Chain of favors: the infarction that allowed the creation of Airbnb for dialysis patients

Much of this story began in the last month of 2015, when the myocardium of the Argentine writer Hernán Casciari ran out of oxygen. An episode that he called "the best shot of my life". But he was well placed to escape the emergency: a guest house he rented on Airbnb in Montevideo, Uruguay, belonging to Javier and Alejandra Artigas, the couple who saved his life. The Artigas were not good at that time: a few months ago, Javier had resigned from his job, while discovering a kidney disease that prevented him from finding another job.

The day after the heart attack, while she was in the hospital, Casciari received an automatic Airbnb email to evaluate her hosts, the Artigas. And what he wrote, makes that December 2015 changed their lives.

"Excellent accommodation for sedentary clients tending to myocardial infarction, the district is beautiful and has direct communication with the best hospitals in Montevideo." The hosts (Javier and Alejandra) instantly become guardian angels and save your life They take you very quickly to the hospital, in your own car, while you are dying, and then stay in the waiting room until the doctors They do not allow you to fall into depression or to feel alone, they bring you books to read and do not want to make you pay for the days you stay at home, highly recommended, "Casciari published.

The problems for the Artigas had started in 2014. He was working in a multinational company when they contacted the competition to join the company. They offered him more money and benefits. Then he resigned. "When I change jobs, they discover pre-existing kidney disease." One day, I fainted and remained in a coma for 22 days. Because of this problem, the company that interested me decided to give up the hiring. I had already given up the previous one and I had no sort of compensation, I was between the hammer and the anvil, "Javier told LA NACION.

His disease is called polycystic kidney disease, which consists of several cysts that compress the kidney and impair its functionality. "I woke up with all the equipment connected to the body, I had a catheter in the neck, I did not know what it was about, I had no work and we were living off the rent from the guest house. " From then on, he had to dialyze three times a week, with sessions of four hours each.

"I realized that when you start hemodialysis, you are subjected to the machine and you do not have the opportunity to vacation or anything," he says, "it's difficult to have a normal life. " Javier has therefore decided to design a platform that connects patients at dialysis centers around the world, so that people like him can lead a freer life. He called it Connectus Medical. "I had it handcrafted, with about $ 1,700 that I had, I made an app tied with wires, it fell ten times a day."

One worse than the other

While Javier was trying to promote his project, subsisting on Airbnb's income, he had his complications: "A Brazilian fell for a week and blocked his bathroom on the second day, then a Canadian couple arrived with a baby hyperkinetic who made them kiss a table
vintage. Then come Englishmen who, at their departure, filed a complaint on Airbnb for the dogs of the garden and who lowered their score on the platform. Near the summer appeared Dutch hippies who roamed the world and stole napkin rings, "said Casciari, a few days ago, in the Perros de la Calle show on Metro 95.1 radio.

Until the month of December finally, the myocardium stopped: "The fifth guest was an Argentine writer who appeared on a December afternoon with his new girlfriend and the second day they were infarcted in the living room, "added Casciari, in Perros Street.

"We said how much a writer came, he had to be friendly, it's a question that came into the guesthouse and we will never see him again," laughs Alejandra Artigas. "One day Julieta, Hernan's wife, arrives, and he tells me that he had a sore chest." I thought he was contracted, but we got him. took him to the hospital and he said that his left arm was falling asleep. "Suddenly, I saw a patrol car and I braked and told him to d & rsquo; It is then that they encircle a car with patrol cars so that they can let it in. So we are going very quickly to the hospital. "

In the sanatorium, they were told that he had had a heart attack, but none of them had the money to pay for the operation, which was close to the 30 $ 000. Then they took him to a public hospital, where they "heal and charge you," says Alejandra.

"Alejandra called me to talk to me about the situation, so I contacted friends who work in the health sector so that Hernán does not go through the emergency room and did not operate it directly, without doing the previous badysis because he was going to die. directly to the operating room and, 45 minutes later, he was operated on, "exclaims Javier .

Casciari was very satisfied with the Artigas and wrote the criticism. These lines were pbaded on to Airbnb's Latin American director, who forwarded them to Joe Gebbia, founder of the platform and one of the world's richest youths according to the magazine Forbes.

Despite everything that had happened, the Artigas decided to go on vacation to a parent. And there, at the first badessment, they receive a message from Gebbia telling him that he wanted to visit them in Uruguay. At the second toll of the trip, a second message arrived: he had a flight. Then, at full speed, they had to go back to Montevideo. On January 31, 2015, he arrived at Artigas House.

A loose millionaire in Uruguay

"It was brief, quite normal and it was said what this guy is doing here, it's strange," recalls Alejandra. "I said no, it can not be, this guy came and told anyone who is here, I was very worried, I was scared that" they take it off and take me for the deliveryman. " Another nail, I thought. Except Gebbia went out on the street to walk as if nothing had happened, "said Javier, and laughed as he spoke.

"My daughter Valentina was standing with her hair, me in pajamas, and then Joe, seeing us so relaxed, so relaxed that he was down at home, supercontent. He got up, took a Lemon and ginger tea Everything was silent, "says Javier.

And things started to happen in a fun and unexpected way. "This guy once asked me if I could organize a party at home for the most remarkable guests of Uruguay," Alejandra says. "There would be about 150 people, I asked him when he wanted to do it, he said that night." But Joe, a party like that takes weeks to organize. "And she says" no, stay calm, from the
seat in San Francisco, everything is already organized. Well, then I went to the hairdresser and when I got home, there was a party. "

Javier says that he started asking her what she was doing. "I told him my story and I told him about the application he had developed.He was very interested in. One way or another, Connectus Medical has similarities with Airbnb, "he says.

Gebbia then asked Javier to check his computer: "I had a contract and the formula that is applied today to Airbnb, he said:" From now on, you will try to establish a link between the patients. , doctors, doctors, patients with nurses or patients with nephrology graduates, so that these patients feel comforted and create a community. "Four years later, we have gone from two or three consultations to 126,000 worldwide and are present in 150 countries," says Javier.

Connectus Medical currently has 8,000 dialysis centers on the platform and Javier has been able to give patients a better life. "If your vacation is to be in Aruba, we are looking for a center in Aruba and the patient pays everything from there and does not have to send medical reports or anything." He goes directly to Aruba and dialysis. then we would check if there was something to do near there, now we change this paradigm, today the patients go where they want and we take care of the rest, the idea is that they stop surviving and to move on. "

In 2017, Javier had a kidney transplant. Today, it is no longer necessary to dialyser and its development in the field of health is a worldwide success. So much so that 2012 Nobel Prize winner Alvin Roth referred to Connectus Medical as an example of a collaborative economy.

"My old man died of the same disease as me." He died at 48 years old. He was a war correspondent for the newspaper.
The day. We always thought that he was going to kill a lost bullet and he died, but he died of it. He nicknamed me Chiquilín de Bachin and I did not know why he had told me. When they transplanted me, a nephrologist played bandoneon to those who were interned. Then this doctor came and said, "I'm going to play a Piazzolla tango that you probably do not know, we call Chiquilin de Bachin". There I started crying. My father died on August 11th and I was called on August 9th for the transplant. Since 2015, there has been a chain of miracles that I do not know where it will end, "concludes Javier.