{"id":4944,"date":"2021-04-01T07:49:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T07:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-alumn-nus.pantheonsite.io\/alumnus\/?p=4944"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:08:10","slug":"putting-patients-at-ease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2021\/04\/01\/putting-patients-at-ease\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Patients at Ease"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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WHO SHE IS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ms Guadalupe Lazaro is the co-founder of Ease, a startup that aims to tackle the difficulties in accessing sensitive health services \u2014 among them reproductive and sexual health matters. She is a recent graduate of Yale-NUS College, where she was the president of a student group that promotes diversity and inclusivity.<\/em><\/p>

To the casual observer, accessing reproductive and sexual health services in Singapore might seem as easy as seeing a doctor for a flu jab. But Ms Guadalupe Lazaro knows otherwise \u2014 since starting her digital health platform Ease, she has heard from countless women about the challenges they face when trying to access services such as birth control and emergency contraceptives. \u201cSome patients were deeply uncomfortable about discussing their sexual health with a male doctor, while others felt judged by clinic staff for seeking birth control options,\u201d shares the 23-year-old. \u201cThere\u2019s still a great deal of stigma around reproductive and sexual health.\u201d<\/p>

Ms Lazaro has experienced this stigma herself \u2014 as a young woman trying to access such services, she has had to put up with unsolicited advice about her sexual health, as well as the inconvenience of long queues and waits at clinics. \u201cSituations like these are especially difficult for people who may not be able to get time off from work to visit a clinic, but who desperately need this kind of care,\u201d she reflects. \u201cThese experiences may also turn people off from talking about sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) and getting tested for them.\u201d<\/p>

Realising that a digital health platform would be a way of tackling some of these issues, Ms Lazaro decided to start Ease with a business partner last May. The health startup offers discreet and affordable sexual and reproductive services online, allowing its 9,000 users to teleconsult experienced doctors and refill prescriptions \u2014 all from the comfort and privacy of their homes. At-home test kits for STIs are also available. Furthermore, costs are kept low as the digital nature of Ease lowers its operating cost. These savings are passed on to users, adds Ms Lazaro. \u201cThis way, we put our users at ease and make it easier than ever for them to meet their healthcare needs,\u201d she explains. \u201cAnd because they\u2019re at ease, we can truly walk this journey with them. From experience, we know that deeply personal matters like STI testing and contraception are best handled when the patient-doctor relationship is built on trust and comfort. These are not transactional matters and should not be handled that way.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"9,100 people have joined Ease\u2019s platform as members since May 2020<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"These users have enjoyed over 22,000 minutes of teleconsultation with experienced doctors<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"The service enjoys a 5* rating on Google, making it the highest-rated digital health platform in Singapore<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A DREAM COME TRUE<\/strong><\/p>

Being a socially-focused entrepreneur has always been an ambition for Ms Lazaro, as The AlumNUS discovered. \u201cI have often thought about businesses that I want to start to solve society\u2019s problems. But I never imagined doing it right after graduation; I always expected my career to start in the non-governmental organisation sector and then possibly the private sector. Only after these stints did I expect myself to start my own venture.\u201d She says that her time in university helped her realise that she had the potential to make a difference to countless other young people in Singapore. \u201cAt Yale-NUS, I was the president of a student group that conducted workshops and dialogues on sexual and reproductive health. We were making a difference already and I wanted to continue doing that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Judging by Ease\u2019s growth, it has done just that: in under a year, it has grown to hire nine staff members who oversee its business development, product management, marketing, and day-to-day operations. Ms Lazaro knew she was on the right track when she started hearing feedback from Ease\u2019s users. \u201cThey were so grateful for the service we are providing and their words of encouragement have kept me motivated.\u201d She adds that reception to Ease has been largely positive and that she has not faced any backlash. \u201cThat\u2019s fortunate, given that some of the services we offer can be considered taboo by some.\u201d When asked about her plans for its next stage of growth, Ms Lazaro does not miss a beat. \u201cWe want to continue building on our foundations, raise awareness of Ease, and take the user experience to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS<\/strong><\/p>

Starting Ease is the latest milestone in Ms Lazaro\u2019s life, which began in Argentina. She was born and raised in a town two hours outside of Buenos Aires. A trip to the United States when she was 15 seeded in her a desire to study abroad and she began hunting for the ideal university for her. She eventually decided on Yale-NUS after the Experience Yale-NUS Weekend in 2015. \u201cThe school had a vibrant scene, and both the faculty and student body were so passionate about what they were doing \u2026 it was the perfect match.\u201d<\/p>

At university, she majored in Anthropology and did a minor in Global Affairs. The experience opened her eyes to the importance of dismantling social constructs. \u201cWe were encouraged to rethink concepts that many of us have just taken as fact \u2014 that\u2019s actually how the idea for Ease came about: when we started to question what \u2018accessible healthcare\u2019 means. After all, on the surface, healthcare is very accessible in Singapore. But dig a little deeper and you\u2019ll find the barriers that Ease is helping to bring down.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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From experience, we know that deeply personal matters like STI testing and contraception are best handled when the patient-doctor relationship is built on trust and comfort. These are not transactional matters and should not be handled that way.<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photo by Kelvin Chia<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Ms Guadalupe Lazaro (Yale-NUS \u201920) is using the Internet to widen access to reproductive and sexual health services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-impact","category-startups"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4944"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6127,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4944\/revisions\/6127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}