More than ever, I am impressed by the confidence and innovation shown by young Canadian technologists and businesspeople. Young entrepreneurs, co-op students, and interns alike are earnestly contributing to the output of technologies that are disrupting industries or just simply making lives easier for people.

Matt Pidlisecky is a sales and marketing intern completing his final business internship with Arya Health before he graduates with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Victoria. Pidlisecky has been tasked with creating enhancements to Ayra’s customer relationship management (CRM) processes, updating its website, and providing innovative thinking in relation to marketing Arya Health’s cloud-based software that enable online patient scheduling, digital eFax, ePrescribing, and digital notes among other physician practise management features.

I asked Pidlisecky, an aspiring innovator (and who contacted me with such enthusiasm), about the changing digital landscape in healthcare delivery in Canada, his innovation role at Arya Health, and if he would share his advice to help students find and thrive in tech and innovation-related internships.

The New Digital Landscape in Physician / Patient Care

“Digital solutions and EMR (electronic medical record) software have now become the catalyst that is changing the future of healthcare in Canada,” began Pidlisecky.

“Currently, there are three main issues that EMR’s fix with respect to the patient and Physician relationship,” stated Pidlisecky.

“Firstly, is the digitization and cloud back-up of patient medical information. Now that we have begun to push for change, patient files are now cloud based and backed up so if a computer is damaged or lost the patient file doesn’t go with it. In Arya‘s case those medical records are hosted on compliant servers based here in Canada.”

“Secondly, digital solutions have allowed for remote access to information between patients and physicians,” shared Pidlisecky. “EMR technology allows doctors to access the information they need from wherever they are, where previously they would need to go into their practice to find paper documents stored in files.”

“Lastly, there is a workflow of information that has been improved because of EMR technology. Today faxes can be automatically received electronically, matched to a Patient ID number, and automatically saved to the correct patient’s file. No tedious sorting, scanning, printing, or copying. Having this flow of information,” explained Pidlisecky, “allows for patients to receive their results faster, and eliminates the risk of losing important documents.”

Pidlisecky added, “Having digital solutions in place have dramatically improved patient care, and reduced cost burdens for physicians.”

About Arya Health

“Arya Health is a Vancouver based SaaS company whose focus is to fix the broken, slow, and antiquated Canadian healthcare system,” stated Pidlisecky.

Arya Health offers cloud-based software solutions for patient management in personal practise as well as for physicians and healthcare professionals working in hospital settings. Partners include federal, provincial and private businesses across Canada.

“The story began with Co-Founders, Drs. Sam Gharbi, Richard Sztramko, and Richard Vandegriend. After having first-hand experience spending years using outdated EMR technology, they had enough of the “old ways” and knew a change needed to be made.”

Remarked Pidlisecky, “Within healthcare technology, final products are often poorly designed, as it’s traditionally built by businesspeople, administrators, and developers. Although these people are important, they aren’t the people working directly with the product day to day to take care of patients or run clinics.” Pidlisecky

“Over the past six years Arya Health has developed and launched an EMR technology that has changed the lives of doctors coast to coast in Canada.” It’s a solution for physicians, built by physicians, I was told.

Tech Internships Offer Huge Potential

Pidlisecky did his research in choosing Arya Health for his final internship.

Said Pidlisecky, “I really enjoy the sales and marketing side of business, and after contacting some of my mentors it became clear that the technology industry is where I can apply my skills to succeed, especially with the amount of growth potential available. After coming to the conclusion that I wanted to work in tech, I needed to find a company that I saw aligned values with.”

“I did a quick Google search to find the top Vancouver start-up companies and found a list titled “101 Top SaaS Start-ups and Companies in Vancouver ” and after scrolling through the list I landed upon Arya Health!”

“I was immediately drawn into the company because of my own personal experiences and confusion with how outdated the Canadian healthcare system is, which made me want to be a part of the change,” revealed Pidlisecky. “After interviewing with the Founders at Arya, I was able to land a position for my final co-op semester, and I could not be more happy with the outcome!”

Internship Learnings

“When I heard the phrase, “I wear lots of hats”, I never knew what that actually felt like until now.”

“During my internship with Arya Health, I have been able to be a part of a team that wants to make a change to the status quo of healthcare in Canada. The energy our team brings to foster this change is unlike anything I have experienced before,” said Pidlisecky.

“I have had the opportunity to work on the Sales and Marketing team, and with that has come an immense amount of development within strategy, analysis, campaigns, business development, partnerships and many other areas. Over the course of my internship, I have earned the trust and confidence of my superiors, allowing me to work in a fast-moving environment without always needing to search for approval. Not having people micromanage has allowed me to grow as a businessperson faster than I ever could have expected,” said. Pidlisecky.

Pidlisecky’s Tech Job Search Recommendations

I asked Pidlisecky to share some advice for students seeking innovative and tech internships and positions in Canada, to which he responded:

1. Find a mentor – “As basic as this may sound, this is one of the best things that I have focused on over my years in university. Having someone to bounce ideas off of, learn from, and help you through situations is something that should be a focus for all students.”
2. Network on LinkedIn – “One of the best skills I have learned is how to reach out to people using LinkedIn. What this allows you to do is network and speak to people currently in a role that you potentially want to be in. As weird as it may seem sending a message to someone you don’t know, the responses you will get will surprise you. Just remember, people are always willing to lend a helping hand, all you have to do is start the conversation.”
3. Showcase your skills – “For students looking to get into the tech world, it ultimately comes down to how you can sell your skills to a company that needs them. Finding areas in tech where you excel, whether that be data analytics, marketing, inbound sales or strategy, you need to be able to communicate what you are excellent at and how it will help to grow their business. Understandably, students have less experience in the job market so it may seem unlikely we have certain skills, but, as a student who is also always trying to grow my resume, I realized there are so many free resources to take advantage of. For example, Hubspot courses, Linkedin courses, and even Google courses.”

Pidlisecky summed up his advice with, “We have the ability to learn so much, and everything we do to continuously improve will allow us to land a job in the competitive field of tech.

Call for intern experiences in tech and innovation! If you are currently interning with innovation or technological responsibilities, get in touch.

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