App allows sick children to see doctor without leaving home

Nemours CareConnect provides pediatric care with online video doctor visits

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When your child is sick, you can’t help but do everything you can to help them feel better, and sometimes that means rushing to the emergency room.

But a new app will get you in touch with a doctor without having to leave your couch. Nemours CareConnect for Kids gives doctors the ability to make "house calls" using online video from your mobile device or computer. 

Seeing your little ones sick is always hard, and sometimes, getting to a doctor in the middle of the night is even harder -- something Erin Wallner knows first-hand.

"Our children somehow always know when the pediatrician's office is closed and that’s when they’re going to get sick. It never fails," Wallner told News4Jax on Friday.

Many parents know the struggle when their children get sick in the middle of the night.

"Should I go to the ER and bring my whole family and expose them to the kids in the waiting room? Or can I stay here at night and provide care for my little one that vomiting?" said Dr. Patricia Solo-Josephson, a pediatrician with Nemours CareConnect. 

With a Skype-like app called Nemours CareConnect, parents such as Wallner can get immediate answers and medical help from pediatricians.

"It allows us to see somebody that ... knows how to take care of children and allows us to see them quickly," Wallner said.

All you need to do is download the app and register. Doctors recommend doing it now before your child gets sick. Then, when the time comes, the visit to a doctor is just a click away -- and in the comfort of your own home.

"We work together to do a virtual exam and then, at the end of the visit, we come up with an assessment plan -- just like you would do at your doctor's office," Solo-Josephson said. 

Through the app, Solo-Josephson is able to diagnose some of the most common illnesses among children, such as rashes, stomach viruses or the miserable cold that Allyson Wallner had.

"I felt really yucky and my throat was all sore," she said. "You just want to stay home and don't want to get out of bed."

Allyson was able to stay in her pajamas and talk to a pediatrician in less than five minutes.

Doctors are able to prescribe medicine or write school notes -- even when it's late at night. In Florida, pediatricians are available 24/7. 

Insurance companies do not cover the visits, but for now, the visits cost a flat rate of $49. 

For more information, or to sign up online, click here


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