Winning Hearts & Minders

Whilst recovery from a heart attack often begins in the hospital, it doesn't have to end there. However, across the world, recovery from and management of chronic conditions can be painfully slow as overburdened health professionals and the systems that support them struggle to deal with the numbers of patients coming through the hospital service.

Wouldn't it be great if the patient could self-manage their recovery through a bespoke programme that bridged the gap between enthusiastic amateur and the health professional?

Her Heart's In The Right Place

That's just what this week's Kickstart Your Business guest, physiotherapist Avril Copeland, thought as she worked with patients in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital. She turned thought into action by developing TickerFit, a cloud-based app that links with smartphone and other wearable technologies to provide health professionals with all of the information they need to support patients in their recovery.

Avril is targeting large health organisations such as the HSE in Ireland, NHS in the UK and private hospitals across the world.

TickerFit For Purpose

Shane (standing in for George) immediately warmed to this innovative application, and wondered how Avril might go about realising her ambitions to see TickerFit adopted by health organisations the world over.

I suggested that Avril needs to ensure that her best customer for TickerFit, the ideal patient who will get the most value from her innovation, doesn't get lost in worldwide web of technology investor who can quickly lose sight of the heart of the matter when it comes to building value in a business.

As it happens, Avril's dad is the legendary Dublin tailor, Louis Copeland, and Avril would do well to reflect his focus on the customer, that same focus that prompted her to set up the business in the first place.

Set Our Hearts Beating Faster

What can Avril do to win hearts and minders the world over?

Listen back to Avril on Kickstart Your Business (with thanks to Energia), and tell us what you think? We'd love to hear from you.

Kickstart Your Business is broadcast on The Right Hook on Newstalk every Thursday around 6.25pm, and is available for playback immediately afterwards at Newstalk. com.