Katy Ashe is the co-founder of Noora Health, a tech NGO in India. When she visited the hospitals of Bangalore as a graduate student, she saw a sea of people sitting around in the hallways. Who were they? They were family members of the patients—and they were scared, bored, and lacked basic health information. Many slept outside the hospitals, waiting for days. They had nothing to do but wait. The incredible waste of time was tragic. But Katy and her cofounders saw opportunity amidst the tragedy. The cofounders asked themselves, what if these people sitting around in the hallways spent those hours learning about health, physical therapy, and disease prevention? After all, some people didn't even know what a pulse was, and at least 40% of the patients had diabetes. Noora Health began by showing one health video that they filmed in a parking lot. To the surprise of the founders, patients and their families loved the video. They wanted more. But there was a problem: the founders had no money. Yet something inside Katy kept saying, “We need to go all in and become an organization and throw our lives into this.”  For months, Katy lived in garages, attics and tents to make ends meet. She worked part time bartending and babysitting while she built up Noora Health with her professional soulmate, Edith. The founders grew the nonprofit organization and created countless health workshops. Now Noora Health operates in 16 cities in India. They have provided training to 90,000 people and impact studies have shown a 36% reduction in post-surgical complications. Fast Company rated Noora Health as one of the most innovative companies in 2016. They've been recognized by Y-Combinator, Echoing Green, and Ashoka. Katy Ashe was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for social entrepreneurship. Katy Ashe's Reading List  Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh Any book written by Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh  Katy Ashe Show Notes Katy Ashe did an undergraduate thesis project in the Amazon rainforest in Peru She accidentally began studying environmental contamination for mercury in the illegal gold mining industry Noora Health started out as a class project for a at Stanford’s School of Design They utilized the Human Centered Design Practice for their project to find out what was happening in the hospitals of India Katy Ashe discovered that the patients and their family members were not ready to go home after they were treated due to uncertainty In India, many family members accompany a patient to the hospital. They wait and camp out outside the hospital for days Communication between patients, family members, and medical personnel was lacking Medical personnel rarely explain to the patients and family members follow up procedures Katy Ashe and her team decided to train and educate the family members who were waiting around and bored 40% of the patients going to the hospital had been diagnosed with diabetes; ma

49: Providing health training to 90,000 people in the hospitals of India, with Katy Ashe

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