A Life Line to loved ones A man who’d just come off a ventilator proposed to his girlfriend – and she said yes! My husband said that he remembered hearing me and it had given him strength
TECH SCHEME KEEPS COVID-19 PATIENTS CONNECTED
FAMILIES can keep in touch with their loved ones in intensive care thanks to a “virtual visiting” initiative by BT, technology leaders and London hospitals.
With the coronavirus preventing hospital visits, Professor Louise Rose from King’s College London, Dr Joel Meyer from Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Aetonix CEO Michel Paquet set up Life Lines. It provides tablet computers and other tech so ICU patients can keep in touch with their loved ones.
Louise spotted the need early on in the Covid-19 crisis when she read about Italian families who could not be with their loved ones as they were dying in intensive care.
The three founders got backing from BT and Google, and now have 1,046 tablets at 159 intensive care sites. They have been used to make more than 15,000 video calls across the country.
Hospital staff have found Life Lines invaluable as a way to keep families informed, which they’d usually do face to face. And for the patients, it’s a way to feel closer to the people they love. “We have seen everything from the saddest goodbyes to some almost positive goodbyes, where the spiritual team and chaplaincy were there and prayers were said,” explains Joel.
But he’s witnessed some heart-warming moments too: “It’s quite common for patients to want to chat to their pets. And we’ve had a marriage proposal. A man who was just about able to speak having just come off a ventilator wanted to propose to his girlfriend so we facilitated that. And she said yes! Scenes like that brighten our days.”
The virtual visits are comforting for patients and their families, but hard-working NHS staff benefit too. “They say it’s helping them through difficult days,” says Louise. “It’s very important for doctors and nurses in ICU teams to have a connection with a patient’s family – we see supporting family as part of our role – so to be able to do that even when they can’t visit is important to staff.”
Diane, whose husband spent 15 days on a ventilator, was able to
“The way we have seen many large organisations and their staff move from their normal day-to-day work into projects to help tackle coronavirus has been remarkable.”
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keep in touch via Life Lines. “I spoke to my husband a lot and it was the most wonderful thing,” she says. “His first words to me when he was able to talk were, ‘I love you.’
“I cried and cried, it was beautiful. When he came home I asked him whether he’d heard my voice when he was so ill on the ventilator. He said he remembered hearing me and it had given him strength.”
Life Lines is just one example of how companies have stepped up to help out the NHS and communities during the coronavirus crisis, moving away from their day-to-day projects to deliver help quickly – from vital food parcels to life-saving PPE.
“We’re humbled to help connect loved ones with one another during such a difficult and distressing time for so many,” says BT Enterprise’s Technology Director Lucy Baker.
To donate to Life Lines go to