We sat down (virtually of course) with the founders of ScreenMe!, one of our team from Spring Program 2021, to hear and share more about their vision of making a change in the policy of cervical cancer screening in Estonia. Meet Kaidi Usin, CEO, Kirke Asandi, Head of Research, Scharlett Hansson, Project Manager, Karin Varrak, CFO and Jana Arsenjeva, CMO.

What is the problem you are solving?

Kaidi: We are working on improving the invitation part of cervical cancer screening program in Estonia. Since TalTech Digital Health Hackathon, we have put in a lot of work and gathered data, which have helped us to map out 4 problem areas.

Scharlett: We analyzed the current clinical flow of the screening and found that invitations do not reach the target group, which leads to a low rate of participation. The second issue is that the opportunistic screening rate is too high.

Karin: Budget and flow of financing have not been presented in a clear way. We are trying to find out why the cervical cancer screening program receives the least amount of budget from all cancer screening programs, provided that it has the lowest rate of attendance.

Jana: We have also learned that information flow is scattered. It is not presented in a clear step-by-step method in which stakeholder information should be provided. We need to have a better overview of what information is being reported back after screenings are completed. What surprised us was that there were no actual annual questionnaires conducted in order to get feedback from all participants during the years since screening has been available.

Kirke: As we looked into the regulatory part, we didn’t find clear guidelines for cancer screening programs. It is not sufficiently defined from the government side.

Why is now the right time to change the policy of cervical cancer screening?

Kaidi: Majority of involved stakeholders see the challenges and obstacles of current cervical cancer screening program and have already done few improvements, however so far it still does not bring the needed results. In order to count the screening program successful, the participation rate needs to be above 70%. In 2019 that rate was only 46%.

Scharlett: After conducting the research, we understood that in Estonia the participation rate is one of the lowest in Europe already for several years. People are not paying the needed attention to this type of cancer and it is of critical importance that a greater awareness is created.

How are you different from your competitors?

Jana: I believe it’s our innovative thinking that sets us apart from competitors. Also we perform faster than the governmental institution and we plan to implement changes and improvements based on solid participant feedback. Last, yet most importantly, we are passionate and determined to make a change.

Kirke: After looking at the problem from various aspects we analyzed all available information starting from the government side to end-users and mapped out the full flow of the cancer screening pathway. Now, the plan is to make changes in all discovered problem areas.

What is the recipe for a successful team?

Kaidi: Communication and trust – open-minded and straightforward conversations. All difficult topics should be addressed immediately, discussed and agreed upon by all members. This is what makes us a great team.

Karin: Successful team should have passion. This is what drives you to get up in the morning and continues to push you forward to reach team goals. Support is also very important as we all have good and bad days. To provide support is crucial to a successful team.

What will be written in newspaper headlines about your company in 5 years?

Entire team: ScreenMe! – A new cervical cancer screening program policy has raised participation rates up to 90% and saved a high number of people by helping them to diagnose cancer at an early stage and begin their treatment on time.

For more information about ScreenMe!: teamscreenme@gmail.com