Solace

Team Name

Swinburne Army

Team Members

Project Description

GovHack Admin: This is the link for evidence of work: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P_mE7GJ8DK2fYypeTX4DbQtpGhrma0hm

In the wake of Covid-19, we find that the elderly are more susceptible to a greater risk within the community. With the spread of the virus increasing it is more important than ever to keep this vulnerable community safe and increase their access to care giving services. Furthermore, as restrictions placed on the pandemic tends to get more rigid, it has resulted in these communities not being able to have easy access to the support that they require which can cause a detrimental effect on their health and well-being; physically and mentally.

Our main goal is to focus on the elderly needs, the quality, and usability of this application so that we could create something simple, essential, and to make them receive the warmth and care from the communities.

The idea is centered around constructing a mobile application called Solace which would provide an all-in-one solution for the problems identified. It would act as a platform in which people seeking care, their guardians and care takers would be able to register and connect to obtain and provide services respectively. The app helps them to be entertained and gives them the flexibility to choose what they need and what they want. This would act as a medium to connect the elderly with the caregiver, their families, and events that would match their interests and needs which would ultimately lead to an overall better service experience.

It will be so challenging out there that could take hours and hours to fulfill their necessities and needs. Therefore, we are delivering a solution that is simple, accessible, and matches their requirements and preferences.

This mobile application connects caregivers and the elderly community based on interests, needs, location etc…
-It acts as a medium for the elderly or their guardians to seek services of caregivers with ease and efficiency.
-acts as a basis of communication for the elderly to gain the mental and physical support that they require during these difficult times.
-constructs more job opportunities for people in the field of “aged care” as a source of income.

We assume that all users have basic knowledge of the usage of mobile phone and mobile applications. The intended users have basic language knowledge and are able to read and understand the contents within the application. All users should provide truthful and honest information regarding the app registration criteria.
The app provides a several kinds of simple, functional tools.
In the home page, it provides see daily updates, find help, friends, active zone, emergency, settings.
-Daily updates which is to check daily cases nearby and check the availability of transportation as well as new restriction.
-Health service, this is to find out the nearest hospital based on the current location.
-Friends which is to know new friends based on your interests which are from the most familiar to the less or contact old friends via Facebook, Google, then send a message to start the chat.
- Active zone, this is to stay within the motives of the regulatory bodies to prevent further spread of the virus and to ensure the community’s safety. The map shows the users what zone their location is in .By using this , they can be known if they are in safe zone or not .If not, they may be immediately notified by an push alert notification and to seek further information, they can select the option displayed and this will give them guideline over what current security measure can be taken , government guidelines, places restricted(essentially where the cases have been reported)
-Emergency contact, when the accident happens, the tool provides three options, Ambulance, Police, if the user is disabled, then user can use disable auto contact, then the system calls police within 45 seconds.
- Settings, the user will be allowed to change their profile details and the notification set up through the settings options in their profile.
Our solutions are to address the elderly people who need a hand during the COVID-19 pandemic to get away the horizontal zone and stay safe.

Data Story

Our aim is to create a solution that is simple, easily understood by all age groups, and provides the latest accurate information. Therefore, we have created an application that would use the data from various verified sources.

Hospital Locations dataset from Data Vic consisting of hospital locations across Victoria is plotted on a map so that users are able to see the nearest hospital. On the other hand, Australian COVID19 Assessment Centres dataset from the Department of Health COVID-19 Resources provides information about testing centres across Australia. The hospital and assessment centre’s location will be plotted on a map.

The App includes a ‘Health Services’ function where if clicked, the App will check the user’s current location and then display the information of hospitals and assessment centres closest to their current location. Users are able to make an appointment with their selected facilities within the App.

Covid cases in Victoria dataset consists of the number of cases in local government areas (LGA) across Victoria. The App will compare the user’s location with the LGAs, if the user is within a LGA with active cases, an notification alert will pop-up on the user’s device. This function within the App discourages non-essential travel to ‘hotspot’ areas, especially to elderly who are more susceptible to infectious diseases.

On the other hand, the dataset Aged Care Services Information comprises information regarding available home care services across Australia and the most popular services among elderly. These datasets are used to help caregivers identify which location has a higher caregiving demand and it identifies which services are popular among seniors so that caregivers can align their skills to the job market needs.