Finalists and Winners
Explore all the finalists and winners for the 2024 Long COVID Healthathon event.
Equicare addresses gaps in Long COVID care and cultural competencies through its comprehensive certificate program, connects patients with Equicare-certified providers, and empowers its users with internal tools to combat health disparities.
Project Case Study
INTRODUCTION
Inspiration: In February, my mom was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. What felt like overnight, I moved to the SF Bay Area to care for her. As a Filipinx immigrant, I witnessed how providers' rapid communication and medical jargon left her embarrassed to admit confusion due to language barriers. As a queer person of color, I also understand the challenge of finding compassionate healthcare and fear of discrimination. These experiences sparked my interest in social determinants of health, patient-centered innovation, and design justice.
Problem: According to the CDC, over 17 million American adults are grappling with Long COVID (LC). An HHS report found that people of color, bi/trans individuals, and women are disproportionately affected. // Solution: Equicare fills knowledge gaps in LC and cultural competencies with a provider certificate program, a provider directory, and internal tools to foster trust and positive patient-provider interactions.
Goals: Equicare aligns with Track 2: Raise Knowledge of LC & Track 3: Strengthen Community Support. // Process: I used “Double Diamond” Design Thinking, an iterative framework divided into four phases, allowing me to center human needs.
PHASE I: DISCOVER
I based my research on the Health+ LC Human-Centered Design Report, focusing on the initial stages of The Ideal Treatment Journey for people with LC: when they first experience symptoms and seek medical help, and when they visit a healthcare provider who understands and believes them. This would have an immediate impact for marginalized groups who face difficulties accessing U.S. healthcare.
I also found that health disparities arise from discrimination (i.e., stigma, implicit bias, and identity-based discrimination). Additionally, a lack of cultural competency training among providers exacerbates distrust, especially among trans individuals, preventing them from seeking care.
PHASE II: DEFINE
After exploration, I gathered three insights:
Preparation for Health Care Providers: Many providers lack the readiness to acknowledge or understand LC, leaving patients without validation or effective options.
System Navigation: Patients with LC face significant challenges in navigating healthcare and support systems, requiring them to self-educate, self-advocate, and manage their care independently.
Healthcare Disparities: LC exacerbates existing healthcare disparities, reflecting inequalities seen in diseases like cancer. Without removing systemic barriers, structural inequities persist.
Based on these insights, I revised my problem: "How might we ensure those living with LC receive empathetic, compassionate, and culturally sensitive care?"
PHASE III: DESIGN (EXPLORE)
With a clear goal, I drew inspiration from Health+ report's opportunity areas 6 & 7. After brainstorming ideas through Crazy 8 and Laddering exercises, I decided on a mobile-first digital platform with three key components: a Certificate Program, a Provider Directory, and a LC Care Manager. These were prioritized based on an Impact vs. Effort matrix aligned with user needs and objectives from Tracks 2 and 3.
With feedback from my mentor at All Tech is Human, I became inspired by Equicare's potential in addressing health literacy and language barriers in underserved communities. I got stuck on assumptions I made on provider engagement, but later transformed those assumptions into questions for testing.
PHASE IV: DESIGN (TEST)
Next, I created user flows and sketched screens to visualize the Equicare experience. I then translated these into high-fidelity mockups on Figma for prototyping. As next steps, I plan to conduct usability tests with patients for feedback and refinement, concept tests with healthcare providers, and hopefully partner with engineers to develop Equicare.
Future Impact: I'm currently working with a business mentor via Foothill College to create a sustainable business plan. Equicare aims to work with a nonprofit to develop a curated curriculum for health institutions and medical schools. It also plans to expand the curriculum to cover more illnesses and launch a fellowship program to diversify healthcare talent in critical areas.
RETROSPECTIVE
The past four weeks tested my resolve as I juggled a full-time course load while supporting my mother with medical appointments, including emergency surgery. Despite moments of doubt, I persevered. I recognized that my experiences as a caregiver reflect the issues this Healthathon seeks to address.
During the May 3rd check-in, Michelle Medeiros of The PATIENTS Program shared that to eliminate healthcare disparities, we must remove the systemic barriers causing the inequity. Equicare is rooted in this belief, which has fueled my drive to persevere and create equitable health outcomes for all.
