SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- When health, safety and the fight against poverty are on the line, the last thing beleaguered government workers and humanitarian volunteers need is to spend countless hours in an office transferring data from paper to a desktop. Palm(TM) handheld computers now are being applied widely by nurses, housing inspectors and small-business loan providers in locations ranging from Orange and Los Angeles counties to Third World countries. Saving up to half the time necessary to complete paperwork means more time to help those who really need their attention and energy.

Los Angeles Housing Department: Unsafe Homes Exposed in Two-thirds the

Time

Thanks to a website created by Neal Richman, Ph.D., a professor at UCLA, many of the 73 Los Angeles housing inspectors have shaved off a third of the time they spend on paperwork, significantly reducing the inspection process. Richman's website, called Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles ( http://nkla.sppsr.ucla.edu ), logs hazardous housing violations at many of the 880,000 housing units inspected by the Sytematic Code Enforcement Program on a periodic schedule. Inspectors enter data directly into their Palm handhelds while in the field and upload it to a server, making information more accurate, available quickly, and helping save the city time and money. In earthquake country, even seemingly mundane disrepair has the potential to turn dangerous or even fatal.

Visiting Nurses Association Home Health Systems (VNAHHS): 50 Percent Less

Paperwork Means More Time to Tend to Patients

Jeneane Brian, a nurse and chief executive officer of the Visiting Nurses Association Home Health Systems (www.vnahhs.com) knew that home healthcare workers could spend more time with patients if only they could reduce the amount of paperwork. Each visit requires filling out at least three forms, and in total, cases can take up to 18 hours of paperwork. For every hour with a patient, a nurse might spend another hour looking up vital information and updating medical records. Brian's solution: create software for Palm handheld computers that, according to Brian, halves the time spent on paperwork and gives healthcare workers an average of 9 extra hours to spend with patients or to help with staffing shortages elsewhere. The VNAHHS Digital Chart, widely applied in Orange and Los Angeles counties, offers access to patient records, including a chronology of a patient's progress, diagnostic history and allergies.

ACCION International: 50 Percent More Time to Help Potential Borrowers

Work Their Way Out of Poverty

Small-business owners in developing countries often struggle to get ahead without benefit of a strong economy or banking system that can offer loans and other means of capital investment. Organizations such as ACCION International (www.accion.org), a humanitarian "microloan" provider, fill that gap with small loans averaging $500 per business. But carrying stacks of paper or laptop computers into remote villages and hard-to-reach neighborhoods has proved inconvenient and even a security risk to the loan officers who are serving those in need of help. Now, Palm handheld computers using an ACCION- built application offer an inconspicuous, portable means of taking applications, tracking client records and approving loans -- regardless of geography or locale. Note-taking and data entry used to take at least 60 minutes; only 30 minutes maximum is used with the new process, according to ACCION. The U.S. Agency for International Development provided a grant for developing the application, now being deployed in several countries, including, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia.

More information on case studies and the use of Palm handheld computers in the enterprise is available at www.palm.com/enterprise/studies.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld computers, according to IDC (December 2000). Based on the Palm OS(R) platform, Palm's handheld solutions allow people to carry and access their most critical information wherever they go. Palm(TM) handhelds address the needs of individuals, enterprises and educational institutions by offering the foundation for thousands of application solutions. Palm stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol PALM. More information is available at http://www.palm.com .

NOTE: Palm OS is a registered trademark and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. Other brands may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Palm, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.palm.com
CONTACT: Kristine Boyden of A&R Partners, +1-650-762-2837, or kboyden@arpartners.com, for Palm, Inc.; or Ronni Sarmanian of Palm, Inc., +1-408-878-2547, or ronni.sarmanian@corp.palm.com