Your Health, Our Priority.

About the Project

Our project is an Emergency Response Dashboard that aims to improve emergency services in rural communities. Inspired by the ride-sharing model of services such as Bolt, our goal is to provide faster access to transportation and ambulances, particularly at night. By allowing car owners to register as volunteers and providing real-time updates, we hope to close the gap in emergency services for those in need.

Inspiration

This project was inspired by the urgent need to improve emergency response times in rural areas. During the recent protests in Kenya, we saw a tragic increase in accidents and injuries, with many victims dying before arriving at the hospital. This demonstrated the critical need for a more effective emergency response system. We think that by utilizing technology and the community, we can significantly improve things and even save lives.

What We Learned and what we plan to gain

Throughout the development of this project, we learned the importance of collaboration and the power of technology in solving real-world problems. We gained insights into:

User-Centric Design: Understanding the needs of both emergency service users and volunteer drivers.
Technical Skills: Implementing real-time updates, learning new languages and frameworks, location tracking, and integrating various APIs for mapping and payments.
Project Management: Coordinating efforts across different parts of the project, from ideation to deployment, and using project management tools such as Trelloboards.

How We Built Our Project

Ideation and Planning: Conducted research on the current state of emergency services in rural areas. Brainstormed features that could address the identified issues.
Created a detailed plan outlining the MVP.

Technology Stack: Frontend: JavaScript (React.js/React Native), HTML, CSS.

Backend: Node.js.

APIs: Google Maps API for location tracking, payment gateways (Mpesa/Payless) for handling transactions, and geolib for geographical calculations.

Database: SQL, MongoDB, Firebase, Supabase.

Development Plan:

Build the user registration system for users and volunteers.
Implement the admin panel for managing cars/ambulances, user feedback, and emergency contacts.
Create a notification system using USSD for offline services and in-app communication between drivers/volunteers and patients.
Add a health tips section providing first aid training, prevention measures, and improvised treatments.
Design and UI/UX using Figma:
Design a landing page and the overall UI/UX of the app to ensure a user-friendly experience.
Developed a responsive layout for the dashboard, making it accessible on various devices.

Testing and Deployment:

Conduct extensive testing to ensure the app's reliability and performance.
Deploy the app and continuously monitored it for any issues.

Challenges

Technical Challenges:
Integrating real-time location tracking and ensuring accuracy.
Implementing a robust payment system that is secure and user-friendly.
Ensuring the app works offline through USSD services.
User Adoption: Encouraging car owners to volunteer and participate in the emergency response network. Gaining trust from users regarding the safety and reliability of the service.
Resource Management: Managing and verifying a large number of volunteers. Ensuring that there are enough resources available during peak emergency times.

Conclusion Building the Emergency Response Dashboard was a challenging yet rewarding experience. It highlighted the power of technology and community collaboration in addressing critical issues. We believe this project has the potential to significantly improve emergency response times in rural areas, providing timely assistance to those in need and ultimately saving lives.