A group of six Mason students participated in The Lindsay Institute for Innovations in Caregiving’s “Caring for the Caregiver Hack.” Mason’s team included Brinda Somasundaram, MS in health informatics student; Noelle Harvey, gerontology graduate certificate student; Nu Kim Nhat Nguyen, BS in community health student; Aloksagar Panny, MS in health informatics student; Tina Jackson, BS in nursing student; and Pavan Sai Mohan Kolli, a graduate teaching assistant in computer science. The student team was accompanied by Maureen Schafer, term assistant professor of nursing, as a faculty coach.
The hack event is designed to provide students from Virginia colleges and universities the opportunity to create technological tools with a focus on improving the physical or emotional health of family caregivers. Prior to starting development, attendees heard presentations from subject matter experts on some of the realities caregivers face.
The 2016 challenge was for teams to create a technology tool to stay healthy. The Mason team developed a secure web page that was framed within the model of caring for the homebound patient with mind, body, and spirit wellness actions. The website was geared towards an efficient and effective holistic approach towards the care of the patient and their caregivers. The goal of the interactive website was to offer structure with improved communication across all caregivers helping the homebound patient.