Many people across the US struggle to access the health care services they need. These barriers arise from a myriad of reasons, including insurance costs, transportation, language barriers, and many more. In Oregon, we see this throughout the state, particularly in rural areas where clinics and hospitals are available. However, Chrys Chan and Dao Nguyen are looking to change this through Klamath Angel Mobile Health (KAMH).
Chrys Chan and Dao Nguyen graduated from the Oregon Institute of Technology in 2022 with degrees in Information Technology. During their undergraduate years, Professor Lindy Stewart shared with her students the struggle of people living in rural areas in Klamath County who faced challenges getting appointments at their nearest clinics.
The duo was intrigued by this idea and decided to pursue it as their senior project. However, with the guidance of Professor Stewart, Chan and Nguyen were able to compete in Catalyze. Oregon Tech’s Catalyze Klamath Falls Challenge is a competition that aims to support business ideas and/or fledgling entrepreneurial activity from any field of study that produces a new idea, product, or service. However, Chana and Nguyen also had a great personal connection to the project.
“My uncle Kevin lives in bly, a small rural town within Klamath County. Over the years, he had issues trying to get an appointment with a local healthcare facility due to them not having room to take on new patients,” says Chan. This left her uncle traveling through long windy roads to reach facilities in Klamath Falls, Medford, or Eugene. However, the one time he did go, they discovered a hole in his heart and treated him. While the outcome of the Chan family was positive, these two innovators heard many other stories of loss. With this in mind, Chan and Nguyen decided to start pursuing a way to give back to the community, marking the beginning of Klamath Angel Mobile Health (KAMH).
Since its inception, KAMH has had one primary goal, to bring healthcare services to the people who need them. You would be very surprised by the number of people that cannot just get an annual checkup, yearly screenings, or urgent care. It’s been a struggle for many years and probably many generations as well, stated Nguyen in an interview about the project. Chan goes on to share her experience as an innovator since starting the project.
“I had no experience with healthcare before I started on this project, and I had very little idea of how businesses work. So through this project, I’ve been able to connect with a lot of people.” Chan also pays tribute to her experiences with Invent Oregon, saying, “Through Invent Oregon, I’ve been able to learn a lot of skills that I can take outside of school and into my real life, and it’s great.”
Nguyen expands on this by saying, “The experience stays with us; the skills we have learned, the stories we have heard inspire the future. The people we have met from Invent Oregon, we would have probably never met them if we had never been in this competition.”
We are enthusiastic about what the future holds for Klamath Angel Mobile Health (KAMH). To stay up to date on all the latest Invent Oregon news, make sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.