I led the team that built the VidaTalk Android app at Eloquence Communications from 2017 to 2018. It's a touchscreen communication tool for patients who can't speak — usually because they're mechanically ventilated in an ICU, or recovering from a procedure that left them temporarily non-verbal. Patients tap through menus to tell clinicians and family what they need. The UI ships in 40+ languages, with live remote interpreter call-back where the hospital has the integration set up.
I sold my shares and moved on from Eloquence in 2018. The app is still deployed, helping people communicate during some of the worst moments of their lives.
It also showed up on The Pitt, Season 2, Episode 8, used exactly the way we designed it. That was a surprise. I hadn't kept up with the company much, and a friend texted me a photo from their TV. The show's medical advisors picked it as the realistic choice for an ICU communication device. Best review I'm going to get.
What it does
- Touch menu of common patient needs (pain, water, comfort, family).
- Free-text input via on-screen keyboard for anything not in the menu.
- Direct-to-nurse messaging with priority routing for urgent items.
- Multilingual UI in 40+ languages, switchable on demand.
- Live remote interpreter call-back when the hospital has the integration configured.
My role
Project Manager and lead developer for the Android side. Coordinated with the dev team (two developers, one tester), worked directly with sales on customer commitments, and shipped on the customer-set launch date.
The interesting part was the offline-first design. ICU networks aren't always reliable, and the device has to keep working when wifi drops. The app caches every menu, language pack, and message template locally. Sync happens when network returns. The patient never sees the network state.