Harry Nordlinger

Cell phones are common items for Americans. In fact, 89 percent of Americans own a cell phone according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Every American can access medical care solely by calling 911, yet many people in other countries cannot access care with such ease. However, there is a way to make phones accessible to everyone around the globe. How exactly? By donating your phone to people in need through a non-profit organization named Hope for Phones, founded by Josh Nesbit, a Stanford alumnus.

“Basically in Hope for Phones we’re asking people to pick up their trash, and that’s pretty easy to ask these days.” Nesbit says.

Nesbit travels to places such as Malawi in South East Africa to help setup cell phone connections with the help of an organization named FrontlineSMS Medic. Each hospital is supplied with a laptop, which records the text messages or SMS sent by the cell phones used by health workers.

“We’ve been focusing on groups of 15-20 [people], giving them phones and showing them how to operate the cell phones,” Nesbit says. He also tells the workers “what they should be texting in [to the hospital] about, what patient, what symptoms... that sort of thing.”

Nesbit says his company’s goal is to connect potential patients with health clinics.

“What we’re doing is we are working with local organizations that are managing health clinics or are a part of a larger branch or larger mandate," Nesbit says. "They may have local staff or a local network who are communicating how often a person texts. A computer gives out a communication diagram to figure out who needs to be involved and what they’re going to be doing and what the intended impact need to be doing."

If not for the communication with local workers, many of these patients would not receive medical treatment.

Nesbit recalls one of the training sessions he hosted while in Malawi. “Our first training session was a first set of phones at the Pearl hospital,” Nesbit says.

Nesbit shares the reaction of the Malawi locals when some of them used a cell phone for the first time. “They were using the keys to make music,” said Nesbit. “I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for the amazing people.”

Communication can be the difference between life in death. But with the technological advances Hope for Phones has implemented in several parts of the world, medical staff can provide better care to patients and close the distance gap. For example, some doctors cannot supervise whether a patient in Malawi is constantly taking their medications.

By setting up a phone service in third world countries and supplying responsible workers with cell phones, workers can travel bigger distances and communicate back to the hospitals. This saves patients time and money if they can have a medical consultation at home.

Of the local workers, Nesbit says “probably about 10 percent of them had used mobile phones before causing him to train them, “We’ve been focusing on groups of 15-20 showing them how to operate the cell phones, what they should be texting in about, what patient, what symptoms and that sort of thing.”

One reason cell phones are not as abundant in Malawi is because they are not affordable for everyone. However, Nesbit says, “You drive down major highways and every other advertisement features a major [cell phone] company, so it’s very much understood that cell phones are a part of life...but none of them have access to phones just yet.”

The total number of cellphones that Hope for Phones has brought in are 2,000 which according to Nesbit, will quadruple by the end of the year. Help them reach their goal, it is time to give your dead phone a new life. Donate a phone you no longer use and make a huge difference in the life of another. For more information visit www.hopephones.org