We Want To Be Seen visualizes the many invisible, debilitating struggles of long haulers. This project uses data storytelling to map crowdsourced, patient-led data and build empathy for a cross-section of diverse, yet familiar Long COVID experiences.
Learn more about this solution by clicking the case study PDF below.
Also, the video shows the prototype and interactions in motion. Please use the highest resolution quality setting when viewing the video so that it's not blurry.
AdaptAble is a workplace hub to help employers better understand long COVID and provide accommodations.
Project Case Study
Long COVID touches the lives of roughly 16 million working-age Americans, according to the CDC. These are more than numbers. They're people with a story who may struggle daily, affecting both their personal and work lives. This project focused on the essential need for workplace accommodations (as recommended by the Health + Long COVID Human-Centered Design Report).
The prototype website, www.longcovidatwork.com, provides employers with resources to learn, support accommodation, and grow their workforce’s understanding and empathy.
Project Team
I participated in this project as an individual leveraging my background in organizational development and workplace learning, and with technology and generative AI. I invited feedback and input from others to help shape design and provide different perspectives.
Problem Addressed
Recognizing the impact Long COVID has, I focused on the need for workplace accommodations. Specifically, employer education and support based on recommendations in the Health + report. Working with employers, I’ve found most want to do the right thing. Often it comes down to awareness and resources. When these things are in place, workplaces can make empathy and understanding a part of their culture and better provide accommodations.
Project Approach
My initial concept was a website with fact-based resources, tools, and insights for employers. It included an AI-powered chatbot. Based on phase 1 feedback, discussions with colleagues working with AI, and employers, I narrowed the AI focus and minimized risk by focusing solely on an accommodation idea bot. This decreased the likelihood of negative outcomes from hallucinations and allowed me to provide examples shared by the Job Accommodation Network (JAN).
Once deliverables were defined, I researched federally available information and laid the website out into three distinct sections. This three part framework helps provide scaffolding for employers and makes it easier to find relevant information:
Learn: General awareness about Long COVID, symptoms, and the impact on those with it.
Accommodate: Resources for accommodating employees with Long COVID.
Grow: Resources to grow workforce understanding and knowledge of Long COVID.
Once data and resources were selected, I noticed a gap with existing federal resources for training materials. The training need was based on the Health + report recommended ideas for opportunity area 3.
To close this gap, I curated videos from reputable sources, such as a news station. For training, I used information from federal sources to build two short prototype workplace modules:
Manager/supervisor awareness and accommodations.
Employee awareness and empathy.
These were rapidly created using an AI-powered tool MindSmith. As an experienced instructional designer, I reviewed the initial outputs, edited, and ensured content alignment with objectives and resources.
Obstacles Encountered
In addition to the AI obstacle, another was user feedback. I overcame this by using existing relationships and research. I spoke with two individuals with Long COVID and used the stories in the Health + report to ensure deliverables support desired outcomes. I also asked employers and those in the AI/tech space to test and provide feedback on the site. Getting feedback from a more diverse user set would be a goal for future iterations.
Federal Information and Datasets Used
I used many federal sources for information. The primary was the Health + report which helped shape the deliverables. Another was JAN (a service of the U.S. DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy) and CDC. I used these to curate resources and information to bring awareness to Long COVID, its symptoms, impact, and potential accommodations, and develop the training prototypes. I also incorporated data from the CDC household pulse survey data.
Potential Implementation and Next Steps
If this project moved forward, the next step would be to create a Spanish site and training prototype. The CDC household pulse survey data indicates that 21.2% of Hispanics or Latinos have ever had Long COVID (the race/ethnicity with the highest reported numbers). This would help ensure they have equitable access to resources.
In addition, evaluation parameters would be created to help measure the effectiveness in improving workplace accommodations during a pilot in organizations. Potential measures include the accommodation requests received and accepted pre and post use, employee awareness of Long COVID and the impacts, and supervisor/manager knowledge of accommodations for Long COVID. This pilot would also help validate that information and data is available to create effective training.
Broader implementation would require further user testing of the site, training, and AI idea bot. Once improvements were made, ideally an awareness campaign (in both English and Spanish) would be developed and implemented.