ANN ARBOR, MI, April 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vidatak, a trusted supplier of communication products for hospital-based patients, and Acuity Medical (Annapolis, MD), Vidatak’s master distributor, have announced they are continuing to provide FREE EZ Boards - a simple to use communication board designed for non-verbal patients, and their VidaTalk App to hospitals during this global health crisis. Both organizations have budgeted funds to support intubated COVID-19 patients by providing these bedside hand-held solutions. Staff can order FREE EZ Boards by email to mark@acuitymedical.com, or those who have tablets can download the EZ Board on their new app via VidaTalk for a free subscription until June 30, 2020.
The EZ Board is a sturdy but lightweight picture and word board that allows weak ventilated patients to express wants, convey needs, and indicate the type, degree, and location of their pain and other concerns. Through the Vidatak EZ Board, intubated patients can reduce their frustration while increasing their satisfaction with the medical attention they receive.
It has been reported that 5% of people with COVID-19 infections require intubation*. With over 600,000 cases in the US today, that’s more than 30,000 COVID-19 positive patients being intubated so far. Because resources are scarce for many hospitals as they are scrambling to secure lifesaving equipment and protective gear for providers, the company wants to make these communication tools available at no cost to the hospitals and medical workers who need them. Hospitals that have been purchasing the EZ Boards are encouraged to continue purchasing in order to ensure those facilities in financial need may experience the greatest benefit.
Update April 15, 2020, as budgeted funds begin to run out, Vidatak has started a Go Fund Me campaign for help in continuing this valuable patient-centric program. The VidaTalk App available on a tablet is available in multiple languages but the demand for additional languages and platforms is high and costly to develop and implement. They are looking to manufacture 10,000+ EZ Boards and add 10 additional languages to the app to fulfill hospital requests.
The EZ Board was developed by Dr. Lance Patak, M.D., along with Paul Masvidal, who began translating research about the evidence-based innovation. Despite uncertainties on how to meet the intubated patients’ communication needs, Dr. Patak spent two years of research with these patients conducting careful end-user assessments and testing.
“With end-user feedback from 149 critically-ill patients who had been intubated, we created the EZ Board to match the specific human factors that enable the board to be an effective tool when critically-ill. One of our patient’s husband owned a printing shop, Media Lithographics in City of Commerce, CA, who helped with early printing of the EZ Board. Our first commercial launched printed the EZ Boards in 1990 in five languages. Now, we have translated the board into twenty languages and have distributed the EZ Board to fifteen countries, and currently, we’ve developed an APP for electronic tablets which has also been rigorously tested and adapted to ensure it is an effective tool for critically-ill patients,” said Dr. Patak.
The EZ Board has currently become the standard in health-care for those intubated at thousands of pf hospitals in the U.S., including Sinai Health, Atrium Health, New York-Presbyterian, Penn Health, St. Jude’s, VA Health System, Children’s Health, UPMC, Kaiser, UCLA, Johns Hopkins Health System, and many more.
For more information for hospitals to receive an EZ Board or to download the app, visit www.vidatak.com.
To help with the Go Fund Me campaign, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-ventilated-covid19-patients
For media inquiries, interviews, and appearance requests, please contact Kelly Bennett of Bennett Unlimited PR (949) 463-6383 or kelly@bpunlimited.com.
Follow Vidatak and Dr. Lance Patak on social media at Facebook @eloquencecommunications @vidatakezboard; Twitter @LancePatakMD, @EloqComm @vidatak; Instagram @snoozemd and LinkedIn @serialentreprenuer
About Vidatak LLC:
Vidatak LLC is the company behind the different communication tools like EZ Board, VidaTalk. Picture Board, and Spiritual Care Communication Board. The company aims to provide evidence-based, cutting-edge communication resources for patients suffering from communication impairment. For more information visit www.Vidatak.com.
*https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762996
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