Danio Diary is looking to change healthcare with the power of communication

Danio Diary may be the most impactful medical app you’ve never heard of (yet).
Its job is simple: Make the lives of caregivers easier, ease the concerns of family, decrease inefficiencies of home and hospital care and make communication simple and stress free for all involved with a patient — whether they’re an elderly nursing home patient, a person with a disability who lives alone, or a child requiring medication during the school day.

Launched in 2015, Danio Diary (a Delaware Innovation Award nominee for 2017’s Dev Product of the Year) was originally developed for use in nursing homes and hospitals. It soon became clear, though, that the tech could be extremely valuable as a tool that easily shares information with a network of people in multiple locations.
“Caretakers are usually responsible for getting information to medical professionals, family and friends,” said Gabe Humphreys, Danio Diary’s director of technology. “That leads to more anxieties.”
Reducing those anxieties — not just of caregivers, but of family and friends in the patients’ circle as well — not only helps their emotional well-being, it also improves patient visits, because there is a clear record of day-to-day communication.
For example, a caregiver for an patient recovering from an accident can send daily updates on the patient’s progress to the doctor, physical therapist, the patient’s parents and the patient’s friends all at once, and in real time — or an update can be sent just to care professionals, to family and friends only, or to a single person in the network. Likewise, the patient’s medical caregivers can send and respond to updates. Danio Diary says its product is HIPAA compliant.
And it goes beyond the traditional caretaker/patient configuration. Updates from a school nurse can be sent out assuring parents that medication was taken. A housekeeper can send an update after servicing the patient’s apartment. The app can track the progress of a patient in drug rehabilitation, and can alert loved ones if a depressed patient is feeling suicidal.
What makes Danio Diary and its Notifier app different from, say, a Facebook group for friends and family of a patient, is that it’s a network combining medical professionals and loved ones — and it’s extremely secure. In fact, the “danio” itself is a security measure. It’s an 8-digit alphanumeric code, like a tracking code, that protects the account’s privacy by encrypting the data any time it isn’t being viewed. It keeps sensitive information so secure that the Department of Defense has shown interest.
“It’s easy to use, on a sturdy platform,” Humphreys said. “Eventually, it will be compatible with smart technology. Like smart pill bottles that automatically send information, so you don’t have to worry about your mother missing a pill.”
Danio Diary is free to download and use, and is available for Apple and Android devices, as well as on the web.