Students win national student app contest and $10,000 grand prize with new app that helps enhance patient experience
BRAMPTON, ETOBICOKE and ORANGEVILLE, ON, June 22, 2016 /CNW/ - Two 15-year old high school students got a crash course in emergency and community care recently, as they developed a new gaming app for use in emergency departments within the Central West region. This new Android app was developed as part of a national student app contest hosted by the Central West Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), Headwaters Health Care Centre (Headwaters) and William Osler Health System (Osler).
On Tuesday, the new app named 'Emerg Master' will be officially launched in front of dignitaries, health system leaders, donors and community members at Osler's Annual General Meeting. During the meeting, the Central West CCAC, Headwaters and Osler will award the winning team – Grade 9 students Caius Dobson and Jacob Luxton from Grey Highlands Secondary School in Flesherton, Ontario – with a $10,000 prize, generously sponsored by Vena Solutions.
Launched in January, the app contest challenged high school, undergraduate and graduate students to come up with a gaming app to help engage and educate the public on how to better access home, community and acute care in the communities served by the partner organizations.
Emerg Master includes characters in both Headwaters and Osler emergency departments and offers detailed information about how the hospitals connect patients with community care, and the role that the CCAC can play in making sure patients with specific needs can find the care they require closer to home. It also provides helpful information about how the emergency departments work, to help users better understand processes and manage expectations when they arrive.
"We recognize that as smart phones increase in popularity and as we continue to turn to mobile apps to make things quicker and more efficient, we have a tremendous opportunity to leverage tools and technology to help patients and families better navigate their care experience," said Susan deRyk, Joint Vice-President, Service Quality and Community Relations. "The ingenuity, determination and passion demonstrated by our winning student team is nothing short of inspirational. We are looking forward to using this app to help transform the patient experience across our organizations, and ensure our community has the important information they need, right at their fingertips.
Emerg Master will be available on Google Play as a free download for Android devices for use by patients, as of Tuesday, June 28.
"We were absolutely blown away when we found out that we had won," said Jacob. "It is very exciting and we can't wait to share the completed app."
When asked what motivated them to participate in the contest, they described programming as not only a hobby, but also their passion.
"Our love for programming began when we started playing video games. Both of us find it extremely interesting, and hope to one day work as professional programmers," said Caius.
They will be awarded $10,000 at Osler's AGM by Vena Solutions, a corporate performance management solutions company that sponsored the contest.
"We're very proud to be a part of the contest, and to support the winning team," said Don Mal, CEO, Vena Solutions. "At Vena, we know first-hand how valuable and influential our youngest team members can be. They're clearly not just the leaders of tomorrow, but already the innovators of today."
For more information on Central West CCAC, visit healthcareathome.ca/centralwest.
For more information on Headwaters Health Care Centre, visit headwatershealth.ca.
For more information about William Osler Health System, visit www.williamoslerhs.ca.
ABOUT THE CENTRAL WEST COMMUNITY CARE ACCESS CENTRE: The Central West Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) helps ensure people have the health care and support they need to remain safe and independent for as long as possible. We are privileged to help people come home from hospital, live independently, and, when appropriate, transition into long-term care. Our care coordinators are regulated health professionals – nurses, physiotherapists, and others – with additional, specialized training in coordinating care across the health system. Last year, we served more than 35,000 patients at home, in school, and through the three hospitals located in our community. The Central West CCAC is funded by the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
ABOUT HEADWATERS HEALTH CARE CENTRE: Headwaters Health Care Centre is an 86-bed acute and complex continuing care facility, offering both inpatient and outpatient services, as well as an Emergency Department with 24/7 coverage. By offering care closer to home and putting patients first, Headwaters Health Care Centre aims to provide an exceptional experience every time.
ABOUT WILLIAM OSLER HEALTH SYSTEM: William Osler Health System is a hospital system 'Accredited with Exemplary Standing' that serves 1.3 million residents of Brampton, Etobicoke, and surrounding communities within the Central West Local Health Integration Network. Osler's emergency departments are among the busiest in Canada and its labour and delivery program is one of the largest in the province. William Osler Health System Foundation builds and fosters relationships in order to raise funds to support William Osler Health System's capital, education and research priorities at Brampton Civic Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital and the new Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health & Wellness.
ABOUT VENA SOLUTIONS: Vena turns Excel into an enterprise-class business solution with a centralized database, workflow, detailed audit trail and more. With Vena, hundreds of leading global brands now get trusted numbers and insights – fast – without sacrificing the investments they've made in Excel templates, models and reports. Our customers use Vena for corporate performance management (CPM) applications including budgeting, financial close management, reporting, and automating other spreadsheet driven processes across and beyond finance. Vena is the fastest growing cloud CPM vendor, and the only one to embrace – not replace – Excel spreadsheets.
SOURCE William Osler Health System
Image with caption: "CCAC; Headwaters Health Care Centre; William Osler Health System (CNW Group/William Osler Health System)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160622_C2467_PHOTO_EN_720370.jpg
Alineh Haidery, Regional Manager, Public Relations, Central West CCAC, Headwaters Health Care Centre and William Osler Health System, P: 905-494-2120 ext. 59124, [email protected]
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