“When Binh Nguyen, then a graduate student in biomedical engineering at the University of Toronto, was working in the renal engineering department of a local hospital, he was struck by what he felt was a suboptimal setup for dialysis treatment,” writes Jordana Dixon in “Health startup helps patients become more independent,” for the Globe and Mail on April 13, 2015.

eQOL Inc. is a University of Toronto and MaRS Innovation start-up company that participated in and graduated from the University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology (UTEST) program’s second cohort.

UTEST is currently accepting applications for its fourth cohort.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Taking these complications into consideration, Mr. Nguyen envisioned an all-encompassing lateral system that would optimize the process of in-home dialysis utilizing technology, but most importantly, improving patient experience.

Along with friend and co-founder Jonathan Tomkun, Mr. Nguyen designed a suite of solutions, installed onto a personalized tablet that would simplify, manage, and assist patients in the management of their in-home care.

He decided to set up shop in Sault Ste. Marie as it’s one of the most remote locations in Canada, and some patients have to travel up to four hours to get to the nearest hospital.

“People in healthcare are very particular in terms of comparison, so you make sure you’re comparing apples to apples,” he says. “We wanted to say we’re going to do the valuations in a place like Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto so there’s no debate whether this is effective in geographical domains.”

The result is eQOL, an acronym for “enhanced quality of life,” and Mr. Nguyen’s ultimate goal for the technology.

“I worked with some patients doing home dialysis and to see these people not let their chronic condition impede their lives was very inspiring to me. What I wanted to do was build solutions that would allow more patients to follow in their footsteps.”

The complete article is available on the Globe‘s website.