e-CYREN Blog

Mar 30

Written by:
3/30/2010 11:20 AM 

A Special Test of Utility in Global Healthcare

The e-CYREN product, created by CYJ Enterprises, LLC is currently being implemented in a clinical setting in Chandigarh, India, at the Society of Rehabilitation for the Mentally Challenged (SOREM). The objective is to determine the response and usage of the e-CYREN system by parents with special needs children, with a specific focus on autism. This project came about based on a collaborative set of relationships between principals of several organizations mentioned below. From the e-CYREN corporate strategy perspective, having made claims that the general communication tool has numerous applications in healthcare, this is an opportunity for a robust demonstration of such functionality in an emerging market, targeting a growing special needs population that is comparable in prevalence to that in the U.S., but for which fewer solutions to ease family burdens exist. This setting was therefore chosen because it will yield valuable and pure data on the basic functionality of e-CYREN and a test of the system in a special needs group with great visibility.



The autism rate in India is estimated at 1 in 500 children, not far from the significant and growing prevalence that has been a topic of intense press coverage in the United States, particularly considering the widely acknowledged under-diagnosis in India, and a lack of standardized diagnosis and therapy. Although there is no “cure” for autism, it has become clear that earlier diagnosis leads to better outcomes, via therapy which is educationally based. The potentially important role of e-CYREN has emerged from the intentional assembly by Ms. Johnson and her board of interdisciplinary expertise and activity in the company, and this case serves as an excellent case study of that advance planning. Three successful and innovative organizations have come together to execute this project.

• Global Autism Project. A successful Non-Profit Organization based in New York, the Global Autism Project (GAP) previously established a Center of Excellence in Ghana, where sustainable and ultimately independent export of standardized diagnosis and therapy is accomplished. GAP’s next project is in Chandigarh, and the organization will be training the staff/faculty of SOREM on diagnosis and BCBA-based therapies and will then extend their services to other institutes in North India.
• Home Health Mobility, Inc. Home Health Mobility, Inc., (HHM) is a New York based healthcare information technology company utilizing mobile phone based technologies to address pressing healthcare needs. India is a natural strategic fit for an e-CYREN/HHM collaboration because of high mobile penetration and low messaging cost. Principals of HHM and its holding company, The Sapphire Group LLC, have previously implemented technology solutions for GAP’s international projects, and played an additional role in Chandigarh by arranging for the relationship between GAP and SOREM, allowing GAP to move past infrastructure issues and get to the care of its target population.
• e-CYREN’s critical role. With GAP and HHM preparing to establish GAP’s next center of excellence in a setting with substantial infrastructure on the ground, it was a perfect opportunity to bring e-CYREN into the picture as the glue holding the technological pieces together as well as providing an interface between families and technologies or content delivered thereby. The formal program commences in the first week of May, 2010, and parents will be sent weekly/biweekly updates on the development of their child based on the newly standardized assessment done by the teachers after GAP training. They will also receive the regular alert features that are the core of e-CYREN’s functionality, such that the company’s technology will be tested for resilience in a new environment with specific exploration of the healthcare and mobility aspects.

Personnel. The importance of this project is reflected in direct involvement of the principals of all three organizations above, along with sufficient support staff. Specifically, for this dual export of diagnosis and therapy for autism, and technology/mobility/communication tools, the senior-most members of each entity are involved. In addition to Carole Y. Johnson, CEO of CYJ Enterprises, LLC who is collaborating with HHM to implement the system, Molly Ola Pinney is the founder of the Global Autism Project and will take a hands-on role in the clinical setting as she did in Ghana, Edward Cape is Chairman of The Sapphire Group and HHM and serves on the boards of e-CYREN and GAP, and Avikal Malik is an officer of The Sapphire Group, Executive Vice President of Business Development at HHM, and a native of Chandigarh who made the initial connection between GAP and SOREM. Future expansion in this rapidly growing, accessible, and well educated Indian market involves offering of services to other special needs healthcare populations such as those with Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as more traditional e-CYREN markets with projects planned for schools, public health alerts, airports, and meteorological departments. CYJ Enterprises is a Detroit, Michigan based entrepreneurial company which is collaborating with Sapphire on this and other projects, among them playing a role in the economic re-development of Detroit.