By Isabelle Ferrante, Krysti Jaglal
When Anastasia Svechkareva first signed up for the Health Innovation Challenge, she didn’t know how her team would do in the competition. But she knew she wanted to take part in an exercise to inform other students about the problem of diabetes.
“It’s important to have an event like this to raise awareness. People have to talk about it and people have to know,” she said.
The Centre for Innovation in Health & Wellness (CIHW) divided 28 students from 16 different programs into eight teams and challenged them to come up with innovative ways to change people’s health behaviours and knowledge for preventing or managing Type 2 diabetes.
“It’s important to take action because as we’ve been told numerous times today this (diabetes) is an ongoing issue and it’s going to rise” Svechkareva said.
Her group, Team Diabetes Escape, created an app around the idea of an escape room. Level one focused on food and diet, level two was exercise and fitness, and level three was about sugar and glucose levels, symptoms, and outcomes.
The students started the process in November and continued through final exams and midterms. They worked on coming up with a prototype and presented their innovative idea to a panel of judges.
Svechkareva said while this challenge was an amazing experience, it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
“There was a little bit of time management, people are busy, people are working, people are having their own lives. But we got it done, and we came in the top 3” she said.
“Our hard work paid off.”
It was the second year for the challenge. Maria Kusakina, a Digital Business Management student said she hopes Humber continues with the challenge and more people participate.
“It provides a nice opportunity to network and connect with people,” she said.
Her group, called Team SugarStrike, came in second. They proposed a gaming app where users earn points by completing lessons that can be redeemed for discounts on healthcare products, gym memberships, wellness sessions, or diabetes-friendly meal kits.
“It’s great to be in this random interesting team environment and see what everyone can bring to the table.”
Each team had a chance to win one of three prizes, and as a bonus, all students who participated for the entire duration of the challenge would receive $525.
While the prizes were great, Arina Volkova, a Digital Business management student says she was motivated by creating a sense of community.
“When you have a deep sense of community you tend to be more committed to maintaining a lifestyle and in this particular situation it’s healthy lifestyle,” she said.
Her group, Youth Vs. Diabetes, won the challenge by creating a website that blends real-time narratives with actionable support, showcasing individuals’ triumphs and challenges to inspire and educate others.
When she signed up for the event she didn’t know what to expect, she just knew this was going to have a huge impact.
“This event helps students learn more. Not only educate your peers but also learn themselves,” Volkova said.
“I’m sure 90 per cent of students who participated did not know a lot about diabetes before they wanted to participate.”