MediStays is a digital platform that provides patients and carers with suitable accommodation when needing to travel for medical care, especially for rural and regional patients, and for people with a disability. With the finding of accommodation still a major barrier for people to access specialist care, MediStays uses the potential of digital health to break down geographical barriers and bring about a fairer and more accessible healthcare system for all.
Taking the Pledge 1% earlier this year enabled MediStays to live our values and develop our own ESG policies and framework. As an early stage company, we wanted to establish our philanthropic culture from the outset. Pledge 1% provided us a way to do this, knowing their model will grow and scale with us. Our first goal was to donate a minimum of 1% of profits to organisations that closely align with MediStays vision and values. We have also pledged 1% of our equity, with product and staff time to follow. Most importantly, it enabled us to make an immediate impact in our community.
In October 2021, MediStays met our 1% profit pledge with a donation to Angel Flight. Angel Flight is a charity that provides flights to regional and remote Australians to access specialist medical treatment that would otherwise be unavailable because of the vast distances in Australia and the associated travel costs.
This is important to us at MediStays because when people can’t access travel and find suitable accommodation, they often delay, and even deny themselves of, life-saving medical and healthcare. Most devastatingly, this can result in poorer health outcomes, quality of life and survival, especially for rural and regional Australians. An example of this is the survival of Australians living more than 200km from cancer treatment can be up to 30% lower than people living close by.
MediStays was delighted to meet our 2021 Pledge 1% target by donating to Angel Flight. The service they provide, and the values they demonstrate, aligns with MediStays mission to make a profound impact on the health outcomes of people who are marginalised with a disability or live in difficult to reach communities.
We are already looking forward to the next impact we can have with our commitment to Pledge 1%.
