Bo Simango is $70,000 away from deploying new technology that could improve the efficiency, security and safety of a hospital in Haiti, a developing country still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake.

Simango is the Co-Founder and CEO of SIA, a St. John’s company that is developing a Bluetooth-enabled tool that can help people in large facilities find equipment quickly. He and his team are now working on a product that will help hospitals in developing countries. Eventually, they want to move into large industry with a tool that plant managers and others can use to locate badly needed equipment.

SIA has formed a partnership with Team Broken Earth, a Canadian charity based in St. John’s that supports medicine in Haiti and other developing countries. When Broken Earth CEO Andrew Furey learned of SIA’s technology, he immediately understood how it could improve efficiency at an 85-bed hospital his group is involved with in Haiti. The parties are now working on raising money to implement the product at the hospital. 

“It’s a big pain point, particularly in cost savings,” said Simango in an interview when asked how his technology can make a difference at the hospital. “At this moment in time, they don’t have the ability to track assets for security reasons. Theft is one thing they worry about quite a lot. That’s something that’s been very, very consistent with the customer interviews we’ve had so far.”

BreatheSuite Preps for Test for its Inhaler Solution

A native of Zimbabwe, Simango is trained as an engineer and will complete his Masters in engineering at Memorial University next year. He has worked in various fields, and in the past few years has become more focused on healthcare. As he worked in the medical community, he came to understand the problems that arise when doctors, nurses and hospital staff are unable to locate key pieces of equipment within hospitals. Given his own background, Simango and SIA co-founders Bryan Melanson and Vince Payne decided to target hospitals in emerging economies.

What they’ve produced is a combination of software and hardware in which beacons with Bluetooth Low Energy are attached to key “assets” in a hospital. These beacons can send signals to a central platform, which can relay messages to employees' mobile devices so the assets appear on a digital map of the hospital. These Bluetooth beacons can communicate with each other, which means the system could be used even if internet is unavailable – a common problem following natural disasters.

While the system improves security and efficiency at hospitals, Simango stressed it also enhances patient safety. If the staff is able to locate equipment more efficiently before surgery, for example, it allows time for proper sterilization, a huge factor in ensuring safety.

The SIA team plans to add machine-learning capabilities so the system can help with such activities as scheduling to allow optimal use of hospital assets.

SIA, which is now in the Propel ICT Incite accelerator, has produced a minimum viable product and is working to finance the installation in the Haiti hospital. It needs $70,000, mainly to cover the manufacturing of the beacons, and has approached several foundations and government organizations as well as angel investors.

The plan, said Simango, is to get into the hospital in Haiti as soon as possible, use the product in a hospital environment and use that experience as validation in sales to other hospitals.