing death and dying. It was an incredible privilege to share those moments with our patients, and I am forever hopeful that the US healthcare system will fully embrace telemedicine to treat anyone, anywhere, at any time. 

This holiday season, ResolutionCare continues to use #telemedicine to treat hundreds of patients experiencing the end of their lives. Friend, physician, and telemedicine leader Michael Fratkin has dedicated his career to palliative care - the process of using social, spiritual, and medical tools and techniques to design beautiful experiences for the patients and their families who are experiencing the death and dying process. There are 2.8M people in the US who die each year, and millions more who can benefit from the principles of palliative care. Michael and his team are pioneers in the use of telemedicine to reach people when and where they need care. 

ResolutionCare has set up a GoFundMe to care for patients in and around Humboldt County in Northern California whose insurance plans don’t have the vision to see the effectiveness of telemedicine and so don’t cover the service. Fortunately, for the poor, young, and disabled in California, Medi-Cal does cover their incredible service. But still so many dying individuals are denied coverage and don’t have the out of pocket money to afford a noble and comfortable death.

Please join me in allowing people to be treated as people for their entire life, not just when they are healthy. I am particularly asking my fellow telemedicine leaders to contribute to the GoFundMe to help ResolutionCare meet its goals. It is movements like Michael’s that will continue to push our society to enable more human-centered care by embracing technologies like telemedicine. 

Happy Holidays,

Tim