Pilbara Challenge
The Government of Western Australia has issued a global challenge for a world-leading medical research and innovation solution to resolve a pressing problem of health service delivery in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
What is the Challenge?
The Government of Western Australia has issued a global challenge for a world-leading medical research and innovation solution to resolve a pressing problem of health service delivery in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
10 finalists have progressed to the proof-of-concept stage, where they will have 12 months to deliver their solution on the ground in the Pilbara. Lions Outback Vision (LOV) is one of the finalists.
The best solution will take home the $5 million prize supported by the Future Health Research and Innovation Fund, Rio Tinto and BHP.
What is the Warlu AI project?
Lions Outback Vision’s solution to the Challenge is an innovative model of care which enables on country chronic disease care. Our sprinter van will travel throughout the Pilbara delivering a diabetes focused screening services integrated with existing primary health care and connecting to specialist management.
CHALLENGE VIDEO
Chronic Disease Care on Country: Outreach Screening Incorporating Artificial Intelligence with Multidisciplinary Specialist Management.
Diabetic Retinopathy Screening
Eye health is where our expertise lies. We will conduct screening for diabetic retinopathy using a retinal camera with AI integration enabling point of care diagnosis. We will provide on the spot telehealth consults (via Starlink) with an Ophthalmologist for anyone with a positive diagnosis. This will be a vast improvement on the current model of care for DR screening which involves screening, photos being sent to a specialist for diagnosis, then specialist consults to follow. The new proposed model of care will replace these multiple occasions of service with just one and has the capacity to reach people living in areas where screening services are not accessible.
Diabetes Monitoring and Education
LOV has developed a culturally appropriate educational video about diabetic retinopathy which will be used. This resource has been validated and demonstrated to improve patient understanding and awareness of diabetic complications. The resources are available in both English and the most commonly spoken Indigenous language in the region (Martu Wangka).
Our project intends to use the existing “My Health Record” platform as well as closely collaborating with primary care services in the region for up to date screening status and results.
Specialist treatment in community
On-call specialist services via for Ophthalmology. In addition, patients will be offered telehealth with other specialists as well via the community primary care GP e.g. cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology (all part of the investigator team in this project). This will aid local primary health service providers in providing ongoing care for their patients in a collaborative fashion and link in visiting specialist services to ensure continuity of care.
An Australian first as part of Warlu AI has been to deploy a novel laser that is a fraction of the weight of other comparable treatment devices – the Norlase Lion. This enables follow-up on screening with treatment on country, where the specialist flies in to provide laser treatment for diabetic retinopathy with the head-mounted ultra lightweight laser.
CHALLENGE Timeline
2023
Van tour of the Pilbara from Oct-Dec:
- Stakeholder engagement and community consultation
- Plan logistics for Van parking in each town and community
- Understand local health services for eye health and primary care
- Provide basic retinal screening with Ophthalmologist review for diagnosis
- Trial of telehealth support from Ophthalmologist
- Planning and scheduling for 2024 in consultation with stakeholders
2024
Full service operational with:
- Retinal screening with AI diagnostics
- POC testing available if required
- Oncall telehealth with Ophthalmologist
Stakeholder and community engagement
The aim of this project is To build on and integrate with already existing services in regional and remote locations.
We are currently undertaking extensive stakeholder and community engagement to understand what existing services are available in each town and community so that we can ensure we are complimenting rather than duplicating services.
We need your help please to find the right people to speak to, so we can begin discussions on how our service might fit with existing services and how we can collaborate to ensure the best outcomes for people living in regional and remote areas.
We also need help to identify the most appropriate place to park our van in each town and community, so that we can best engage with the community and get people to come and see us.
GEt in touch
Emma Douglas
Research Coordinator
08 6382 0532
emma.douglas@lei.org.au
Alex Ramirez
Diabetic Screener/Van Operator
0487 680 676
alex.ramirez@lei.org.au
Angus Turner
Director
angus.turner@gmail.com
follow LOV Facebook page for updates on when our sprinter van is in your community