KSTP: Local students help launch pilot program to keep seniors safe during flu season

More secure and viable health care is presently accessible from your home thanks to the work of a group of high school students. UnitedHealth Group joined forces with four Breck School robotic team individuals to assist in developing the Well At Home kit. Offered to UnitedHealth Group’s most vulnerable clients, this pilot program helps them stay as healthy or get better from an illness without leaving their home — especially important right now during flu season in the midst of a pandemic. So far 883 kits have been sent in Minnesota, and most of those involved are older than 65 — that demographic is at a much high-risk because of the flu season falling in the midst of a pandemic. The main goal behind this is to get this medicine or test to the patient as quickly as possible. A major benefit is for the patient not needing to leave their home. “I think we’re going to realize how much healthcare we can automate,” said Dr. Deneen Vojta, executive vice president of research and development at UnitedHealth Group. “This is an example of how many speed bumps that are in the health care systems that are really there unnecessarily,” Vojta added. “We need to start taking them down, ripping them out.” Read more on KSTP.