As a young mother, Manon Sauter faced the challenge of finding a doctor after her son had a bicycle accident. “ He suffered a dental trauma and, even living in Montpellier, I spent over 24 hours with a baby, bleeding from the mouth and with a tooth knocked back, without anyone to see him ,” she recounts.
She went to the emergency room. They told her it wasn’t an emergency and that she needed to find a doctor, but none were available. She found dentists, but they informed her that they do not see children under 6 years old. “ I realized the extent of the pediatric health problem in France ,” explains Manon Sauter.
After some research, she discovered that 87% of French territory is considered a pediatric medical desert and that, on average, a parent takes 3 weeks and 3 days to get an appointment to treat their child.
In light of this finding, she created the application Famille Santé, which guides parents to the most appropriate care pathway based on the child's symptoms and geographical location.
In just a few clicks, users can enter the child's age, whether they have a fever, and for how long. These simple questions allow the algorithm to determine if the symptoms are alarming and to redirect directly to 15, the emergency medical number, or to the nearest hospital. Otherwise, the platform will arrange an instant teleconsultation with a pediatrician.
“ Our goal is to ensure that from the moment there is a connection on the app, the answers to the questionnaire, and receiving the prescription on the child's medical file, no more than 30 minutes have passed ,” specifies Manon Sauter.
In 70% of cases, the request is resolved through an online consultation, thanks to about twenty pediatricians who take turns from Monday to Sunday, from 8 AM to 10 PM. This system is complemented by around ten specialists, including endocrinologists and cardiologists, who can follow up as part of the continuity of care.
If an in-person consultation is necessary, the pediatrician will redirect the patient to the optimal care pathway based on the child's symptoms, as close to home as possible, whether it be with a general practitioner, a pediatrician, when available in certain areas, a medical center, a pharmacy, or a laboratory, to ensure there is a proper referral.
“ Making medicine and pediatrics accessible is a huge issue because today, we are working with territories of 150,000 inhabitants where there are only 10 general practitioners, and they are not even there all week. So medical presence is very complicated. And in pediatrics, it’s non-existent. They don’t have any in their area ,” explains Manon Sauter.
“ And we especially wanted to provide reassurance to parents. We wanted to make life easier for everyone .”
