Blood readings now online

Neil Scott, The Leader-PostPublished: Friday, July 11, 2008

A new high-technology service to record and transmit information about a patient's blood pressure and blood glucose levels was unveiled at a Regina press conference Thursday.

The LifeStat Monitoring and Health Management system is being offered through a partnership between SaskTel and a French-based multi-national company called Alcatel-Lucent, which together have created the Salveo partnership.

Ken Cheveldayoff, Saskatchewan's minister of Crown corporations, said the government was pleased to have SaskTel involved in the partnership to provide the service.

"Not only will it create economic spinoffs but it was also contribute to healthy people,'' Cheveldayoff said.

The new service will create 20 new high-technology jobs in the province and will offer a new service that will not compete with any existing service offered by strictly private sector companies, Cheveldayoff said.

It is "a tremendous success story for SaskTel, Alcatel-Lucent and the province of Saskatchewan,'' he added.

SaskTel and Alcatel-Lucent have both invested $3.5 million in the Salveo partnership. SaskTel will sell the service to Canadian customers while Alcatel-Lucent will market it internationally.
The service records a client's blood pressure and blood glucose readings and transmits the results to secure confidential computer files that can be read online by the client or by the client's authorized health-care professionals.

The information can be transmitted wirelessly, which means the blood pressure and blood glucose test results could still be transmitted even if somebody is away from home or on holidays.

The monthly fee for the service will be about $50.

But SaskTel president Robert Watson said the service will be beneficial and he hopes significant numbers of people will decide to use it.

"We're very excited to provide patients and caregivers with a powerful tool to aid in the effective management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension,'' Watson said.
Andrew Drobot, the assistant vice-president of sales with Alcatel-Lucent, said the LifeStat service fits in well with the future direction of health care "in keeping people healthy in the first place'' by tracking chronic conditions and preventing them from getting out of control and causing a health crisis.

"We're very excited about the prospects for the Salveo project,'' Drobot said.
It is anticipated the initial service related to monitoring blood glucose and blood pressure will eventually be expanded to include tests for congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary failure (breathing problems such as those caused by emphysema and asthma).