Lifeboon

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Inspiration

Health is Wealth. However, in the process of protecting our health, a lot more wealth gets spent than it is needed. Finding the right healthcare provider and services for the health issue one is facing is a process that can take months and even years to settle on. While some people can get mentored by others on how to navigate this system, the truth is, not everyone can find someone to guide them in the process. We, being international students, definitely felt overwhelmed when we had to figure out this system, and it felt like it never got easier the more we got to know this system. It frustrated us that there is no service where we can find centralized locations regarding healthcare providers and services. Hence, we came up with an idea to change this.

What it does

Lifeboon is a website where one can find all the information needed about the nearest healthcare provider for their needs and their coverage. The user can select the radius they are looking to find a good hospital or a clinic, and whether the facilities they provide are the ones they are looking for. This cuts down not only on time for the patients but also for the healthcare providers. The patient can get the care they need without all the back and forth of trying out the right healthcare providers, and similarly, the healthcare providers can focus on the patients and their care.

They are also able to see which hospitals are covered by the patient's insurance coverage plan. The user can input the information about their coverage to be able to get access to this feature as well.

How we built it

The backend is built using Node.js due to its ability to use JSON-based REST APIs and its ability to be quick with AI setup in general. The use of APIs was crucial to gather all the data related to hospitals, services, and maps, which we show the user. To manage the database we were working with, we used MongoDB, and the use of MongoDB and Node.js felt efficient for all of the backend. We also used a leaflet to get the Map displayed and use it to put the information of hospitals and provide a good visual to our users. For front end, we used Node.js, and for the Authentication services, we used Clerk.

Challenges we ran into

Issues collaborating on GitHub with branch merging conflicts and connecting the MongoDB database to the backend.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Innovating a platform that can save the lives of an unthinkable number of people all over the world and being able to develop a comprehensive prototype of it within 8 hours (since we started on Saturday night and finished on Sunday morning)

What we learned

How comprehensive a full-stack website can we develop within a short time constraint, how to host backend and frontend separately, and why efficiency matters when building projects of this scale.

What's next for LifeBoon

Implement this into a Website/App, approach real-life hospitals for data, add features such as hospital ratings, give customers the option to store digital copies of all their medical records, and integrate an AI/ML for customers to seek non-professional advice (ex: what eyedrops did Dr. John recommend me to take).