Patients from rural areas getting quick and efficient health service. Children in communities without electricity learning how to write the alphabet through tablets. College students learning how to prepare for disasters. Lolos and Lolas knowing how to use their mobile phone to access the internet.
For helping improve the daily lives of these Filipinos through its corporate social responsibility programs, Smart Communications received several awards, including two top citations, at the 53rd Anvil Awards. Organized annually by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, the Anvil Awards is considered the Oscars of public relations in the country.
In a ceremony held recently in Taguig City, Smart won the Grand Prix Award for having the highest number of Gold Anvils this year. The company also got the Grand Anvil recognition for Shine OS+ (Secured Health Information Network and Exchange), an electronic medical record system that enables health facilities to provide faster and better service to their patients. The Grand Anvil is given to the most outstanding PR program of the year.
A few years ago, workers in rural health units had to manually file and search for patient records. The practice was time-consuming, especially for patients who had to wait for medical files to be retrieved before they could consult with a doctor. Patient records were also at the risk of damage by rodents and the weather.
Today, a number of health facilities can retrieve patient files with just a few clicks on a laptop. Workers can now serve more patients, refer them electronically to better-equipped health facilities, send SMS reminders for appointments and medication and submit relevant patient information to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. for faster processing of claims and health statistics.
These are made possible by Shine OS+ which is being run by Smart and Ateneo Java Wireless Competency Center.
An open system, Shine OS+ also allows developers to create plugins addressing the various needs of health workers. Among the plugins created are a system that automates the sending of reminder SMS to diabetes patients.
Dr. Clemencia Bondoc from the Zarraga Rural Health Unit in Iloilo, a Shine user since 2011, said, “We owe the improvement in the public health system to technology. The breakthrough in EMR made our workload lighter and helped address the lack in manpower. We’ve been using this Smart innovation for more than five years. With a single click of a button, the patient’s record is already there so we get to serve more patients, and they go home satisfied with the services.”
Meanwhile, other Smart CSR programs each won a Gold Anvil. Learning as One Nation is an effort to help improve the Department of Education’s Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education program in General Santos and Sarangani. Smart is helping develop an app that teaches Arabic language and values, while promoting independent learning among Alive students through the Dynamic Learning Program created by Ramon Magsaysay Awardees Dr. Christopher Bernido and Dr. Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido.
School-in-a-Bag is a learning package donated to public schools in remote areas without electricity. The donation includes a solar panel, mobile devices, digital educational content, teacher training, and monitoring.
TNT Tropang Ready Caravan inculcates disaster preparedness among college students and encourages them to promote preparedness in their respective communities
Other CSR programs won a Silver Anvil each, including Doon Po Sa Amin Storytelling Caravan which promotes local storytelling for Filipino children; Smart Millenniors which engages the youth to guide elders on the use of mobile devices and the internet; Smart TechnoCart, a donation package similar to the School-in-a-Bag that targets more urban communities and contains more devices; and Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program Awards which encourages students to create innovations solving real problems.
Smart Communities Facebook page also won a Silver Anvil.