Texting for Health: New $25K Grant will Help Boston-Area Students Get Healthy Through the use of Mobile Technology

Posted by erik devaney

Most doctors, trainers and nutritionists wouldn’t consider text messaging to be a tool that can help students lead healthier lifestyles. But now, thanks to a $25,000 Verizon Foundation grant, text messages will soon be promoting proper nutrition and fitness for students in the Boston area.

The Verizon Foundation recently awarded the grant to Partners Healthcare Center for Connected Health. The Boston-based center’s goal is to develop innovative health care solutions that take place outside of hospitals and other traditional medical settings. More specifically, the Center for Connected Health focuses on using online, mobile and remote-monitoring technologies in order to improve patient care.

Using the $25,000 grant, the center will create a text-messaging program for Boston-area students between the ages of 11 and 17. Students who take part in the program will receive words of encouragement; fitness and nutrition tips; and personalized feedback based on pre-determined health goals, all via text messaging.

Students who participate in the program will also receive wireless pedometers (instruments that record the number of steps a person takes) so that they can keep track of the distances they cover and the amount of time they spend being active.

“The Center for Connected Health is creating effective, new solutions and innovative interventions to deliver quality patient care outside of the traditional medical setting,” said the Center for Connected Health’s associated director, Joseph Ternullo. “We are pleased that Verizon is partnering with us to help expand the reach of technology solutions to help children make healthy lifestyle choices.”

Over the past four years – with this recent grant included – Verizon has committed nearly $150,000 to Center for Connected Health programs.

“The Verizon Foundation invests in projects that provide technology that helps people access information on critical health issues,” said Verizon’s vice president of external affairs for New England, Peter Bowman. “We also support creative technology solutions that enable health care providers to increase their efficiency, effectiveness and reach. We appreciate the Center for Connected Health for its leadership in developing innovative, technology-driven health care solutions.”

The Verizon Foundation presented the $25,000 grant to the Center for Connected Health at the 2011 Connected Health Symposium, which brought together more than 1,200 professionals in the field of health technology. The center’s new student text-messaging program will make text messages available in both English and Spanish.

 

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