Angel Flight and Angel Talk

When we first formed into our groups for our 'establishing a virtual community' task, one boy in my group was adamant in what our community should be: Angel Flight. At first, not knowing much about the organisation, I was sceptical that a community so grounded in the physical world (providing flights and assistance) could ever really effectively cross-over to the virtual world. But the more that I researched the assignment, the more I saw that the idea was really valid and inspired: I actually fell in love with the assignment.

Angel Flight Australia is a charity that co-ordinates non emergency flights for financially and medically needy people. All flights are free and may involve patients or compassionate carers travelling to or from medical facilities anywhere in Australia. Chronically ill children and their families and carers face unique problems. These problems are often exacerbated by isolation and remoteness, leaving those families who live in rural areas to struggle onwards alone.

The solution our group proposed was ‘Angel Talk' – an online facility for support, communication and learning.

There are many studies that highlight the benefits of community and social support for the chronically ill. A 2002 study conducted in Baltimore concluded that chronically ill patients, especially children, are at increased risk of developing mental health problems, but this risk can be greatly reduced by participating in community-based support programs. Another American study determined that multiple benefits were experienced by chronically ill patients and their families when they had access to appropriate support services, the listed benefits including increased ability to cope with illness-specific needs, reduced disability-related problems and successful familial adaptation.

These studies no doubt illustrate the benefits of social support and community participation, but that can be difficult when your nearest neighbour is 30 kilometres away or your town is serviced by only one overworked GP.

Our community was designed to take up where angel flights leaves off: Angel flight will have you connected in the real world; but Angel flight will connect you in the virtual world. The idea behind Angel Talk was that it would specifically cater for chronically ill patients, their families and their carers who live in remote areas. Through a number of tailored website features including secure, private, personal chat rooms, open forums focused on relevant issues and a collection of easy-to-understand yet authoritative health articles, Angel Talk would seek to build on the shared affinity required to establish an online community (as discussed by Howard Rheingold in 'Community Development in the Cybersociety of the Future) and provide enough services and special features to keep them coming back (Amy Jo Kim, ) . Rural patients will be able to talk to the city patients they met in hospital; a carer who lives in Woollahra can compare notes with a carer who lives in Wagga Wagga; a mother from rural Charleville can read the latest article on paediatric pain management from the Mater Hospital.

Angel Talk could also be utilized by hospitals. The online community can provide a previously un-utilized form of ongoing “treatment” in the form of social support. No longer do patients have to return home to the isolation of rural Australia alone. Now, they would have a facility to maintain contact, to reach out. This is of obvious benefit to the hospitals themselves: patient-care does not have to end upon discharge. There would be no actual, patient-specific advice from health professionals given on the website (can anyone spell 'law suit'?), rather, Angel-Talk would be a valuable addition to existing, traditional treatment programs.

The Angel Talk idea was about designing a community that would effectively and caringly service and support its members, with participants hopefully becoming fully-fledged, active community members who are not disadvantaged by geography, but are as connected, informed and supported as their urban counterparts.

There were many great ideas in our class (Q-Scene, E-commodation, etc), and it was quite fascinating to see the totally different directions that we all took, given such a broad task. I loved the Angel Talk idea (despite possible arguments as to its actual potential and sustainability). For me, as a media studies student, it is important when I have 'moments' that re-affirm why I did media studies in the first place: to somehow change the world. It was nice to feel that we'd come up with a project that (at the least) was socially aware, and, taken to fruition, for some people, could change the world... Or at least rural Australia.