“Relief Anesthesia Hotline Association”℠ or RAHA℠ is all about patients and anesthesia providers and bringing Relief to them. It is about the potential benefits that RAHA could have for present and future generations. This is the mission the initiator of this project has been following.
The idea of the establishment of “Relief Anesthesia Hotline Association” or RAHA came to Dr. Vahid Nilforushan in April 2011. As a former Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at one of the major medical universities in Tehran, Iran, he pondered on how to continue to contribute to the field of Anesthesia and serve patients. At the time, he recalled a few instances in which his colleagues had come to him for help with the critical incidents they were facing during operation. Fortunately, he was available each time and managed to help them save their patients’ lives. Each of those experiences were unique and highly satisfying. Similarly, he recalled an occasion when one of his on-site colleagues provided him with a helpful hint that allowed him to resolve his own complicated case’s condition favorably. At this point, Dr. Nilforushan realized that there were probably many more anesthesia providers around the world who needed immediate help similar to those instances. This train of thought along with his concerns for patient safety served as a trigger. This led him to come up with the idea of establishing an organization to connect anesthesia providers to off-site anesthesia experts in order to favorably manage critical incidents that happen intraoperatively.
He knew that establishing the so-called “Relief Anesthesia Hotline Association” or RAHA is a complex and challenging process. However, since the birth of his idea, he has come to understand that there is a need for such a system and that the system can save the lives of many patients. Therefore, pursuing his idea has become an invaluable goal for him. Since then, he has felt responsible for doing as much as he can for the advancement of this project. His outstanding achievements in medicine and anesthesia and his background in different fields including his leadership and entrepreneurship experiences led him to believe that he is able to advance the project by himself up to a certain point. He was confident that at least he could found the basis of the organization. Since 2011, he has spent a lot of time researching about the potential need for RAHA, the feasibility of its establishment and the ways in which he can successfully present this idea to the anesthesia community and advance the project.
As of August 2017, the project is still led by Dr. Nilforushan who is currently using different ways to present his idea to the anesthesia community and distribute his survey. In this initiative, he has been greatly supported and encouraged by his family, especially his wife, Shiba Jafari-Nia. For the presentation of his idea to the anesthesia community, he has highly been supported by two young brilliant individuals, Kimia Barkam, a business specialist and Farzad Daei, a computer specialist, who have dedicatedly volunteered their time and expertise to this project. Without their support, Dr. Nilforushan could not have advanced his idea up to this stage. A heartfelt thanks to all of them.
Dr. Nilforushan hopes that the results of the survey could lead to the involvement of major anesthesia societies and world-class anesthesiologists in the next stages of the development of RAHA.
This project can only succeed with teamwork. This is an opportunity for us to save lives, make the world a better place and make our mark in history. It is a lot of hard work, but it is definitely worthwhile. We hope not, but maybe one day our loved ones, or ourselves, could be in need of Relief by RAHA.
If this initiative resonates with you and if you find value in this activity, please contribute to it and make it contagious! Please also share the survey with your colleagues as it requires the participation of a large number of anesthesia providers. Your help is greatly appreciated.