Creighton University’s Health Sciences Multicultural and Community Affairs (HS-MACA) REACH Department hosted its inaugural Hackathon on Oct. 27-28.
This Hackathon provided young leaders the opportunity to merge the fields of software development, business, and public health. The Hackathon focused on using physical activity-based methods on a digital, technology-based platform to create and design technological solutions for cardiovascular disease prevention in the African-American community. High-school, college, and graduate students were inspired to create actual world-health solutions for real health-disparities challenges.
Participants had the opportunity to collaborate with professionals while learning product-development and business-pitching skills for the purpose of creating tangible solutions for chronic diseases by means of creating an app to address health disparities. Pictured are the winners Hackathon: (Sasha Valley Bastien, Tyresha Pitts, and Chidi Ezeokoli).
These three post-baccalaureate pre-dental and pre-medical students created the concept of a FIT 4 U mobile app, designed to serve users of ages 16 and up as a means of both becoming healthier through fitness and the prevention of health disparities that can later lead to cardiovascular disease. After entering in your background information, the application will calculate your risk factor of developing diseases and personally cater to the users possible risk by encouraging and helping the user make long term life style changes through the help of health coach, tailored exercises at various locations including home and work, and progress tracking of weekly results.
In the fun aspect of the application, users are able to create a virtual avatar that allows one to connect with other users including friends and family in friendly fitness competitions. The rewards plan to compensate the user for their hard work by partnering up with local organizations in order to receive discounts on a variety things including groceries and gym memberships.
