Students of all disciplines are encouraged to join the fun at this year’s Huskie Hack for Health and Wellness this Saturday and Sunday, November 4th and 5th, on the NIU Campus. Get in on 24+ hour team based activities, develop solutions to real-world health and wellness problems, no coding experience required, all disciplines and skill levels welcomed, free food and prizes!
Northern Illinois University recognizes that future health and well-being of our region depends upon the focus and skill sets developed by our students of today and those of tomorrow. Integrated and collaborative interdisciplinary events such as Huskie Hack provide opportunities for peer to peer learning while addressing real problems from a 360-degree perspective.
For 24 hours, student hackers and medical experts will explore solution finding to current and future challenges in health and wellness. At the end of the event, they will have the opportunity to present their solutions to regional judges and experts in healthcare innovation.
Why hack health and wellness? Participants will have the ability to select one of these challenges (see samples below – more at www.huskiehack.org) or develop their own during the hackathon. All challenges require participants to address needs within the health and wellness sector that can contribute to improving a community’s health.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS CHALLENGE TRACKS
Behavioral Health
How can we use data from public and non-public sources to reveal trends in population health, to identify the best opportunities for promoting health and wellness, and to enable people to live long, healthy lives? How do we leverage technology to track behavior and enhance communication between healthcare providers and patients? How do we balance privacy concerns with technology-enabled tracking? How can health providers, schools, employers and government best integrate existing tools and applications to encourage health and wellness activities?Mental Health Issues
How can we address feelings of isolation in a technological world? What are ways that integrative technology and behavioral applications can improve wellbeing of a community when burdened by social stress, such as lack of safety with concentrated poverty and burdens of discrimination and racism. What are ways to address the intersectionality of emotional, psychological, and social well-being with physical health in a mobile world?Chronic Health Issues
How can we incentivize better patient outcomes while simultaneously saving money? How can technology manage the cost of care? How can we align and incentivize the establishment and maintenance of wellness and health? How can cost and value, change behaviors and health outcomes for individuals and populations?
Community members are needed to volunteer and mentor students. Mentorship is an integral part of any hackathon and can profoundly influence a student. Mentors are needed to assist teams with challenges: coding specialists; project managers; health and wellness specialists and social service organizations personnel who know their client needs. Volunteers are needed to help plan the hack, work on logistics during the event, serve as ambassadors to the community. Health and wellness are global issues that impact everyone
Sign up to participate at http://www.huskiehack.org. *Students under 18 require a signed permission slip.
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