Team members from the University of Waterloo pitch the Tele-cardiac Rehab app at the Hacking Health Design Challenge.
Winning idea aims to increase access to cardiac rehab
Toronto (June 4, 2015) A team of innovators from the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo has won the Infoway Innovation Award as part of the Hacking Health Design Challenge held during e-Health 2015.
Over eight weeks, healthcare experts, designers, developers, engineers, patients, and mentors collaborate and co-create solutions and digital health prototypes to address pressing healthcare challenges.
"It is my pleasure to congratulate the team from the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo for winning the Infoway Innovation Award,” said Lynne Zucker, Vice-President, Clinical Systems Integration, Canada Health Infoway, and a judge at the Hacking Health event. “This team has demonstrated their leadership in developing a digital health solution idea that has the potential to improve the quality of life of Canadians who are learning to live with the effects of cardiac disease.”
The team was recognized for its Tele-Cardiac Rehab idea, which would provide patients with tools to help them manage cardiac rehab remotely and on their own time. Tele-Cardiac Rehab would eliminate common barriers that hinder compliance with cardiac rehab including travel time and work demands.
The team was presented with their award on Tuesday, June 2 by Michael Green, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway. The team members include University of Waterloo students and faculty representing a variety of disciplines such as medicine, physiology, architecture and research. The team members recognized are:
- Helen Chen, Assistant Professor
- Ben Kim, PhD Student, Usability Analyst
- Chong Li, MHI student, Mobile Developer
- Zhonghan Li, MSc student, Clinical Analyst
- Saravana Rajan, Architect, Product Manager
- Lingkai Zhu, Lead Developer
“Unfortunately, many patients sacrifice the cardiac rehab they need because they don’t want to be seen by their employers as lacking commitment to their jobs,” said Helen Chen, the supervisor of the winning team. “By providing patients with digital solutions that allow them to manage their cardiac rehab on their own time, the difficult decision of choosing health or career is no longer an issue.”
The team has received a cash prize of $1,000 to continue to develop their prototype, two complimentary registrations to the 2015 Fall Partnership conference, an opportunity to write a blog for publication on Infoway Connects, and the opportunity to be profiled in Interchange, Infoway’s monthly compendium of news and events of interest to digital health leaders.
The School of Public Health and Health Systems was well-represented at the competition with members on a second team, KW++. The team included collaborators from University of Waterloo, McMaster University, interRAI and HealthIM pitching a solution for improving medication management.