The challenges of the pandemic inspired innovation from Tony Bright, Arman Lateef, and Gabriel Ralston, all sophomores at Charles J. Colgan Sr. High School. Last spring, just like their peers all around the world, they found themselves suddenly at home and isolated from their regular routines.
"We
had
seen
in
the
news
about
hospitals
being
overfilled
with
patients
due
to
a
variety
of
reasons,
so
we
thought
that
it
would
be
neat
to
build
an
app
that
can
help
doctors
diagnose
and
treat
patients,"
said
Bright.
Working
closely
with
Dr.
Jessica
Carpenter,
a
neurocritical
care
specialist
at
the
Children's
National
Health
System,
the
students
designed
the
Pediatric
Neurocritical
Care
app
to
allow
physicians
to
access
the
latest
standard-of-care
treatments
and
interventions
for
children
and
adolescents
in
Intensive
Care
Unit
settings.
"Many
facilities
around
the
country
do
not
have
doctors
like
Dr.
Carpenter
to
provide
this
type
of
super-specialized
care,"
said
Lateef.
"Working
with
her
to
create
this
app
and
making
this
knowledge
accessible
to
healthcare
professionals
across
the
country
and
the
world
seemed
like
a
great
idea."
The
Colgan
High
School
students
said
that
the
app
represents
what
is
possible
when
combining
real-world
needs
with
their
academic
areas
of
interest.
"Working
with
computers
has
always
been
a
hobby
of
mine,
especially
programming,
which
I
have
been
doing
since
the
fifth
grade,"
shared
Ralston,
also
stating,
"This
work
aligns
with
my
future
interests
because
I
aspire
to
be
a
computer
scientist,
or
a
computer
engineer
someday."
Lateef
added,
"I
am
extremely
interested
in
the
intersection
of
health
and
technology,
so
I
was
excited
to
try
my
hand
at
this
project."
The
Pediatric
Neurocritical
Care
application
is
now
available
in
the
App
Store
and
Google
Play.