I am more excited about an app than I ever have been before… Thank you Yael Cohen founder of F*** Cancer for providing a solution for those diagnosed and struggling with everyday tasks.

Cohen, who founded the organisation after her mother was diagnosed with cancer, identified a problem. After diagnosis friends, family, colleagues and everyone else you can think of rush to the aid of the individual diagnosed, but how much can flowers, chocolates and sweets really help when your dog needs walking, or you have to go to the shops?

The StandWith app provides a potential solution. It allows connection to all individuals (called Caregivers) willing to help, you can upload tasks that you may require assistance with and a Caregiver can complete that task and mark it using a colour coding system as underway (orange) or complete (green). A push notification is sent to selected Caregivers when assistance is required who can then accept of ignore the request. The app, in collaboration with other organisations, can then thank the Caregiver for their help, for example through a discount of a coffee. Collaborations also provide solutions to issues with suggestions that large scale retailers may provide options for delivery of goods, organisation collaborations are yet to be publicly disclosed. Updates can also be sent via social media or email to other individuals who may want to help out whilst allowing modification to only disclose certain information to assigned groups depending on the nature and sensitivity of the task.

The app is free to use and F*** Cancer look to make the project financially viable through cost to retailers for partnership allowing companies the opportunity to generate income through in app purchase whilst also improving reputation by providing a helping hand to those that need it most.

The StandWith app is fantastic in concept and F*** Cancer have stated that design will be based around simple functionality, so that everyone can use it. It doesn’t focus on condition but rather issues that arise as a result of any diagnosis, because for many, the everyday essential tasks are the ones most challenging, that often go neglected.

Currently media is rife with bad news, heart breaking stories and economic issues. Coming across this kind of development has truly inspired me. The utilisation of community spirit through technology bringing populations together to collaborate in helping those that may require day to day assistance is a project that I fully support, what a fantastic development and I hope that the app gets the publicity required to gain mainstream interest and implementation. Maybe you could start by sharing this article…. I’ll certainly be making as much noise as possible when the app goes public.

Jack Barton (Researcher, Rescon Ltd)

Links

http://www.fastcompany.com/3030134/most-creative-people/standwith-is-fuck-cancers-solution-for-people-who-ask-how-can-i-help?utm_source=facebook

Image

http://www.smarthealth.nl/2014/05/10/care-management-app-voor-mantelzorgers/