Healthcare for Self-Care

Inspiration

We were inspired by the overarching goals of HackDavis in promoting social good through technology, specifically in how we could promote positive change and action through our project. We also had knowledge of the limited access to medical care and services experienced by many low income communities and third world nations.

What it does

Our website offers multiple built-in functions that allow users to make appointments with their local doctors, locate nearby health clinics and hospitals, receive immediate help from our prompt box suggestions, and utilize an interactive online forum where people can post questions and answers regarding possible treatments for illnesses.

How we built it

First, we brainstormed for ideas and then divided up the workload based on who had which skillsets and experience. Aakansha worked mainly on the HTML and CSS, in terms of creating the layout and design for our website. Alyssa and Christine worked on some of the specific functions, such as the Help and Forum sections, which included a prompt-box and implementation of an online forum. All three of us, worked on adding google map locations to our website and on finalizing the web page.

Challenges we ran into

We initially wanted to create a Google Calendar that scheduled appointments based on user input, but we were unable to get access to the required API and were too pressed for time to include a large amount of backend development because of all of our functions. In order to work around this issue, we stored the information in variables that can be called later. In addition, we initially attempted to create a simple chatbot that would converse with website users, but the idea for a chatbot developed into a prompt-box that gave users prompts and suggestions based on needs and information.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of collaborating on each stage of our project, from brainstorming our website, to coding each aspect of it (buttons, functions, background, etc) rather than using a pre-programmed shell. In addition, we are glad to gain experience in programming and computer science topics, as this was the first hackathon for all three members and we were able to successively complete a cool project, that we believe has potential to make a positive impact in the healthcare industry.

What we learned

Through programming our website, we learned about and used many new capabilities and functions. For example, we learned how to create alerts when a user clicked on a certain button and learned how to incorporate pop up boxes and external maps into our programs. Overall, the project came to full fruition through a process of trial and error, during which we gained lots of valuable computer science knowledge and experience.

What's next for Healthcare for Self-Care

We would like to implement a chatbot and an interactive calendar, and would like to incorporate more backend development. We would also like to program a function that tracks user location and uses this information to improve our sites functions.