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Local doctor awarded $160,000 for ER efficiency app
Apr 11, 2012 (Mail Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
JACKSONVILLE -- Frustrated by tools unfit for his tasks in hospital emergency rooms, Brian Phelps decided there was a better way.
When Apple introduced the iPad two years ago, the ER doctor sprang to action.
"After 10 years of frustration using information systems in emergency departments, I knew there was a better way," said the Chief Executive officer of Montrue Technologies in Ashland.
He recruited two fellow Ashland residents: Eric Turner, a veteran of start-ups and a developer of Apple-related software and Matthew Beers. In just over two years they've produced a technology that will give ER personnel a better handle on their jobs and provide patients more attention.
Their emergency department information system grabbed the attention of 23 investors, who awarded the $160,000 Southern Oregon Angel Investment prize Wednesday at Bigham Knoll Conference Center. Montrue Technologies beat out Blue Feather Products, Organic Nation and Eco Vision Packaging Inc. for the award
Montrue Technologies is on the brink of testing its systems at Ashland Community Hospital, but it is also negotiating with other hospitals.
"The market is evolving and we're in very good position to ride the wave of mobile devices into the mainstream hospitals," Phelps said. "Our system solves a huge problem for all hospitals that have emergency departments."
"This is a team which would stand head and shoulders with some of the Silicon Valley teams," said Jim Huston of Portland Seed Fund, who was not among the investors. "If you're going to do big things, you need a good team."
Turner was a founder of Starseed, whose WebRing product was a key component of a $33 million acquisition by GeoCities that in turn was sold to Yahoo for $4.6 billion.
Beers is a chief systems operator for a Chicago firm, whose role is to work with hospital technology staffs.
"When Brian came to me, he had a very unformed idea, but definitely had strong opinions about the things doctors need to do their job."
The solution developed to aid emergency room doctors was a software application for iPad called Sparrow, allowing doctors to do multiple patient-related tasks while "looking patients in the eye," Phelps said. The other software element known as Ground Control links lets the company interact with hospital data bases so the information collected by the emergency staff goes where it's needed with the intended results.
The idea is to reduce the complexity of getting the information in and out of the system, Beers said. "That part's complicated."
Montrue captured a $200,000 investment 10 months ago at the Willamette Angel Conference in Corvallis.
-- Greg Stiles
___ (c)2012 the Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.) Visit the Mail Tribune (Medford,
Ore.) at www.mailtribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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