The pandemic we are experiencing is evolving at high speed and an impressive amount of information is currently circulating on the subject.
It’s in response to these challenges that Dr Elie Kassouf, hematologist and medical oncologist in Joliette, Quebec, decided to launch How I treat COVID‑19, an independent platform focused on treating COVID-19. The goal: to enlighten professionals, patients and the general public by presenting information verified by health experts from across the country.
Bladder Cancer Canada is proud to join Dr. Kassouf’s efforts and invites you to read the press release published on May 27 (see below) and visit the platform.
Unprecedented mobilization of health professionals
MONTREAL, May 27, 2020 – The pandemic we are experiencing is evolving at high speed and an impressive amount of information is currently circulating on the subject. It is in response to these challenges that Dr Elie Kassouf, hematologist and medical oncologist in Joliette, decided to launch How I treat COVID‑19. an independent platform focused on COVID-19. The goal: to enlighten professionals, patients and the general public by presenting information verified by health experts from across the country.
An independent platform to fight against disinformation
From the start of the crisis, Dr Kassouf wanted to contribute to the collective effort and use his expertise to inform vulnerable patients who are suffering the aftermath of the pandemic; health professionals who have to deal with a new reality; and also the general public who must deal with an impressive amount of information on COVID-19. He, therefore, had the idea of creating a 100% independent platform entirely dedicated to the disease.
“How I Treat COVID-19 collects international information on the coronavirus pandemic, reassesses its correlation with previous data, and summarizes the main conclusions for clinicians. The platform is mainly dedicated to the impact of the pandemic on the treatment of chronic diseases, the most widespread and deadly of which is cancer. Our goal is to reach all patients with chronic illnesses suffering at home for fear of going to the emergency room, troubled by their symptoms and worried about their future,” explains Dr Elie Kassouf, hematologist-oncologist and founder of How I treat COVID-19.
An extraordinary collaboration of health experts from across the country
How I treat COVID-19 has resulted in an extraordinary mobilization of health professionals in Quebec and Canada. More than 45 doctors, medical residents and students from different universities across the country collaborate, on a voluntary basis, to the daily update of the platform with the common desire to offer the tools necessary to understand and fight this pandemic, and also to provide the public with accurate and verified COVID-19 information.
The website offers resources including a forum, a “news” section with the most recent articles, and webinars intended for health professionals and for patients with chronic diseases.
“Our webinars will bring together experts from different sectors as well as patients with chronic diseases whose medical care has been significantly affected by COVID-19. These sessions will include a discussion on the treatment of each disease before and during the pandemic, patient testimonials and a live question and answer session. Each webinar will help us develop the new medical model adapted to live or survive the time of a pandemic, ” adds Dr Elie Kassouf.
Indeed, all the webinars will be part of an integrated, ongoing strategy to help create a new model adapted to the current reality and optimized to survive all possible scenarios. With that in mind, the webinars will be designed to first identify the challenges in specific areas, inform all parties concerned and produce a synthesized report outlining the learnings from each discussion; this will then be used to plan other activities with medical associations and decision makers.
Since its inception, the number of partners collaborating on this initiative has increased daily. These include the European School of Oncology (ESO), the Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists (CAMO) and the Association des médecins hématologues et oncologues du Québec (AMHOQ); in addition, over 14 patient support groups across Canada and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) are also supporting the project.
How I treat COVID-19 platform in brief
- Information verified and shared in real time to follow the evolution of COVID-19.
- A resource updated daily by 45 collaborators from the health sector to facilitate the sharing of information and the implementation of solutions.
- An independent and free platform available online.
- More than twenty webinars available in the coming weeks for health professionals, the general public and patients suffering from chronic diseases, starting with cancer.
- A tool to ensure
continuity in the treatment of chronic diseases, despite current challenges:
- Identify the problems
- Inform the general population and patients
- Propose solutions and help in the development of a new medical model
SOURCE How I Treat COVID-19
