Alongside our longtime partner ESRI, Infonaut attended the 2009 HIMSS conference in Chicago (April 4th-8th). Both CEO Niall Wallace and our new Director of Business Development Sandra Linklater were at HIMSS to launch our Hospital Watch Live application — discussed in detail in our January newsletter — to the US hospital IT market.

We were excited to have the opportunity to present an application so targeted and timely given the hot button issue of hospital superbugs. People are becoming aware that more lives are lost to Hospital Acquired Infections than car accidents, breast cancer and HIV combined. Over 2 million patients are affected and 100,000 people a year die from HAIs such as MRSA, at a combined medical cost far exceeding $50 billion (CDC.gov).

Hospital Watch Live (HWL) is a globally relevant solution that provides real-time information sharing and outbreak management so crucial in a hospital setting where staff needs the most relevant information possible to make important decisions to protect patients and save lives.

An animated overview of how Hospital Watch Live works can now be viewed on our website .

Sandra comes to us from our partners at the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) and has been working with Niall Wallace to advance the commercialization of our Infonaut Live suite of solutions. As Infonaut’s Director of Business Development, Sandra is responsible for driving our sales and market development initiatives and building successful channel partnerships. She is experienced and accomplished in business development, with a results-driven attitude, and a proven track record in sales strategy and the successful marketing of technical solutions: building strong client relationships and consistently exceeding sales goals.

Sandra has been an integral part of several successful start-up initiatives throughout her career, as well as leading teams at heavy-hitters like Bell Canada. Her strong leadership capabilities spearheaded the sale, development and implementation of many “first-off” large and complex business solutions.

If there’s an opportunity for collaboration you’d like to discuss with Infonaut, please contact Sandra directly at 705-987-3816, or by email at slinklater@infonaut.ca .

Niall Wallace’s “Using RFID to Prevent Hospital-Acquired Infections” is a lead story in this month’s issue of ITAC Online .

“New strains of MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), of VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci), C.difficile, even TB are becoming drug-resistant. Some are now classified as XDR: extensively drug-resistant. Many of these “superbugs” spread fastest in what should be the most hygienic and safe environments — hospitals.

Yet one of the most effective strategies in combating hospital-acquired infections (HAI) is simple contact management, tracing and understanding interactions: between patients and staff, patients and equipment, staff and equipment.

RFID technology lets us get back to these basics, only better.”

Find the full article here .

Infonaut is road tripping to Chicago. We’ll be at this year’s HIMSS conference (April 4th-8th). You can find us sharing a booth with our partner ESRI , launching our Hospital Watch Live application to the U.S.

For those attending HIMSS, catch CEO Niall Wallace at the HIMSS Blog Round Table discussing Infonaut’s newest blog .

The latest addition to our development team is Jane Yu. Jane brings over ten years of software development expertise to Infonaut, with a particular specialty in Business Intelligence. Jane’s extensive experience includes many years spent in China as a financial software developer at the China Construction Bank — one of the “big four” banks in China, and by market capitalization, the fourth largest in the world.

It’s a pleasure to welcome Jane to Infonaut as we continue to expand and refine our software solutions

Infonaut has launched a new blog! Our Hospital Infection Control blog tracks news stories around the world — bringing you consolidated coverage of the latest studies of superbugs, strategies to combat hospital-acquired infections (HAI), and more.

Find it all here . If there is something you’d like us to cover, or a new topic you’d like us to track, please contact us .

From February 17-18th, Infonaut COO Matt McPherson will be a presenter at the CODOGEOSIM workshop in Ottawa. On invitation from PHAC , Matt will be leading a discussion on Geospatial Infectious Disease Simulations: An Analysis of Users and Their Needs at the Local Level :

“The ability to model outbreaks based on actual underlying data in a geospatial environment enables local authorities to more accurately simulate the impact of outbreak events and to test and visualize the effects of intervention scenarios. A user needs analysis was conducted for a proposed geospatial infectious disease simulation tool to identify: user groups; information needs of users; user and project priorities; demand for such a product and its usefulness within the user groups; user-friendly platforms for routine use of the tool; and the different diseases and/or scenarios for which the tool would be helpful.”

You have seen it in movies such as Outbreak, in which sophisticated technology allows scientists and doctors to watch as areas turn to red, signalling they are infected by an outbreak. Now that sophisticated tool is available to everyone, from the comfort of their own homes.

At a news conference yesterday, Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health launched Infectionwatch Live, a web-based tool that will allow members of the public to monitor the presence of respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses in the area.

The maps are broken down by age and illness and cover a population of about 500,000.

The original Syndromic surveillance program began in 2004, headed by Dr. Kieran Moore, a local family physician, through Queen’s University. In the last 12 months, the site was modified after receiving a $150,000 grant from Geo Connections, a federally funded granting agency.

“I think people will find it a useful tool to understand what is going on around them and why their kids are coming home sick and being able to pre-plan that exposure,” Moore said.

“Teachers can better understand absenteeism rates if they know what kind of illnesses are in the area.”

The system is unique within North America, Moore said. “We monitor 24/7 … we are the only site that gives a daily map on a community basis.”

The idea is to give more information to communities at a neighbourhood level and allow people to make decisions based on the most up-to-date data.

Read more at the Kingston Whig-Standard.

Get Infonaut’s newest news in our January 2009 issue! It’s all online here .

Infonaut’s CEO Niall Wallace has joined the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) as co-chair of their RFID Business subcommittee, as well as a participating member on the Technology committee, and Privacy, Security and Safety subcommittee.

The RFID Business subcommittee is a panel of key industry experts who meet to share information on the latest advancements and applications in RFID technology. These conversations are especially relevant to Infonaut’s work integrating RTLS technology with our Intelligent Infection Control application.

As a co-chair of ITAC’s business group, Niall participates in discussions on the interactions and strategic partnerships between private enterprise and government.