The National Clearinghouse for Families and Youth, a resource of the Family and Youth Services Bureau, recently profiled HealthShack in its ongoing “Bright Idea” series featuring innovative programs and tools from around the country that support youth.   In the article, Cynthia Solomon, founder of FollowMe and developer of HealthShack, and Barbara Sorensen, CEO of AltruIT, talk about their partnership and about the value of youth involvement in designing, testing and marketing the personal health record.

For more information on HealthShack, visit www.healthshack.info or contact us.

AltruIT was among the sponsors of the HIE Summit that took place November 1-2 in Sacramento.  The Summit brought together stakeholders working towards a common vision of health information exchange for California’s patients and providers.   Cynthia Solomon – founder of FollowMe and developer of HealthShack™ – was recognized at the opening session with CalOHII’s Spirit of Excellence Award for her pioneering efforts in helping vulnerable populations have access to their medical information.   Click here for highlights from the Summit.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 12, 2012

(SAN FRANCISCO) – Most young people’s parents keep track of their medical records and health history, helping provide their children with consistent and safe medical care over time. Foster youth often do not share in this benefit. Because foster youth tend to live in many places, attend many schools and see many different doctors over time, keeping track of their own personal health information can be difficult or even impossible. Some pitfalls of incomplete medical records include foster youth receiving repeated immunizations, having allergic reactions to medications, and being given unnecessary medical tests.

Technology companies AltruIT and FollowMe are teaming up to offer an innovative product called HealthShack. HealthShack is a personal health record system that allows young people to electronically upload and store their personal and medical information in one place. HealthShack was created with the help of FollowMe by adapting the technology company’s existing personal health record software to make it relevant for young adults in foster care or facing homelessness.  Launched as a pilot in 2009, HealthShack was created through a partnership of youth, physicians, community organizations and universities.

“HealthShack offers foster youth the opportunity, with our support, to engage in creating and managing their own medical and personal electronic record,” states Vernon Brown, CEO of Aspiranet, an agency that provides foster care and adoption services across California.  “A product like HealthShack is particularly important for foster youth transitioning out of the foster care system into adulthood.  In today’s world, you need to be able to control and have access to your own ‘data’.  HealthShack does that in a manner not presently available to young people in foster care.  We are excited to be working with AltruIT and FollowMe in implementing HealthShack into our practice at Aspiranet.”

Aspiranet will be one of the first large clients to implement HealthShack under the direction of AltruIT, FollowMe, and Cynthia Solomon, HealthShack’s founder. Aspiranet will use the product for approximately 800 foster youth who are transitioning out of foster care and into a “transitional care” program, which helps youth build a bridge out of foster care and into the world of work. Aspiranet will also use HealthShack with other populations it serves, including clients in their foster care and support services programs. One benefit of this implementation is that Aspiranet will evaluate the use experience and provide feedback to enhance the HealthShack product.

HealthShack will also be offered to government and human service agencies, as well as non-profits, to reach a wider audience of children and youth in foster care in California, and ultimately to the population across the United States. AltruIT plans to build out HealthShack’s capabilities to make the product available on mobile devices and provide electronic links to caregivers, vendors and other stakeholders in the foster care system. Aside from utilizing HealthShack to benefit foster youth on a national level, the IT company sets its sights on expanding the program beyond health care.

“Ultimately, HealthShack will serve as a holistic ‘electronic care record,’” explains Barbara Sorensen, CEO of AltruIT. “It will extend beyond health to act as a repository for information related to education, employment, housing and all critical elements of self-reliance that contribute to a young adult’s ability to lead a successful life once they leave the foster care system.”

For more information about HealthShack, visit www.AltruIT.com

About AltruIT
AltruIT is a social enterprise providing IT services and solutions to nonprofit organizations and government agencies in the Human Services sector. AltruIT has experience and deep expertise in the business processes, systems and constituents that make up the complex ecosystem that is Health & Human Services.  AltruIT’s mission is to support the important work of case management by providing tools that help social workers spend more time with their clients and less time on paperwork. Along with FollowMe, AltruIT’s partners include Citrix, Google, Microsoft, Mobile Epiphany, Motorola and Salesforce. AltruIT was founded in 2003 and today is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aspiranet, a network that supports foster children, siblings, families and the community with 35 core programs statewide. For more information, please visit www.AltruIT.com.

About FollowMe
FollowMe is a pioneer in electronic personal health records (PHRs). Founded in 2000, the FollowMe consumer health platform solution was engineered with tools to empower both patients and clinicians with a focus on organizations serving vulnerable populations such as foster youth and those with chronic health issues.

About Aspiranet
Aspiranet, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity, supports foster children, siblings, families, and the community with 35 core programs offering specialized services through 45 locations within California.

Founded 35 years ago as a six-bed group home for young boys in Moss Beach, California, Aspiranet is one of the most diverse nonprofit social service agencies in the state. With a statewide network of innovative services, Aspiranet has served over 15,000 families and children since its founding.

Aspiranet’s vision of bringing families together and helping foster children, siblings, and parents thrive is realized through services in the following areas: Adoption and Foster Care, Early Prevention for At-Risk Families, Education and Afterschool, Pregnant and New Mothers, Emotional and Behavioral Health, Encore Careers, Autism and Special Needs.  For more information, please visit www.aspiranet.org.

The largest IT Consulting firms list is comprised of 14 companies that provide Information Technology solutions to the greater San Fernando Valley. The firms are ranked by 2010 revenue and provide Information Technology services to a client base of small, medium and large companies.

AltruIT ranked #10 in The List with their IT consulting and application development services to the not-for-profit community. Click here to see the full list or visit the San Fernando Valley Business Journal online.

“The Google Apps Reseller program will help us provide Google Apps to small- and mid-sized businesses, non-profit agencies and local government,” said AltruIT CEO Miles Dapsauski.  “Google Apps for Business offers a broad set of powerful APIs that enable us to tailor the Google Apps suite to meet the needs of our customers and non-profit partners

Google Apps brings simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools to organizations of any size – all hosted by Google to streamline setup, minimize maintenance, and reduce IT costs.  With Gmail (including Google email security, powered by Postini), Google Calendar, and integrated IM, users can stay connected and work together with ease. And, using Google Docs and Google Sites, which include word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and website creation tools, they can share files and collaborate in real-time, keeping versions organized and available wherever and whenever users work.

The Google Apps Reseller program includes resellers, consultants and independent software vendors that sell, service and customize Google Apps for Business for their customers. AltruIT received training, support and deployment services from Google, as well as access to APIs for integrating Google Apps into their customers’ business operations. AltruIT is able to retain a close relationship with their customers in order to provide additional service and support. The businesses receiving Google Apps will benefit from the additional attention to their specific needs. To learn more about the Google Apps Reseller program, go to www.google.com/a.

“We are excited about our partnership with salesforce.com,” said AltruIT CEO Miles Dapsauski.”This partnership is the key to our next phase of growth.”

About the Force.com Platform and AppExchange

Force.com is the only proven enterprise platform for building and running business applications in the cloud. The Force.com platform powers the Salesforce CRM applications (http://www.salesforce.com/), more than 1,100 ISV partner applications like those from CA Technologies, FinancialForce.com and Fujitsu, and 200,000 custom applications used by salesforce.com’s 97,700 customers such as Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE and Sprint Nextel. Force.com also enables developers to make any enterprise app social by leveraging the social collaboration components including profiles, status updates, and real-time feeds available with Chatter.

Applications built on the Force.com platform can be easily distributed to the entire cloud computing community through the salesforce.com AppExchange marketplace http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/.