Tracking service for poor patients among 'genius grant' recipients
Door-to-door doctor to the poor among an eclectic group of 24 recipients
The old man couldn't control his diabetes, no matter how closely he followed his doctor's instructions. A nurse visited him to find out why the insulin wasn't working, only to watch the nearly blind man inadvertently inject himself with a syringe filled with nothing but air.
It sounds simple to track a patient outside of office visits. But the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation found the idea genius.
Jeffrey Brenner, a doctor and founder of the organisation that sends medical professionals to the doors of the desperately poor residents of Camden, in the US state of New Jersey, is one of 24 to receive a US$625,000 "genius grant" from the foundation.
"This is an acknowledgment that we are headed in the right direction," Brenner said.
He created the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers as a means to find and track the poorest patients with the most complex medical issues. Those patients are visited wherever they are - at home, in shelters - and escorted to doctor's appointments.
"We cut, scan, zap and hospitalise patients," said Brenner, whose group is now working with 10 communities to develop similar systems. "But we forget we need to take care of them."