24 Aug 2020 Baptist Health receives donation to improve video communication

Posted at 4:39 PMh in News by

Baptist Health is installing 432 Amazon Echo Show devices in potential COVID-19 patient rooms at nine of the health care system’s hospitals to offer a new and improved way that clinicians can visit with their patients through video communication.

Echo Show devices and deployment support are being donated to Baptist Health by Amazon as part of its $5 million global initiative to help healthcare workers, patients, students and communities impacted by COVID‑19.

Baptist Health is installing 432 Amazon Echo Show devices at nine of the health care system’s hospitals to offer a new and improved way that clinicians can visit with patients through video communication.

“We are thrilled to be working with Amazon on this project,” said Kourtney Matlock, Baptist Health’s corporate vice president of the care continuum. “We know that these tools will add an additional level of safety for our staff, physicians and our patients – all while allowing us to conserve personal protective equipment (PPE).”

Baptist Health will deploy the units across the system that have the potential to have COVID-19 patients, which includes ICU areas, med-surg floors, emergency departments and labor and delivery rooms. 

Amazon’s smart devices feature a speaker for two-way communication plus an 8-inch touch-screen display. The device’s “Drop In” feature will allow physicians, nurses, therapists and other clinicians to visit a patient’s room virtually. This allows caregivers to see the patient more frequently without having to go through the process of putting on personal protective equipment each time, which in turn also preserves PPE and adds a layer of safety for the staff.

Early on, Baptist Health sought a creative way to produce a better interactive experience with COVID-19 patients. The health care system discovered a hospital in New York that was the first to use Amazon Devices with COVID-19 patients in April as a test case.

Baptist Health decided to move ahead with deploying the Echo Show devices after assessing the test case and consulting with Aiva, a company contracted with Amazon to help health care organizations implement necessary protocols for health care settings. As part of the donation program, Amazon covered all device costs and extended their service contract with Aiva, which is available to all hospitals who participate in the donation program. 

Baptist Health hospitals receiving the Echo Show devices are Baptist Health-Arkadelphia, Baptist Health-Conway, Baptist Health-Fort Smith, Baptist Health-Heber Springs, Baptist Health-Hot Spring County, Baptist Health-Little Rock, Baptist Health-North Little Rock, Baptist Health-Stuttgart and Baptist Health-Van Buren.