12 de August de 2022
A pioneer, AMAGGI farm offers telemedicine for rural workers
A pioneer, AMAGGI farm offers telemedicine for rural workers
Long distances that often make it difficult for field workers to access medical services are being overcome with the help of connectivity. Located in the northeast region of Mato Grosso, AMAGGI’s Tanguro Farm, will offer to over 700 people, 24 hours a day, the possibility of being attended by a general practitioner or pediatrician through the Immediate Online Service Center (CAIO), a station equipped by UNIMED with measurement instruments and direct contact with professionals on duty.
Inaugurated this Wednesday (29) next to the outpatient clinic at the Tanguro Farm, CAIO consists of a telemedicine cabin prepared for the user to receive remote emergency medical care as close as possible to individual face-to-face care. The application of this technology to assist workers on farms in Brazil is an unprecedented experience.
The telemedicine cabin was installed next to the outpatient clinic at Fazenda Tanguro, in Mato Grosso. Available 24 hours a day, the cabin is air-conditioned and, in addition to measuring equipment, has a seat for the user to be attended by a general practitioner or paediatrician. More than 700 people from the unit will be able to access the service.
Upon entering the CAIO station, the users are guided by voice command to identify themselves using a tablet to initiate self-service. First, with a face reader, the user has their body temperature checked; then, the user steps on the Safety bioimpedance scale to measure weight, height, blood pressure, heart rate and body fat level; then, in a totem, the user visualizes the results of the measurements and the approach by a medical professional on duty begins, who conducts the consultation via videoconference with the patient’s chart filled in by the information collected just before.
“The CAIO cabin allows for emergency and remote medical care, by digital means, with the evaluation of some clinical parameters (such as weight, pressure, pulse, temperature) and a clinical interview. This allows an initial evaluation by a doctor, for an initial diagnosis and guidance, which can be resolved from this service or with a referral to face-to-face care. In the future, it will certainly be possible to have a much broader access, consultations with specialists and some tests that can be carried out at a distance thanks to technological innovation”, explains physician Luiz Clemente, responsible for the Occupational Health area at AMAGGI.
Pilot Project
The installation of CAIO for employees and their families at the Tanguro Farm consists of a pilot project by AMAGGI in partnership with Unimed Rondonópolis, with the objective of providing agile medical care to a total of 729 people who work and live in the unit – far from urban centers, between the Mato Grosso municipalities of Canarana and Querência.
“AMAGGI is permanently searching for solutions aimed at the well-being of its employees and their families. To this end, we decided to continue with the great partnership we have with Unimed Rondonópolis and implement this technological resource – at first, on the Tanguro farm, as a pilot unit, and then the idea is to multiply this same model to other locations, where there is also difficulty in accessing medical care”, says Nereu Bavaresco, People and Management Director at AMAGGI.
For Fernando Wallau, Manager at the Tanguro Farm, the installation of the telemedicine cabin is in line with the appreciation of the well-being of the unit’s employees and residents. “It is a cutting-edge technology tool, very much in line with what we aim for, the well-being of our employees. We are more than 900 km away from Cuiabá, and today we have over 500 employees at this time of peak harvest. This cabin will be able to serve more than 700 people, including employees and family members, so we are very positive about it. The main thing for us is to monitor how the team is evolving, maintaining its fluency and well-being on a daily basis, as well as working with accident prevention”, he adds.
Also present at the inauguration of CAIO at the Tanguro Farm this Wednesday, the CEO of Unimed Rondonópolis, Ricardo Gonzales, explains that the regulation of telemedicine in Brazil is recent, and that the implementation of services of this nature is a pioneering experience in an attempt to shorten the distance between field workers and medical care. Throughout the experience, results and data will be collected to improve services and make technology evolve, with a view to increasing the range of services available online. “We are in a pilot project, and AMAGGI agreed to participate in this experience, bringing telemedicine to underserved areas, where people really need it, where the employee needs it”, he concludes.
