"Who cares?" - With the network platform Mederest against rare diseases

"Who cares?" was the central question on Tuesday evening, 11^th December 2018, at the “Künstlerhaus” in Hanover. The documentary of the same name by Mara Mourão, in which stories and motivations of social entrepreneurs such as Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and Ashoka founder Bill Drayton were portrayed, marked the beginning of this evening. Part of the subsequent interview was Mederest, a start-up initiative that aims to connect patients with rare diseases with other patients, doctors, researchers and stakeholders in an uncomplicated and effortless way.

The team explained the motivation and drives for Mederest: “For most patients, the first appearance of symptoms is the beginning of a martyrdom of unsuccessful visits to the doctor, tiresome misdiagnoses, life-threatening seizures. Only after an average of seven years do these patients receive the correct diagnosis. The probability for an existing therapy option for their rare disease is 5%. What helps affected persons and their relatives is to network in order to exchange information with other affected persons and thereby experience professional, psychological and social security in a community – and that's what we're trying to do with Mederest."

SKC consulting supports Mederest, which currently also participates in the Entrepreneurship Program of the Social Innovation Center of Business Development Department Hannover (Mederest@SIC). If you have any questions, suggestions or contact requests regarding Mederest, please feel free to contact us at any time: heike.kielhorn@mederest.com.

BY Heike Kielhorn-Schönermark, MBA, managing director and Beate Kasper, M.A. sociology