The Story That Started It All
Dr. Timothy Peck doesn’t even flinch in recalling when he saw Call9’s first patient.
July 15, 2015.
It was in the early days of Call9 when Tim, cofounder and CEO, slept on a cot in the conference room at Central Island Healthcare in Plainview, NY, to get Call9 off the ground.
Call9 was supposed to begin operations on July 16, but CIH’s medical director had asked the team to come in early to test out the technology, make sure the internet was working and fix any last-minute issues prior to the launch. That’s when Tim first met Mr. D.
Nowadays our physicians take calls from home, but Tim took the Mr. D call from the conference room at CIH; back then it was necessary for him to be on-site as the team developed and tested the product.
Just as we do now, our on-site first responder — known as a Clinical Care Specialist — went to the bedside and tapped the Call9 app; from that point, Tim could see Mr. D from the laptop he was on remotely. This video explains what happened that day.
Since then, we’ve had hundreds of encounters like Mr. D’s in which we’re able to treat patients earlier into their emergency event and ultimately save their lives. We’ve also seen thousands of patients who were having acute events that required interventions we were able to provide in their nursing home bed, avoiding harmful and costly trips to the emergency department.
But Mr. D’s story has a special place in Call9 lore. His story became a huge part of our culture because it really showed us the power of the shared decision making process.
That we were able to communicate with Mr. D’s son, Charles, so he could be with his father at the hospital demonstrated the significance of working collaboratively with patients’ primary care doctors and families to do right by the patient at the moment of their emergency, and until they get better.
