The phrase “Technology Saves Lives” seems pretty straightforward when you first read it. “Well, yes,” you might say. “Technology sure does save lives!” But when you read more than 400 real-life stories about just how technology does that, the phrase takes on a whole new level of importance.

Take this fact, for example: “Rice University designed a device called Baby Bubbler to help children with acute respiratory infections breathe naturally as they recover. Given that around 20 percent of deaths in children under five are caused by lower respiratory infections, this device will surely save lives.”

This fact is the 443rd submitted to the Technology Saves Lives Facebook page, which serves as a virtual repository for these types of brief stories. The social media initiative is hoping “to create a discussion that will ultimately speed the delivery of all kinds of technology and philanthropic donations that will save lives,” according to its page. Its ultimate goal is to accumulate 1,000 facts from visitors, upon which sponsor NetApp will donate a NetApp FAS2240 storage system to charity Be The Match on behalf of all who participate. The page also notes that “Our hope is that other leaders in the technology community will extend additional challenges to keep collecting facts so we can collectively have a greater impact on saving lives.”

I recently chatted with Criss Marshall, Senior Director of Brand Marketing at NetApp, about why the company - a developer of storage and data management solutions - chose to get involved with the charity and subsequently highlight the life-saving potential of healthcare IT at the same time.

When and why did NetApp decide to start the Technology Saves Lives initiative?
Criss Marshall: We made a decision to launch the Technology Saves Lives initiative last fall. The initiative was inspired by the story of Be the Match, a nonprofit organization that facilitates marrow and umbilical cord blood transplants for critically ill patients with leukemia and lymphoma. Our intent was to create awareness around the power of technology in helping to save lives with the initial goal of donating a new NetApp FAS2240 storage system to BTM to help them match even more patients to donors.

How did your relationship with Be the Match come about?
Our Executive Vice President of Field Operations, Rob Salmon, had a close friend, Barry Foon, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He needed a marrow transplant, but as an Asian American, his chances of finding a match were extremely low. By working with the Asian American Donor Program (a local affiliate of Be The Match), a match was found for Barry, but it wasn’t fast enough.  He passed away four years ago. Rob has been committed to working with Be The Match as our executive sponsor since that time.

Why did you decide to make this a Facebook-based initiative, rather than create a separate website?
Facebook and other social media platforms have the unique ability to connect people around the world and help them unite behind a single cause. We’ve seen so many examples where, through the power of social media, lives have been changed or even saved, so it seemed appropriate to let our initiative live there.

A great example came from Tina Ashamalla, an employee at NetApp, who shared a story on the Technology Saves Lives page about her daughter, who was diagnosed with a rare kind of germ cell tumor affecting only 2-percent of children. After receiving her daughter’s diagnosis, Tina immediately went to work by activating her own social network through Facebook. Within two weeks, Tina had received 1,500 emails with leads about treatment that ultimately led her to a doctor who informed her there is a type of radiation called proton beam therapy that focuses radiation at the tumor, minimizing damage to the brain. Tina’s daughter has Down’s syndrome, so that was huge for her. Tina’s daughter was able to have surgery that not only saved her life, but also maximized her quality of life in the process. Today she is cancer-free.

In your opinion (or perhaps based on the number of likes a “fact” has received), what has been the most compelling/moving fact submitted so far?
I don’t think it is possible to pick just one fact. Some are just that – they are very factual. For example, Julie L. submitted this fact: "I'm a hospital nurse who recently switched to the anesthesiology department. The way that monitoring vitals has become digitized is nothing short of life-saving!" That is a fact with many personal stories behind it.

Sheila F., on the other hand, shared a personal story about how technology saved her life five years ago when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Thanks to technology, she was ultimately diagnosed cancer free—only to learn that she had end-stage renal failure. Hours after her second diagnosis, she was placed on life-sustaining dialysis three days a week, three hours at a time. Without it she would live less than 72 hours. Dialysis kept her alive for over 3 years . . . long enough for testing to determine that her brother was a transplant match for her. On December 9th of this past year, she received a new kidney thanks to the incredible generosity of her brother and the technologies that kept her alive. I’m happy to report that both Sheila and her brother are doing well! I can’t imagine going through two life-threatening battles in such a short time. Her story truly inspires me.

How will the NetApp FAS2240 storage system ultimately help Be the Match and its endeavors?
Be The Match has cut time to transplant by 15 percent, and has achieved 50-percent more transplants because it built its storage foundation on NetApp. That translates to saving thousands of lives. As they add more storage they will be able to expand their mission to save more lives.

What are your plans for the initiative once 1,000 facts are collected? Will you create a new goal?
Our hope is that other leaders in the technology community will extend additional challenges to keep collecting facts so we can collectively have a greater impact on saving lives. We are over the half way mark and truly need everyone’s help in donating a system to Be The Match. It takes less than five minutes to go to [our Facebook page] and submit a fact. Please encourage your readers to help us reach our goal of 1,000 facts so we can collectively help save more lives.

Jennifer Dennard is Social Marketing Director for Atlanta-based Billian's HealthDATA, Porter Research and HITR.com. Connect with her on Twitter @SmyrnaGirl.