Up to 8%

高达8%

of cancer patients refuse chemotherapy because they don’t want to lose their hair. Of course, hair loss can cause immense damage to a person’s self-esteem — but it can also strip patients of their privacy, making their illness immediately visible to others.

癌症患者拒绝化疗的原因是他们不想掉头发。当然，脱发可能会对一个人的自尊心造成极大的伤害，但也可能剥夺患者的隐私，使他们的病情立即暴露给他人。

“It’s not about beauty. It’s about privacy. Think about the times that you’ve walked into the grocery store or been in an airport and seen somebody who clearly is bald and clearly doesn’t have their eyebrows. You’re like, ‘Oh, that person’s going through cancer. I feel really bad for them,’” said Kate Dilligan..

“这不是关于美丽，而是关于隐私。想想你走进杂货店或在机场时，看到明显秃头且没有眉毛的人。你会想，‘哦，那个人正在经历癌症。我为他们感到非常难过，’”凯特·迪利根说。

Dilligan, a breast cancer survivor, is on a mission to help chemotherapy patients from losing their hair. Inspired by her own chemotherapy journey, she founded a medical device company named

迪利根是一名乳腺癌幸存者，她致力于帮助化疗患者避免脱发。受到自身化疗经历的启发，她成立了一家名为

Cooler Heads

冷静的头脑

that sells a portable and self-administered scalp cooling device.

销售便携式且可自行操作的头皮冷却设备。

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PDPM优化如何提升机构财务绩效

Transitioning to PDPM models significantly shifted the healthcare industry. By replacing the RUG system, healthcare providers cut waste and more accurately reflect the care each patient received.

向PDPM模式的过渡显著改变了医疗保健行业。通过取代RUG系统，医疗保健提供者减少了浪费，并更准确地反映了每位患者所接受的护理。

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Scalp cooling — which involves medically induced hypothermia on the scalp before, during and after chemotherapy — can help patients retain their hair. But cancer patients don’t always have access to this, Dilligan noted.

头皮冷却——包括在化疗前、中和后对头皮进行医学诱导的低温——可以帮助患者保留头发。但是，狄利根指出，癌症患者并不总是能获得这种治疗。

When Dilligan was undergoing chemotherapy in 2016 and 2017, she said the only available method for her to keep her hair were frozen gel caps.

2016 年和 2017 年，迪利根接受化疗时说，唯一可以让她保留头发的方法是使用冷冻凝胶帽。

“These gel caps are literally frozen in dry ice and placed on and off your head every 25 minutes. The day before my third chemotherapy infusion, the person who was doing that for me — because there’s no way you’re going to be able to do it on your own as you’re getting chemo — quit,” she said.

“这些凝胶帽实际上被冻结在干冰中，每隔25分钟就会被放到你的头上或从头上取下。在我第三次化疗输液的前一天，那个为我做这件事的人——因为当你接受化疗时，根本不可能自己做到这一点——辞职了，”她说。

After the company that supplied this assistant informed her of the news, Dilligan then insisted a replacement be found immediately. She offered to double the pay — from $500 to $1,000 — as well as cover all hotel costs to ensure someone showed up.

在得知这一消息后，迪利根坚持要求立即找到替代者。她提出将报酬提高一倍——从500美元增加到1000美元，并承担所有酒店费用，以确保有人能来。

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选择合适的软件可以直接转化为更好的客户管理、运营效率以及您的水疗特许经营业务的增长。发现哪种工具最适合您的业务。

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This experience left her feeling powerless, and it highlighted the deep lack of patient control in cancer treatment. It’s the whole “why” behind San Diego-based Cooler Heads, which Dilligan founded in 2018.

这次经历让她感到无能为力，并突显了癌症治疗中患者控制权的严重缺失。这正是总部位于圣地亚哥的Cooler Heads成立的全部原因，该机构由迪利根于2018年创立。

Cooler Heads’ system has two primary components. One is a portable cooling unit, and the other is a capping system designed to induce hypothermia in hair follicles.

Cooler Heads的系统有两个主要组成部分。一个是便携式冷却装置，另一个是旨在诱导毛囊低温的覆盖系统。

The cooling unit is lightweight at 23 pounds. It is also compact enough to fit under an airplane seat and can run on wall power or battery power, allowing patients to move around freely during treatment, Dilligan explained.

冷却装置重量仅为23磅。迪利根解释说，它也足够紧凑，可以放在飞机座位下，可以使用墙电或电池电源，让患者在治疗期间自由活动。

The capping system has several layers to ensure proper cooling and fit. It has a cooling wrap, which circulates coolant from the machine to chill the scalp, as well as a neoprene compression strap, which ensures even contact between the cooling wrap and the scalp. The system also involves a compression cap with air chambers – patients adjust the fit using an air bulb, similar to a blood pressure cuff, to achieve uniform cooling, Dilligan stated..

