BY GABRIELLE
In the fight against COVID-19, the Quebec Institute for Logistical Innovation (IILQ) has joined forces with Connect&GO, developers on RFID wristbands for major worldwide events, in a bid to find reasonable solutions for dealing with the crisis.
Prior to founding Connect&Go, co-founder Anthony Palermo led RFID Academia, a leader in the development of RFID solutions for industrial and logistical applications in different industries, including healthcare.
In the wake of the escalating COVID-19 pandemic, IILQ approached Connect&GO to provide assistance in developing logistical solutions for hospitals treating patients with COVID-19. The care required for each patient infected with the virus has significant implications on the medical and human resources in hospitals.
IILQ and Connect&GO have collaborated to build an innovative application which enables the careful follow-up of a patient going through treatment for COVID-19. Featuring radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology, the app is designed to avoid contamination by tracking patients’ samples and the healthcare workers who assisted them, as well as the medical equipment that was used, medical waste, bed linen and more.
“This technology offers a number of advantages; it is cost-effective, easy to deploy and uses passive waves that do not interfere with the medical equipment,” said Palermo.
Dominic Gagnon CEO of Connect&GO, commented on the new development: “We never thought our platform would be used in a hospital setting, but this crisis has made us see things differently. Currently, our platform is being used in amusement parks to provide additional security for families by not allowing children to leave the park without the parent and by including allergy and emergency medical information in the profile associated to each guest’s wristband.
“Clearly, there are many similarities between these existing deployments and the current project we are developing for this unique situation,” Cagnon continued.