It was during the summer of 2020 that Elastx first got in touch with Michael Kaufmann, the founder of Tobias Tree. "It is our duty to use the technology we have to make the world a better place," says Henrik Grankvist, COO of Elastx. Today, the application is managed by Chorus and hosted on Elastx's platforms.
Patients in need
When struck by an unusual illness, time is of the essence for those who find themselves in critical condition. Despite our highly connected world, the spread of medical knowledge remains slow and uneven. Tobias Kaufmann, who had been suffering from a long-standing illness with recurring complications, found himself in a critical condition. Alongside a team of medical specialists and his family, they fought tirelessly until the very end. However, in October 2016, Tobias moved on.
How does it work today?
The medical knowledge of diagnostics and treatment of rare medical conditions is spread slowly and inefficiently. Case studies and scientific articles take months to get published and knowledge sharing mainly occurs at yearly held conferences. This means that there are medical specialists all over the world whose valuable insights and knowledge are out of reach when urgently needed.
Doctors turn to e-mail and social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to ask questions about their patients. However, none of these services were designed for this purpose: key information can easily get lost in the noise. There is also no way to verify the medical expertise of those who post questions and answers. Moreover, these communication methods do not meet the information security requirements for sensitive personal information.
Tobias Tree is born
When Tobias suffered from spontaneous bone marrow depression, the doctors told Tobias' father, Michael Kaufmann, that they had no idea how to treat Tobias' life threatening condition.
"Why not pose the question to the medical world?" Michael asked the doctors.
It does not work like that, replied the doctors. Then and there, the idea for Tobias Tree was born. Michael and Tobias spent many hours discussing how they could create a space where medical professionals could come together to share knowledge and potentially save lives.
"This might be worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize someday" said Tobias to Michael when discussing the life saving possibilities with Tobias Tree.
Tobias Tree puts down roots
Creating an app of this kind is no simple feat - particularly for someone without a technical background. Yet the idea of Tobias Tree got deeply rooted in Michael. He became determined to turn it into reality.
Michael was fortunate to find trustworthy partners, and together they managed to transform the concept from a prototype into a functional app.
"I made a promise to Tobias that I would help patients and their families. Tobias and I discussed this at length at the hospital. I am dedicated to making Tobias Tree a reality." says Michael.
- Chorus has developed and launched the Android app and iOS app.
- Chorus runs Tobias Tree in Elastx Cloud.
- The apps use SecureMailbox by Secure Appbox for secure communication.
- The service is up and running, ready to fulfill its vital purpose.
Tobias Tree attracts attention
Hospitals and medical specialists in Sweden and Europe are showing growing interest in joining and using Tobias Tree. Tobias Tree creates the possibility to share knowledge and save lives through secure communication between its members (verified medical specialists). The upcoming trials, with real users that will try to help their patients, will surely give new insights and ideas for improvements.
There are also plans to make the Tobias Tree app available to doctors in Remote Disaster and Conflict areas (RDC). This would allow non-specialists in isolated or crisis zones to submit questions to a network of medical specialists via the app. The goal is to provide a valuable resource to those who may not have access to the same medical expertise as those in more populated areas.These non-specialists will only be allowed to ask questions and read the answers to their questions.
It seems clear that Tobias Tree will use our highly connected world for something meaningful.
Tobias Tree still needs your support and funding
Since January 2020, Michael works unpaid and full-time on Tobias Tree.
"The support we’ve received, and keeps receiving, means the world to me. It is hard to express my gratitude in words. Tobias Tree keeps dancing around the zero-mark financially each month. I hope to find the philanthropist who will give us financial stability and enable us to share as much knowledge and save as many lives as possible." says Michael.
How to support
LinkedIn: please share this post with your network.
Please visit the official Tobias Tree website to learn more.
If you are a medical specialist and wish to join the network, please go to Tobias Tree website to register.
If you are the philantropist Michael is hoping to find, please write directly to Michael.