robert fisher, m.d. william reincken, bs ronald e. laporte, ph.d. jim peake, m.d

Robert Fisher, M.D. William Reincken, BSRonald E. LaPorte, Ph.D.Jim Peake, M.D.Richard Carmona, M.D.Jay Sanders, M.D.Ronald Poropatich, M.D.Francois Sauer, M.D.Faina Linkov, Ph.D + 1,600 members of VA, others interested

in mVET

Richard Carmona, M.D.Former US Surgeon General

Jim Peake, M.D.Former Surgeon General ArmyFormer President of Project HopeFormer Director VA

Supercourse• 50,000 member Network, 174 countries• 5140 PowerPoint lectures on Global health and prevention• 77 lectures from Nobel Prize winners, 300 from IOM/NAS• Produced a 10 fold increase in Global health training• H1N1 lecture taught 50 million• Just in time lectures• 31 different languages, 400 lectures in Russian, 300 in Chinese, etc.•Mobile Global Health

www.pitt.edu/~super1/

mVET

Definition: The application of Mobile Technology to reduce mortality in Homeless Vets

• Frequency of Veterans in US = 9%

• Frequency of Veterans in Homeless = 20%

Life Expectancy United States

80.6 78.172.6

45

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Hispanic White Black Homeless

2002-2012

• 6138 Soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan

• 25,000 Homeless vets died on the streets of NY, Washington, LA, etc.

Preventable causes of death

• Injuries

• Drug overdose

• CHD

• Exposure

• Murder/Suicide

mVET Mission

• To Reduce homeless VA mortality by 50%

Differences in approaches

• VA = Finding shelter for homeless vet

• mVET= Reducing mortality in half

Find shelter is not the same as reducing mortality

Universal Mobile Access for Home Vets

Give every homeless vet a cell phone

Home

mVET• Provide free cell phone to all

homeless vets • Use existing call centers from the VA

and EMS as life lines• Develop life line apps• 911 for emergencies and location

Problem in next 5 years

• 1 million returning from Iraq and Afghanistan

• 50,000 becoming homeless

• Tripling number of women and their children homeless

• Major increase in Native Americans on the streets

Women Veterans and their children

• In 5 years 3 times more women Vets and children on street

• Average age of death = 41, 40 years less then than other women American

• Estimated 1.5 million homeless children, not known how many are children of Veterans

• 20% chance of being raped each year• On streets primarily because of abusive

relations

What if we do not try to stop the premature mortality

• Surge to ~180,000 homeless vets in 5 years

• 25,000 homeless vets will die, with women especially vulnerable

• Probably ½ of these death can be prevented

180,000 Homeless Vets by

2017

+ 250 Minutesper Month

Steps

1. Build mVET network

2. Obtain 180,000 telephone

3. Establish VA distribution system

4. Develop Point of Contact

5. Coordinate, Monitor Mortality and Evaluate

Cost to VA

1. Build mVET network 1,500 Members cost to VA = $0.00

2. Obtain 180,000 telephone $50 x 180,000 = $9,000,000, cost to VA = $0.00

3. Establish VA distribution system through exisiting homeless coordinators cost to VA = $0.00?

4. Develop Point of Contact with existing call centers cost to VA = $0.00 (?)

5. Coordinate, Monitor Mortality and Evaluate, cost to VA = $1,000,000/yr

180,000 Homeless Vets in 5 year

• 25,000 deaths in 5 years

• 12,500 preventable deaths

• Additional cost to VA, $5,000,000 in 5 years

• Cost to VA per life saved = $500