Coala Life, our digital heart heroes – how our client is supporting healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic
They conduct remote cardiac evaluations and have been praised for their innovative solutions. During the crisis, they have also freed up capacity to support the healthcare system in its efforts to maintain normal care. This month, we’re highlighting one of our own clients—Coala Life. Using unique technology and digital tools, they ensure that patients in high-risk groups can monitor their heart health without physical doctor visits. Meet Christian Pitulia, who talks about the company, the industry, and the challenges.
First of all—who are you? And what do you do at Coala Life?
– My name is Christian Pitulia, and I’m in charge of global marketing at Coala Life. I’m also responsible for sales in Europe and am a member of the management team. I’ve been with Coala for almost two years.
– In the past, I’ve worked in medical technology at several different companies, on everything from obstetric care equipment to eye lasers and disposable surgical products. Lately, I’ve been working more with connected products, which I find very exciting because there’s so much we can do for healthcare using various digital technologies.
What does Coala Life do?
– Coala Life has developed a portfolio of products and services for digital remote monitoring, analysis, and screening of the heart. This means we have products that enable clinically accurate assessments without any need for physical contact between healthcare providers and patients. Patients measure their own chest and thumb ECGs using a monitor and their smartphone. The measurements can be easily performed in everyday life and take only 60 seconds. The analysis results are then presented within a few seconds to both the patient and the healthcare provider. What makes Coala unique is precisely the chest measurement, which allows signals to be picked up close to the heart. This ensures that the clinical outcome is highly reliable.
– When we first started, our products were sold exclusively to consumers, but we quickly expanded our portfolio because we also saw significant value in these types of solutions within the healthcare sector. Today, we are a healthcare company that also provides our products to private individuals.
How did it all start?
– The research behind Coala Life began as early as 2004, led by doctors and Swedish entrepreneurs, but the company wasn’t founded until 2015. We’ve been active in the market since 2016–2017. We’re still relatively new, but it’s been important to ensure clinical precision, and our focus has always been on making the product reliable.
How are you supporting the community during the COVID-19 pandemic?
– This is a very interesting issue that we’ve been focusing a great deal of effort on in recent weeks. The spread of COVID-19 is of particular concern to healthcare providers and companies that work with medical technology equipment. We offer digital remote consultations that eliminate the need for in-person doctor visits, which is especially important during these times. With our newly launched service, Coala Connect, we ensure that heart patients receive a monitor shipped to their homes and manage the entire logistics process remotely. For individuals with cardiovascular diseases, the situation is particularly challenging as they are among the highest-risk groups for severe COVID-19. It is therefore important that we do not expose them to risk through unnecessary visits to healthcare facilities.
– We have also freed up capacity to support the healthcare system and are ready to conduct up to 50,000 remote cardiac evaluations. We want to help maintain normal healthcare services and ensure that the healthcare system’s strained resources continue to be used in the highest-priority areas. In a typical year in Sweden, approximately 100,000 cardiac evaluations are performed.
What kind of feedback have you received from customers and the public?
– We’ve received a very positive response so far; many of our customers have expressed interest and recognize the significant value of digital tools and remote monitoring.
How has your industry been affected by COVID-19?
– It has been affectedsignificantly, as our customers are under a lot of pressure right now. Obviously, it’s not reasonable to conduct sales as usual in this situation. Instead, many in the industry are coming up with smart solutions to provide a little extra support to the healthcare system during this crisis, and it’s great to see. We’re also seeing, of course, that digital players like online doctors and online pharmacies are experiencing increased demand for their products and services, while traditional healthcare solutions that involve a lot of in-person interaction are having a bit of a harder time.
Have you made any changes to your own work routines?
– We’ve made major changes. Everyone who can has been working from home since the early stages of this pandemic, and the staff members who must be on-site are rotating shifts. We’re also relying heavily on Microsoft Teams and other solutions instead of meeting in person.
Can your new CRM system, Salesforce, help you in your current work?
– Now that many people are working from home, it’s more important than ever that we collaborate effectively on customer projects and communicate smoothly with one another—that’s why we use Salesforce. I have prior experience with Salesforce, and we’re very positive about the entire platform. Even though I’m not directly involved with Salesforce at the operational level, I have full responsibility for sales and am looking into how we can use Salesforce even more broadly in the future.
And finally, what will your Easter be like during these times of the coronavirus?
– We’ll continue to focus heavily on rolling out services that can support healthcare; it’s very important that these get up and running. When I do have some free time, I’ll probably have to stay close to home. So there won’t be any big adventures—probably just a staycation.
Thank you very much, Christian, for your time. We wish you all the best with your fantastic work.
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