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FisioSmart is currently carrying out a campaign to donate kinetic vests to patients who are unable to receive their treatments because of COVID-19. |
Since 2018, FisioSmart has gradually positioned itself at the regional and national level. What started as a project that won the “Experimentando” (“experimenting”) contest of the Macro Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) back then, has managed to evolve, and now the design is used as a pilot project at the Hospital of Los Ángeles (Chile). FisioSmart is an intelligent kinetic vest that removes secretions from the airways and allows patients with cystic fibrosis or obstructive diseases to receive a therapy that helps them to live their daily lives. Today, because of the global health crisis, families with members with this disease are facing a complex situation, as they are unable to attend health care facilities due to the risk of contagion. In this context, FisioSmart is leading the “My Lungs Move” campaign, which seeks to donate 50 kinetic vests to patients all over Chile, together with the Corporation for Cystic Fibrosis of the Pancreas. “This kind of patient requires a strict treatment and today, unfortunately, they have no access to it, since they can’t go to the hospitals or healthcare centers because of the risk of contagion of COVID-19, which could be fatal for them,” José Portiño, a civil industrial engineer, says. MULTIDISCIPLINARY WORK FisioSmart was founded in 2018, within a project that participated in the contest “Experimentando” of the Macro Faculty of Engineering of UFRO. The team of the Universidad de La Frontera is comprised of José Portiño, a civil industrial engineer, Mayra Sepúlveda, a physical therapist, Emiliano Delgado, who is a student in commercial engineering and Silvana Mellado, who is studying physiotherapy. FisioSmart is a multidisciplinary initiative with professionals from different fields. How do you think that this fact enriches the work they are doing? All the progress we made and the results we have obtained so far are based on the fact that we are a multidisciplinary team. This aspect is very significant, since it allows us to delegate tasks to the respective fields of expertise and thus to move forward together, and in the same way in several areas at the same time. At present, our goal is to provide technological solutions to social problems that frequently are not being addressed in our country or need a lot of money. We want to bring the technology closer to the people, so that it becomes accessible for everyone. As a team, you won the contest “Experimentando” of the Macro Faculty of Engineering in 2018. How did this help you with your future development? To win that contest was the basis for all further development. Thanks to the prototype created within that project, we were able to get a PRAE project awarded by CORFO. After that, with these results and the working prototype developed, we got a VIU project approved from Fondef, for medical device validation, and we are currently working on the "My Lungs Move" campaign, in order to provide help to those who need it. Besides the current campaign, what are the future plans and challenges for the project? Right now, our priority is the campaign. It is absolutely necessary that every child who is not able to attend kinetic therapy receives a vest that allows them to continue with it; besides of the aim of improving their quality of life. Written by: Mauricio Antivil |
