Hacking Health Windsor Detroit announces winners

WINDSOR, Ont. – Hacking Health Windsor Detroit, a cross-border hackathon, hosted teams that pitched 38 different ideas earlier this month. Eight winning projects were announced, including OnSite, a service that provides real-time video streaming for use in emergency management.

OnSite won in the “People’s Choice” category. The solution provides emergency personnel, such as emergency technicians, ER professionals, dispatchers and other first-responders with live video of emergency situations. The goal of OnSite is to give trained professionals tools to immediately assess emergencies.

In emergency situations, first responders often have a limited idea of what to expect and know little until they get to the site of the emergency, or the person in need of assistance is brought to them.

OnSite uses the power of video, the ubiquity of mobile/camera-enabled devices and the expertise of health and emergency professionals to get instant information when it happens. This means that people can show emergency health professionals what will be needed long before the person is in the ER, as well as what is needed in the meantime. It also assists those who are limited in their ability to explain clearly, such as the children, injured persons and those with physical disabilities.

One of the designers of OnSite is Nyasha, a web developer and electrical engineering student at the University of Windsor.

“Our cross-border Hacking Health brought together really creative and passionate people from Health and IT – and from both sides of the border – who otherwise may never have had an opportunity to collaborate,” said Irek Kusmierczyk, Director of Partnerships at WEtech Alliance, one of the organizers. “Hacking Health is about challenging borders and boundaries when talking about healthcare innovation.”

“As the first cross-border Hacking Health in the world, this event presents a unique opportunity for participants to develop valuable international relationships and improve the quality of patient care across two distinctly different healthcare systems,” observed John-Marc Vachon, Director of Programs & Marketing, WEtech Alliance.

Other winners included:

•  Judges’ Favourite: Accessibility App

An app that enables families with children or adults with special needs to determine how accessible a building really is. Restaurants and other community buildings will call themselves “accessible” when in fact they have steps to get into the building, no push button access, and only a wall bar in the washroom, along with other barriers. The app enables users to fill out a checklist; based on how many checks they get, the site would obtains an accessibility rating (i.e., 4/5 stars).

•  Best caregiver/patient management app: Mwendo

Infections due to handwashing failure can be linked to sickness and deaths in healthcare organizations. Hand hygiene is a real problem that isn’t focused on as much as it should be by healthcare organizations. Mwendo helps solve the problem with a device that scans hands and determines how dirty the hand is. It also makes graphs for easier tracking.

•  Best clinical app or solutions: Port-all

Patients usually don’t know when their ports/central lines need to be accessed, flushed, or have dressing changes. In addition, they don’t know what size needle is used, what heparin concentration is used, or figures about volume. The streamlines maintenance and care of VAD (venous access devices) such as ports/PICC’s/central lines, by allowing healthcare facilities to enter & access this vital information.

•  Highest potential for patient/social impact: My Meds

Studies show that 72% of patients are unable to list their meds. It is critical to empower patients with a solution that allows them, their caregivers and healthcare providers to keep track of their medications and allergies. This app is able to update the med list automatically; it is also secure and accessible from any platform.

•  Highest potential for adoption: Transition

An application to assist in the overwhelmingly complicated and drawn-out process of gender transitioning. The application will focus on streamlining important information, tracking hormone intake, tracking physical and mental changes for use by healthcare professionals, and providing a repository of additional resources within the community.

•  Best student team from the U.S.: Sugar Free Foods

Millions of people have diabetes. They are using inefficient methods for collecting and sharing information. This app delivers a better way for them to gather and share information related to blood glucose levels.

•  Best student team from Canada: Accessibility App

The 2016 version of Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit builds on the success of a previous Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit event that was held at Tech Town Detroit in May, 2015. This year’s event was held in Windsor at the Toldo Health Education Centre at the University of Windsor.

Hacking Health is an international movement designed to improve healthcare by inviting technology creators and healthcare professionals to collaborate on realistic, human-centric solutions to front-line problems. Learn more about Hacking Health at http://hackinghealth.ca/