Helen – Food Management

From controlling her own weight loss to keeping her fiancé in check, Helen is delighted with how her new digital app is helping her to manage her life!

Watch the video to see how it helps Helen.

Helen, who lives in Beverley, is one of 200 adults with learning disabilities across Humber taking part in a trial of the Hear Me Now (previously My Health Guide) app organised by Humber Foundation NHS Trust.

The original six month trial, recently extended to a year, is already resulting in a 30% reduction in visits to healthcare professionals and, crucially, improved communication and quality of life for users of the app.

Helen is full of enthusiasm: “My Health Guide helps me to communicate with my carers, friends and fiancé. I can tell people how I’m feeling and show them what I’ve been up to with photos and videos.

“I’m trying to lose weight and it’s helping me with my food diary. It shows me what I can eat and drink.

“It’s good that I can organise my life and communicate better with the app. It has really helped me,” added Helen.

The app, developed by London-based tech firm Maldaba and commissioned and funded by NHS England and SBRI Healthcare, enables users to capture video, audio, images and text in a single, user-friendly format and share selected information with carers, guardians and health professionals.

As well as delivering better health outcomes, less confusion and increased confidence for users, the app also allows carers to be more informed and involved and gives health providers integrated, real-time data, better patient communication and the opportunity to develop more effective front line services.

Helen’s carer Paul Walker is similarly enthused by the app: “It’s new technology and it’s exciting for Helen to interact with it. She has really taken to it and it saves time with her diet plan as all the food choices she’s made are recorded on it. It saves us time too when we go through the app content with Helen.

“Ultimately the app is personal to Helen but it impacts on how she is able to clearly communicate her feelings and health needs,” added Paul.

Final word belongs to Helen: “My Health Guide means I can let the world know how I feel. I love it!”

Watch the short video below of Helen and her carer Paul, and see how My Health Guide is enabling Helen to have greater independence in her life, as well as helping Paul and his colleagues do their work more effectively.