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MedCompanion

🧠 Inspiration

MedCompanion is more than a project it was born from love, frustration, and loss.

A while ago, my grandfather passed away. He was a funny, kind-hearted man, the type who’d never ask for help even when he needed it. Over time, I noticed his health was declining not due to his condition, but because he kept missing doses of his medication.

Sometimes it was too early, sometimes too late, and sometimes not at all. The medications had many different schedules, similar bottles, and most of the time someone needed to remind them to him provided that always someone was there at the right time. His independence became a risk, and his confidence started fading along with his health.

This stuck with me. Something so small -a missed pill- should never be the reason someone gets worse. I thought that technology could help but I did not had the knowledge to act. Fast forward to today, I decided to build something simple and deeply human. Something that didn’t just remind but truly supported.

After some research I learned that medication non-adherence costs the global healthcare systems over $500 billion annually and affects up to 50% of patients and I realized the problem was bigger than I thought.

MedCompanion is for my grandfather and for everyone like him.

📲 What it does

MedCompanion is a smart, multilingual medication companion, designed for both patients and caretakers.

Lets patients log, edit, and track their medications
Sends voice and text reminders in their preferred language (English, Spanish, Greek, French)
Allows caretakers to register after uploading verification documents and they can check on patients schedules.
Enables patients to invite family or others into their schedule for help
Exports medication reports
Supports email sign-in
Uses ElevenLabs AI voice for reminders and for reading instructions
Intuitive and simple UI with just Home, Medication, and Settings tabs

🛠 How we built it

Built using Expo + React Native with Expo Router
Supabase for auth, real-time sync, and data storage
ElevenLabs API for dynamic AI voice reminders
i18next + react-i18next for multilingual support
Custom UI using Tailwind + Lucide icons for a soft, friendly interface
Voice and text notification scheduling handled via background tasks
Clean separation of user roles (patient/caretaker)
Expo EAS for building and deploying across platforms

⚠️ Challenges we ran into

Managing background voice reminders reliably across the app lifecycle
Handling authentication and role-based permissions cleanly in Supabase
Integrating multilingual support dynamically for reminders
Integrating Google sign-in for android devices (we left it out)
Ensuring accessibility for older users without overwhelming UX complexity
Handling Expo EAS build issues and plugin version mismatches
Building the android apk using Expo EAS thus we deciced to postpone in favor of a web version.

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a working multilingual medication management tool
Integrated real-time voice reminders using ElevenLabs
Created a clean, intuitive UI that works
Achieved a life goal that began from a personal loss
Made something that could genuinely help people and families

📚 What we learned

Real-world problems need empathy-first solutions
Healthcare UX must prioritize clarity, simplicity, and accessibility
Background tasks and notification scheduling across platforms are complex but manageable
Localization requires more than just text translation — timing, voice, and cultural sensitivity matter
There's a massive need for tools that bridge care gaps for elders and isolated patients