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Olympic Medalist Hayley Wickenheiser has joined forces with a Kelowna Tech company.
The hockey player travelled to Kelowna on Tuesday morning to announce her partnership with QHR Technologies. The healthcare technology company is the leading electronic medical provider in the country.
Mike Checkley, CEO of QHR, wanted to get the word out about the local company, and thought Wickenheiser would be the perfect fit for a spokesperson.
“We were looking for a way to get our story out there. The story of a growing Canadian tech company with a focus on healthcare technology and our vision is that all of the doctors all across Canada should keep their medical records in a secure electronic medical system,” explained Checkley.
“We thought Hayley was a great choice to help us tell that story, as a spokesperson for us. Not only because of her interest in healthcare but because of her experience with taking a leadership role within women’s hockey, and in her personal and work life.”
Currently finishing her Master’s in Medical Sciences Wickenheiser thought it was the perfect time to become the spokesperson.
“Medicine is something that I’m super passionate about. When it came to discussing electronic medical records I definitely am not an expert in the area but a lot of things that [Mike Checkley] and I and the folks here have talked about, I’ve seen it in the E.R. or experienced that as a patient.”
Recently the five-time medalist had navicular reconstruction surgery of her foot, which made her very aware of how the medical industry has not gone digital, unlike many other industries.
Wickenheiser lives in Calgary during the hockey season, but had her surgery in Toronto. While getting imaging and CT scans done in the western city, she found out how hard it was to keep her Toronto doctor in the loop.
“Initially I just thought he would be able to pull them up on his system in Toronto, but that is not the case. I was literally having to mail these disks to him every couple of months. It was a pain in the butt process.”
QHR Technologies doesn’t want people to have to do that anymore.
The company’s goal is for doctors and patients to have access electronically to medical records, as well as there being a virtual care platform for people. QHR Technologies has created two products to help with that. The first one is called AccuroEMR, which is electronic medical records for doctors to use, that way no matter what doctor someone sees, they’re able to pull up the patients’ medical record.
The second product is called Medeo Virtual Care, which is the virtual care platform for patients.
Wickenheiser, who lives in the Vernon area during the off season spoke to the company’s team during a staff meeting, saying she was excited to join the team and help the company become better known.
“It’s a product I really believe in and it’s the way medicine is going. There is a lot of resistance to change within the industry, which is like anything in life. Change is really hard and maybe I can help push people to say it’s not as scary as you might think it is.”
Her new role will include inspiring and motivating the team, and helping push the Kelowna business to become better known, whether that be doing conferences, or visiting bigger cities in the country to talk about QHR Technologies.
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