TECHNOLOGY
he noise came from above at 3 a . m . — a cracking sound , like the roof might cave in . Kate Cordell jolted up in bed . Was there an animal on the roof ? No . It turned out to be a human scheming to break into her house through the back bedroom deck .
Cordell grabbed a broom . She jabbed the ceiling where she heard the noise . Nothing . She hit the ceiling harder , then heard the intruder shuffle back the way he came . Through her peephole , she saw him climb down and run off .
This happened three years ago , long before COVID-19 seized the globe . Cordell learned it was a serial stalker in the area . Soon after , she moved to a gated community . But the experience haunted her . In May 2021 , during an impromptu company meeting at her office in Folsom , she realized how critical it is for her to have a safe environment — and to not feel guilty about that need .
“ It was freeing for me ,” Cordell says . “ I felt deficient as a person because I would often feel unsafe in the dark . I had to acknowledge for myself that it was OK for that safety bucket to be full . Less of ‘ this is a problem ’ and more of ‘ I need to feel safe .’”
That declaration might as well have been a collective motto for the health crisis of 2020 . The ability to identify what she needed for her own well-being underscores what Cordell ’ s business is about . She is the cofounder and CEO of Opeeka , a Folsom-based technology company that unifies mental health , behavioral health and social services assessments in a single platform . She cofounded the business with Ken
“ I had this idea that if we could bring together various pieces of information and unify them into a ‘ person story ,’ we could begin to look at how that story transforms over time . We could measure a trajectory of recovery and resilience .”
KATE CORDELL Cofounder and CEO , Opeeka
Knecht , who is its chief marketing officer . Launched in December 2020 , the startup uses artificial intelligence to create a digital story map that predicts strategies for intervention , allowing health care providers to identify trends and patients of all ages to track personal progress . The platform aggregates data from various sources to create a profile for each patient that clinicians and the patient can access via a personal dashboard . This allows , for example , a patient ’ s physician to see notes from the patient ’ s psychologist , if given permission . Every point of data is marked confidential by default . The patient can choose to release the information , but the purpose of the platform is to share only what is needed when it is needed , Cordell says .
“ I had this idea that if we could bring together various pieces of information and unify them into a ‘ person story ,’ we could begin to look at how that story transforms over time ,” says Cordell , a behavioral health services data scientist and researcher , who earned her Ph . D . in social welfare from
UC Berkeley . “ We could measure a trajectory of recovery and resilience .”
Telehealth is here to stay
All over the globe , people had to face the devastating reality of a pandemic in a whirlwind of isolation , deaths , illness , job losses , social injustice and political upheaval . It was a world of uncertainty with no horizon line in sight .
A year and a half after COVID-19 took over , vaccinations led to the reopening of borders , shops and offices . But for some individuals , life doesn ’ t just snap back on like a flipped switch . Fear of the unknown has taken a severe toll , manifesting in the forms of heightened stress , anxiety and depression — the long-term effects of which may not be known for years . Health systems grappled with challenges for treatment programs , including a lack of workforce and limited capacity . But one key issue when it comes to health care goes back decades , unrelated to the pandemic : communication .
“ One of the problems with the health system in general is it ’ s too competitive , so people don ’ t collaborate as much as they should ,” says Peter Yellowlees , chief wellness officer at UC Davis Health and a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at UC Davis .
The call for collaboration has been on the health care agenda for years . A 2018 survey in Futurescan , a publication from the Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development , found that seven in 10 hospitals and health systems aimed to increase collaboration with other providers ( e . g ., doctors , hospitals , post-acute care organizations ) and payers on popu-
60 comstocksmag . com | September 2021