该冷却系统有多个层以确保适当的冷却和贴合。它有一个冷却包裹层，可以循环来自机器的冷却剂以冷却头皮，还有一个氯丁橡胶压缩带，确保冷却包裹层与头皮之间的均匀接触。Dilligan 表示，该系统还涉及一个带有气室的压缩帽——患者使用类似于血压计气囊的充气球来调整帽子的贴合度，以实现均匀冷却。

The FDA

美国食品药品监督管理局

cleared

已清除

the device in 2021, and providers started adopting it in 2022. Dilligan said patients in 23 states are currently using the solution.

该设备于2021年推出，供应商在2022年开始采用它。迪利根说，目前有23个州的患者正在使用该解决方案。

Cooler Heads sells its product to health systems. The solution helps address the issue of chair time management, which Dilligan said has been a major barrier to providers’ scalp cooling adoption.

Cooler Heads 将其产品出售给健康系统。该解决方案有助于解决椅子时间管理的问题，Dilligan 表示，这一直是供应商采用头皮冷却技术的主要障碍。

Since chemotherapy sessions are a key revenue driver for health systems, infusion chair turnover is a crucial metric. Two-thirds of Cooler Heads’ customers had never offered scalp cooling before, largely because traditional systems required patients to remain in the infusion chair for extended periods. .

由于化疗疗程是医疗系统收入的关键驱动力，输液椅的周转率成为了一个至关重要的指标。三分之二的Cooler Heads客户以前从未提供过头皮冷却服务，这主要是因为传统的系统需要患者长时间留在输液椅上。

“We allow the patients, when they’re done with chemo, to get out of their infusion chair and go someplace else — go to the waiting room or some other location designated by their infusion center. Because if you’re the director of cancer at a health system, chair time is one of the most important metrics that you have,” Dilligan explained..

“我们允许患者在化疗结束后，离开输液椅去其他地方——去候诊室或输液中心指定的其他位置。因为如果你是一个卫生系统的癌症主管，椅子使用时间是你最重要的指标之一，”迪利根解释说。

The portability of Cooler Head’s system helps it stand out from competitors, she noted. In her view, the company is facing two main competitors in the scalp cooling space, both of which are traded on the Sweden’s stock exchange.

她指出，Cooler Head的系统便携性使其在竞争中脱颖而出。在她看来，该公司在头皮冷却领域面临两个主要竞争对手，且这两家竞争对手都在瑞典证券交易所上市。

The first is

第一个是

Paxman

帕克斯曼

. Its system serves two patients at a time, but it requires patients to remain in the infusion chair after chemotherapy, Dilligan pointed out. She also noted that Paxman’s product uses a silicone cap — which she said can become rigid when cooled, making it difficult to maintain proper contact with the scalp..

它的系统一次为两名患者服务，但迪利根指出，它要求患者在化疗后继续留在输液椅上。她还提到，Paxman 的产品使用硅胶帽——她表示，这种帽子在冷却时会变得僵硬，难以与头皮保持适当接触。

Cooler Heads’ other competitor is

“Cooler Heads”的另一个竞争对手是

Dignitana

Dignitana

. Dilligan said its machine is even larger than Paxman’s, requiring 220-volt power, which cannot be found in a standard outlet. Dignitana’s system also needs significant nursing intervention to ensure proper fit, and like Paxman, it keeps patients in their chairs post-chemotherapy for continued cooling, she remarked..

迪利根表示，其机器甚至比帕克斯曼的还要大，需要220伏的电源，这在标准插座中是找不到的。她还说，Dignitana的系统还需要大量的护理干预来确保合适的佩戴，并且像帕克斯曼一样，在化疗后让患者继续坐在椅子上进行持续冷却。

Overall, she believes the mission of her company is to empower cancer patients and hopefully create a reality where more people opt for life-saving treatment.

总体而言，她相信公司的使命是赋予癌症患者权力，并希望创造一个让更多人选择挽救生命的治疗的现实。

Dilligan pointed out that cancer patients’ desire for privacy isn’t just about avoiding pity from strangers — it’s also often about protecting the lives and futures they worked hard to build.

迪利根指出，癌症患者对隐私的渴望不仅仅是避免陌生人的怜悯——也常常是为了保护他们努力构建的生活和未来。

“All of a sudden, you know you’re not going to get that promotion, you’re not going to get that leadership role. There’s all these things that just get taken from you because you’re a cancer patient. They will just put you in the corner and have you sit with a blanket over you,” she said.

“突然之间，你知道你不会得到晋升，也不会得到那个领导角色。因为你是癌症患者，所有这些东西都会从你身边被夺走。他们只会把你放在角落里，让你盖着毯子坐着，”她说。

Cooler Heads is set to announce a Series A fundraising round in the next month or two, Dilligan noted.

Dilligan 指出，Cooler Heads 将在未来一两个月内宣布 A 轮融资。

Photo: FatCamera, Getty Images

照片来源：FatCamera，Getty Images