TotalMobile - Action through Apps

How did you realise that your talents could benefit the VCSE sector?

As part of a Health Hack NI 2013, sponsored by Belfast City Council in a drive for connecting Belfast, TotalMobile developed a location based application that highlights where Mental Health and wellbeing services can be accessed in the surrounding area.

MindMateNI is suitable for all public sector organisations and their service users; Youth Workers, PSNI, Social Workers, GPs, Ambulance Service, Charities and other groups who work with people with mental health issues.

The app provides a resource to anyone in need, quickly showing them where they can find help and cutting out the step of visiting a GP.

TotalMobile teamed up with Youth Workers who identified a need for the app at the Health Hack event, where the project was announced overall winner.

How did TotalMobile get involved in the Know the RISKS app?

Following the event above Angela Thompson (Reconnect), a representative for Action For Brain Injury Awareness group, contacted TotalMobile and asked if we could develop an app for them.

As part of last year’s Action for Brain Injury Week, the Acquired Brain Injury Working Group – a partnership forum comprising representatives from the Cedar Foundation, Child Brain Injury Trust, Headway UK and Reconnect, supported by the Health and Social Care Board and Public Health Agency, designed and launched a ‘Know the Risks’ information card regarding mild brain injury.

The Group wanted to make the information as widely accessible as possible so teamed up with us.

Where did the idea come from?

TotalMobile, working with experts from the health and voluntary sector, came up with the initial idea for the ‘Know the RISKS’ app during a 12 hour hack event and the final product is now available to download for free. This hack was also the launch of Code For Better.

The resource is intended to help anyone in need, quickly listing the signs and symptoms of mild brain injury and clearly outlining the actions needed to respond to them to result in the best outcomes for the injured person.

Tell me more about the hack event?

The Hacks have been running as part of our Code for Better campaign which launched last summer to bring people with great ideas and those with a passion for coding together to collaborate on solutions that can help solve the problems facing the health sector.

A Vine competition ran throughout the summer to source ideas to bring to the hack with a prize of a £1,500 travel voucher for the winning idea. Anyone wishing to contribute was encouraged to create a six second Vine video outlining their idea to tackle a specific healthcare challenge and post it to Twitter with the hashtag #codeforbetter.

If you wish to take a look at some of last year’s vines visit - http://codeforbetter.co/previousideas

The top ideas were built by teams at the event. Teams of up to six worked together on developing prototypes for the 24 hour period and presented to the Code For Better panel of judges the following morning.

Judges included 3fivetwo Healthcare’s CEO Mark Regan, and representatives from Marie Curie and the Health and Social Care Board. Graphic designers are also welcome to attend and share their skills.

A cash prize of £1,000 was awarded to the winning team of developers who worked on a bed management app throughout the night.

What ideas will you be working on in the future?

MindMate and the Know the RISKs app are the two apps we have developed for the community to date. We are new to hacks with just two events hosted last year, however we aim to make it bigger and better for 2015.

Our 2015 Hack is called a ‘Night at the Museum’ and it will be a 24 hr hack in the Ulster Museum on April 25^th – 26^th.

Night at the Museum and Code For Better have combined to challenge developers to create ideas inspired by sections of the Museum that can also be used within Health and Social Care.

Here are some ideas inspired by each section which we are providing those who register:

• Rocks fossils and minerals section - Stones weight calculator, weight loss tips Body Mass Index guide
• Takabuti Egyptian Mummy exhibit - Mums-to-be app monitors fetal growth and tracks midwives visit or App for midwives following their workflow and visit to each patient
• Archaeology section - App aimed at children that allows them build skeletons and educates on the different bones. It can also track calcium intake throughout the day
• Early civilization - App to monitor children’s progress with language, words, colours that reflect assessments.  

We welcome developers to work on ideas provided or one of their own. The event is 16+ and you can register for free - http://codeforbetter.co/getinvolved

Because of the size of the venue places will be limited. There is a £1,000 cash prize for the winning team.

Will this be an annual event?

We would like to make them a regular activity. We support skills development through other initiatives and we sponsor Women Who Code, CoderDojo, Go Berserk publications and Culture Tech events.

What are the benefits of holding hack events?

They encourage skills development and they allow us to create apps for great causes. This type of event has become an integral part of our CSR efforts.

Hacks are also a great source of ideas and allow us to create awareness around TotalMobile and our work in Health and Social Care.

Our company has been making software for 30 years and we’re passionate about finding mobile solutions that work and make healthcare better as well as working to close the skills gap which exists in the IT industry in Northern Ireland.

We want to encourage young developers to enhance their skills and broaden their experience as well as highlighting the opportunities available to them at TotalMobile.