Emirates Foundation partners with Tathafur and stakeholders to support the launch of the “Live Care” initiative

Emirates Foundation, a national organisation set up by the Abu Dhabi government to facilitate public-private funded initiatives for the empowerment of youth across the UAE, is  collaborating with Tathafur, the non-profit healthcare consultancy, on two main initiatives, the “Caregivers Safety” and the “Live Care” initiative, focusing on generating solutions to the challenge of how to reach and care for patients with efficient management of clinical resources whilst ensuring the safety of healthcare professionals.

Emirates Foundation is managing these initiatives in partnership with Tathafur, the UAE-based non-profit and voluntary team for healthcare consultancy, networking, and strategic services. The partnership aims to unite local expertise in solving and enabling initiatives of great importance to the community as the nation deals with a global pandemic. 

Tathafer partner, “Ma’an”, will be offering financial support to ensure the success of the “Caregiver Safety” initiative.Ma’an was established in February 2019 by the Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi with the aim of bringing together the government, the private sector and members of society to support a culture of social contribution and participation.

Building on previous years of successful partnerships, Emirates Foundation has also joined forces with major stakeholders to ensure the successful execution of those two initiatives. These stakeholders include the Abu Dhabi Department of Health (DoH), Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), and the National Health Insurance Company (Daman).

The “Live Care” initiative aims to enable hospitals and caregivers to provide better and more accurate live monitoring for Covid-19 patients, who are either in home quarantine or admitted to other accommodation. This should greatly help hospitals to efficiently manage more cases, reduce the burden on caregivers, utilize fewer beds in hospitals and minimize physical interactions with patients. This is will aid in developing an integrated model of care and a technological platform for efficient remote patient monitoring. The “Live Care” initiative is open to accepting any means of support to aid with its success. 

Tathafur, with the support of Emirates Foundation, has also introduced the “Caregivers Safety” initiative to sponsor and finance caregivers’ safety apparatus and equipment. Regulators require that the highest standards of precautionary measures are taken to ensure the safety of caregivers. In this instance, the proposed solution lies with the “bio hood” to be used when in direct contact with Covid-19 patients. Caregivers can wear the special “bio hood” when working in ICU, laboratories, and when in direct contact with patients. This is applicable for all caregivers in contact with patients and identified by the hospital’s policy of infection control. The use of this hood is expected to drastically reduce or even eliminate the infection percentage among caregivers. This will help in managing the capability of hospitals to treat more patients in safety. Use of the bio hood will also enhance the self-confidence and composure of caregivers while carrying out their duty. 

The “Live Care” and “Caregivers Safety” initiatives’ first beneficiary will be the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City hospital, located in Abu Dhabi. The initiatives will support healthcare providers by encouraging better management of Covid-19 patients with minimum strain on resources from caregivers and available beds while also ensuring the safety of those who are working directly with Covid-19 patients. The solutions focus on providing a technological tool to support home/remote care, connecting them with a central monitoring dashboard at the hospital which will allow more efficient use of resources for patients who are at a higher risk and need to be hospitalized for treatment by caregivers who are adhering to, and protected by, the highest standards of safety. 

Mohanna Al Mheiri, Chief of Staff at Emirates Foundation, speaking on the initiatives, said: “The world has faced a big challenge recently, one which changed rapidly in ways that are unpredictable and uncertain, but here in the UAE, our greatest new thinking has emerged under the wise leadership of the UAE government and the solidarity embedded in our culture. By joining forces with Tathafur and other major stakeholders, Emirates Foundation intends to achieve a breakthrough in remote patient monitoring that will impact the future of medical care in the UAE. We aim to bring decades of medical learnings and growing expertise to help hospitals create a model of care for remote patients that enables them to survive and thrive throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond, while maintaining the safety of our frontline caregivers during these challenging times.”

Shamma Al Jaberi, Founder and Member of Tathafur, said: “As a collaborative, interdisciplinary and locally engaged initiative created to provide voluntary non-profit consultancy and strategic services in healthcare, we recognize the necessity of responding quickly and efficiently to situations that place a burden on the UAE’s healthcare system. The repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic will be felt for a long time, and anything we can do to mitigate the downside for our healthcare professionals is another tool at our disposal in the fight against the virus.

By partnering with Emirates Foundation, we are leveraging their expertise in order to serve the community through positive active engagement. The two initiatives, “Live Care” and “Caregivers’ Safety” enable us to fulfil our mandate of improving the lives of UAE community members and institutions who need proficiency in healthcare related issues.”