SOS Sahaayak is an early prototype medical emergency app that tackles the health and death paranoia that the elderly and immunocompromised suffer from during...
SOS Sahaayak is an early prototype medical emergency app that tackles the health and death paranoia that the elderly and immunocompromised suffer from during covid by providing them with an app that will quickly let them contact trusted people during emergencies for assistance. This prototype app is developed as a response to the Designation 2021 challenge.
Design Solution
With Covid-19 quarantines and social distancing comes the mental and psychological problems of isolation, depression, anxiety and paranoia. But our most vulnerable, the elders and immunocompromised, also suffer from specific anxieties that are part of their vulnerability to this virus. The SOS Sahaayak App aims to tackle the death paranoia and paranoia in general that is experienced by the elders, the immunocompromised and their family members.The biggest stressor for the target audience is the worry that people will not respond in time during emergencies, or they might not receive help on time. In a situation like this, a few seconds makes a difference to a person’s life. In India, although we have an emergency helpline number, people rely on their family members/ close circle first in case of a medical emergency and then contact a secondary group of people if they aren’t able to get through the first.
The SOS Sahaayak app is a rapid mobile app that will cut down the time the user will require to contact those people and also provide some background information about the person’s health to the necessary individuals. The app aims to remove the stress of what will happen during emergencies not only for the immediate target audience, but also for their family members who will feel secure in the knowledge that their loved ones have a quick way of letting them know that they are in need of assistance.
Navigation
The user will first create a profile and store their personal and medical data app along with various permissions. The user will then add their trusted contacts to the different contact groups (these users also have the app) based on certain instructions and suggestions made by the app. On long pressing the emergency red button, the app first alerts the 1st contact group, and starts dinging and alerting the people for 30 seconds (time the phone rings in one call) with the emergency message and location. If nobody responds, it alerts the second group for 30 seconds and if the second group doesn’t respond it alerts a nearby hospital/ general doctor too along with the 3rd group. To the person receiving the alert, they have two options to respond, ‘on the way’ and ‘calling somebody’ and are then shown the current location of the distressed and others who have responded. The alert stops if somebody responds within 30 seconds. Sounds will play an important role in the app to convey and understand messages during the situation. The user interface of the app is also kept simple and easy to use, with big icons, taking into consideration that the elderly are a big part of the target audience.