Attention innovators throughout the Island Health region: are you ready for an exciting challenge that could help shape the future of health care? Then check out Code Hack 2025, which takes place March 7-9 at Royal Jubilee Hospital – and help us celebrate our five-year milestone!
Health care features several different “codes” to deal with different situations. For example, you may have heard of Code Red, which addresses fire safety; or Code Green, which provides guidance for evacuations.
Code Hack is all about talented, passionate people coming together to innovate for health care! An initiative of Island Health’s Innovation Lab, the event first launched in 2019 to help translate creativity, innovation and energy into real-world solutions. Code Hack brings together patients, Island Health staff, physician partners, industry experts, coders, builders, designers and students who put on their thinking caps and compete against the clock – and each other – to find innovative ways to solve health-care challenges.
Island Health is looking for 100 people to participate in a hackathon and generate fresh ideas and approaches. Once participants have formed small working groups and made their pitches, they have 24 hours to create and design innovative solutions. This may result in an app, a care pathway, signage, a website or a resource for a treatment room. Anything goes – the participants get to decide!
During the hackathon, teams will have access to many resources to bring their pitch to life – including a 3-D printer, programmable Wi-Fi-enabled microchips and Island Health’s simulation lab, which includes mannequins powered by wireless technology to replicate real-life medical situations.
If you aren’t tech savvy, don’t worry – Code Hack is designed for people of all abilities who share a common goal of improving health care. Applicants don’t have to work in health care and there is no cost to participate. Applications are now open at islandhealth.ca/codehack.
Code Hack 2024’s first-place project focused on preventing blindness among vulnerable populations, including First Nations, with treatable conditions such as diabetic retinopathy by developing easy-to-use “eyeHealth” kits. This project also received the People’s Choice award, which is voted on by Code Hack participants.
Other winning efforts included a discrete, user-friendly device that rapidly detects fentanyl in substances and a project to improve communications between care providers and patients in emergency departments. Watch the video from 2024 to see what Code Hack is all about and how fun this event is!
Once again, we need your ideas, inspiration and collaboration. Winning teams will get the opportunity to continue to work on their Code Hack prototype with Island Health’s Innovation Lab and other community partners.
The deadline to apply is February 2, 2025. For more information and to apply, please visit islandhealth.ca/codehack.
Volunteer opportunities
Volunteers, mentors and coaches are crucial to Code Hack’s success! The event requires about 20 volunteers to register participants when they arrive, help people find their way around, set up rooms, hand out supplies, and ensure that coffee, water, and snacks are in ready supply.
We are also looking for mentors who can offer their expertise and experience as a health-care provider, designer, developer or patient. They circulate from team to team during the event and offer insights, ideas and real-world tips to hacker teams based on the challenges.
Coaches are like mentors, but offer dedicated 15-minute sessions with teams for more focused feedback. Coaches provide teams with an invaluable opportunity to test their solution with real-world experts. Ideally we would like to recruit three types of coaches for the event: one with a clinical focus, one with a business focus and one with a patient perspective.
To volunteer for any of these positions, please apply at www.codehack.ca by February 2, 2025.
Innovation is a key priority for Island Health and involves translating the input and ingenuity of our staff, physicians, partners and patients into new ideas and solutions that address health-care challenges and improve people's lives. Examples of innovation in action include Code Hack, sensor trials at Island Health washrooms that monitor for toxic drug poisonings, enhanced accessibility features for the future Cowichan District Hospital and the Cognitive Health Initiative, a visionary project focused on research and care for patients living with cognitive health issues.