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  Showing the texts coming through to the iPhone

Building DoseAlert: A Journey in Solving Real-World Healthcare Challenges

Inspiration: Bridging the Gap in Medication Adherence

The spark for DoseAlert came from a conversation with Dylan's father, a healthcare professional who highlighted a critical problem: patients often forget about upcoming vaccinations and medications. This directly impacts treatment outcomes and public health. We realized technology could bridge this gap, creating a system that empowers patients through automated reminders and accessible health information.

What We Built: A User-Centric Solution

Core Features

• Automated SMS Reminders: Integrated custom email sms to send timely alerts
• Medication Tracking Dashboard: FastAPI backend with webez frontend
• AI-Powered Drug Insights: Laid groundwork for generative AI medicine descriptions (planned expansion)
• Health Entry System: Secure API endpoints for user data management

# FastAPI Scheduler for Daily Checks
@asynccontextmanager
async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
    scheduler = BackgroundScheduler()
    scheduler.add_job(check_old_prescriptions, 'cron', hour=3, minute=0)  # 3 AM daily
    scheduler.start()
    yield
    scheduler.shutdown()

// Webez API Integration Example
async function getHealthEntries(userId: number) {
  const response = await axios.get(
    `http://128.4.102.9:8000/users/${userId}/health-entries/`,
    { headers: { "X-API-KEY": "secret-key-123" } }
  );
  return response.data;
}

Technical Journey: Lessons Learned

Frontend Evolution

React Deep Dive: Used Apple's Genius Bar approach to master component architecture

• Analyzed Apple's component patterns through Genius Bar documentation
• Implemented atomic design principles for reusable UI elements

Styling Breakthroughs: Implemented CSS Modules for cohesive designs

• Solved CSS namespace collisions through modular architecture
• Created theme variables for consistent color/font management

API Integration: Bridged TypeScript frontend with Python backend

• Developed type guards for safe API response handling
• Implemented axios interceptors for global error handling

Backend Challenges

First FastAPI Implementation: Created RESTful endpoints with JWT authentication

• Learned dependency injection patterns for database sessions
• Implemented middleware for CORS and request validation

Database Optimization: Learned PostgreSQL optimization techniques

• Added composite indexes for common query patterns
• Implemented connection pooling with asyncpg

Async Programming: Mastered background tasks with APScheduler

• Configured cron-style scheduling for daily SMS batches
• Implemented task locking to prevent duplicate executions

API Cross-Language Hurdles

// TypeScript Frontend Validation
interface HealthEntry {
  userId: number;
  medication: string;
  dueDate: DateString;
}

# Python Pydantic Model
class HealthEntry(BaseModel):
    user_id: int = Field(gt=0)
    medication: str = Field(min_length=3)
    due_date: date

Key Learnings:

• Implemented shared validation contracts via OpenAPI spec
• Understood how react simplifies the process of adding html to a site
• Created API key

What's Next: Expanding Impact

Future Roadmap

Built With

• css
• fastapi
• html
• python
• sqlalchemy
• typescript
• webez