COVID-19 Helper

Help is Here ! Our project is a simple web app that links those who need COVID-19 medical supplies like Oxygen , medicines to those who have these supplies.

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Inspiration

Inspiration came to us a few days ago before the start of the hackathon. Many of our team members are from India and while watching the news, we observed how people were struggling to obtain crucial COVID-19 related supplies like Oxygen, Plasma Remidisvir, Beds, and other important medicines. We always observed some statistics which showed that India was producing more than it needed and that the problem was not production but logistics. Medical supplies weren't reaching people who needed them. so we decided to build an app to bridge this gap

What it does

Our app allows people to post what they need, where they need, and any other relevant detail along with their contact details. Those who are in possession of these items can look at our web app and deliver these items to those who need them. What separates us from the rest is that our app reduces the burden of finding medical supplies on the loved ones of COVID-19 positive patients. This helps them emotionally and even physically in a time of need.

How we built it

We built the app as a flask web app combing the best of backend and frontend. All authentication and posts are handled by flask while it is designed using HTML5, CSS3, and JS.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into numerous challenges through the course of the hackathon. The first one was learning how to collaborate as for the majority of our team, it was the first time that we were collaborating on a time-bound project where everyone is working on different sections of the projects and often doesn't have the technical understanding of the other sections. The 2 front-end developers had very little understanding as to how flask works while the backend developers had a rudimentary knowledge of CSS. During the course of the project, we also had to accommodate the different schedules of others especially because certain members were from different timezones. We also encountered numerous bugs in Flask and design errors on CSS. We also faced many challenges with using a shared repository on GitHub to work and the git VCS.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The biggest accomplishment that we are proud of is that we were able to complete what we had envisioned during the time stipulated. We were able to design a website that looked pleasing to look at and add all the features we wanted in our product. For most of us, this was the first hackathon that we took part in, so, it also taught us how to work together remotely and collaborate even across varying time zones.

What we learned

All of us learned various things during this hackathon ranging from how to collaborate and technical skills. Both the backend developers expanded their knowledge of flask and how to debug effectively. While the frontend developers learned how to make their pages more appealing to the eye and work with flask as a backend. We also learned how to collaborate using Github and Git and work with people from other countries

What's next for COVID-19 Helper

Unlike many other teams, we want to pursue our idea beyond the 48 hours of this hackathon. We plan to add more design features and backend features and ultimately role it out to the public.

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