I remember when I was just diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2014.
With really no clue about ulcerative colitis or IBD, I started Googling my slew of questions, started a Pinterest board with stories and resources I thought would be helpful, and was WebMD-ing my symptoms and medications.
As you may have guessed, this wasn’t the most efficient way to learn about the disease.
My Google deep dive pulled up articles that weren’t relevant to my situation.
My Pinterest board became overwhelmed and cluttered with so much content I didn’t know where to start reading.
And, well, WebMD just scared me.
…If only there was a tool that understood exactly where I was in my health journey. If only there was a way I could Google my questions and have the irrelevant and unhelpful content filtered out. If only there was some app or technology that was one step ahead of me that could send ME articles I might find helpful.
Guess what, my friends.
Now there is!!!
It’s a brand new app and personal health assistant, called Gali Health.
And the best part? I get to work behind-the-scenes as one of their eleven Ambassadors before the app is available for the public!
What is the Gali App?
In short, Gali is a personalized, health-tracking app; but, truly, it’s so much more than that.
Lead Patient Advocate, Meredith Mangold, describes Gali perfectly: It’s “An AI-powered personal health assistant who relies on the collective experiences and insights of patients to personalize chronic illness support.”
Since Gali is AI-powered, when you use the “chat” feature, which I’ll describe below, it’s literally like speaking with another person. (That’s why you’ll hear the team reference the Gali app as “she.”)
What Do I Do as an Ambassador?
To sum it up in one sentence, my main purpose is to use the app daily and provide feedback on its ease of use and the content Gali puts into my feed.
What’s super amazing is that there are eleven of us Ambassadors in this Limited Access Program, and each of us brings our unique perspective to the table. We come together to share our own experiences with IBD. You can read each of our bios here.
So, how do we provide feedback on Gali?
- We use the chat feature regularly to ensure she’s as smart as can be when the app becomes public in a few months
- We rate the quality and relevancy of articles and videos Gali puts into our feed. We only want her to send you the highest quality, relevant, and accurate content
- We write and curate articles and submit them to Gali’s content database for her to add to your feed (if it’s relevant to you, of course)
What Are Gali’s Features?
Daily Health Monitor
Track your symptoms and your levels of fatigue, pain, stress, physical activity, loose bowel movements, and more.
Also! Let’s day, for example, you entered that you were extremely fatigued today. Gali may send you a survey afterwards, asking why you think you were so fatigued today. This will help her understand more about your unique situation so she can keep sending you relevant content.
Daily Treatment Monitor
Keep track of all your medications and supplements in one spot. After you take your meds, you can use Gali to mark that you took them for the day.
Notifications
Depending on how you answered the questions in the Daily Health Monitor, Gali may send you lifestyle and educational tips to help you manage your symptoms.
Customized Feed
Every day, Gali sends tips, articles, and videos to your feed. She knows what’s relevant to you and what you’re interested in learning more about because she draws from your answers in the Daily Health Monitor, the surveys you’ve answered, and the questions you ask her.
^^ I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, and Gali knew it! Look what she put in my feed!
Chat With Gali
Probably one of the coolest features is you can chat directly with Gali.
You can ask her questions, or tell her to send content of specific topics to your feed. She’ll answer your questions in the chat, and also push out related articles and videos into your feed for further learning.
Chatting with Gali is like searching for answers on Google…but BETTER. She automatically filters out anything that isn’t relevant to you, and only sends quality content that’s been approved by the Gali Health community.
Bye bye cluttered Pinterest board and scary MedMD searches!
What’s Some Content Gali Might Send You?
I’ve seen quite a variety of content pop up on my feed, including navigating health insurance, natural ways to reduce stress, patients’ various experiences with IBD, meditation for sleep, and so much more.
You may get similar content on your feed, and you may not.
It all depends on where you are on your health journey, how you answer the Daily Monitor questions, and what you chat with Gali about 🙂
Since Gali an AI system she’ll become more intelligent and understanding about where you are in your health journey every time you chat with her.
A Little Bit About the Company
Want to know a bit more about Gali Health? Here’s the company’s long-term vision: “We are on a mission to make sure nobody ever feels isolated, lost or powerless in the face of existing or potential disease.”
Yeah, you read that right! Even though the Gali app is currently only for IBD, it’ll expand to cover all chronic illness in the future.
Follow Gali & Its Ambassadors on Social Media
Follow Gali on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Medium, and LinkedIn!
Let the team know you’re interested in downloading the app once it becomes available!
Stay in touch with Gali by signing up for awesome newsletters.
Visit the Gali Website to learn more about Gali’s technical side and get to know Gali’s core team.
Read the press release about Gali’s Limited Access Program.
Get to know the eleven Ambassadors, and follow their health advocacy journeys on social media.
- Molly Dunham-Friel – @BetterBelliesByMolly on Instagram
- Shawntel “Shawn” Bethea – Follow her blog Chronically Strong
- Nathan Smart – @Mr. J-pouch on Instagram
- Cindy Coelho
- Nikki Patel
- Amanda Gildersleeve
- Sari Guerrieri
- Myisha Malone-King – Game of Crohn’s and Chronic Illness Facebook group
- Stephanie Rotchford – @unbroken8773 on Instagram
- Sara Asher – @Sara UC Warrior on Instagram
- Me – I’ll be posting Gali updates on my Instagram page @JennaWritingServices
Why IBD Patients & Gut Doctors Should be Excited
✔ Finally, there’s a health app that is made by the patient for the patient.
✔ All the content Gali puts into your feed has been approved by the Gali community, so you know it’s top-notch, scientifically-backed, and helpful. The majority of content Gali shares has been written by IBD patients and health experts.
✔ Some of the content Gali shares has been written by the Ambassadors specifically to fill gaps of content, so you’re getting content from actual patients who can give the inside scoop of life with IBD.
The ultimate hope is that Gali’s AI algorithms will become so advanced that she can predict when patients might be entering a flare, and can provide suggestions to help prevent it.
Ultimately, Gali may become just like the internet—we’ll wonder how we ever survived without her.
P.S. You can sign up for Gali’s newsletters here! Don’t miss out on this epic mission.
Cover photo by Yura Fresh on Unsplash