ASU students create app to connect residents in need to free mobile healthcare services

Edited by Kevin Pirehpour, Enterprise Technology

Kevin Pirehpour

November 7, 2023

Maricopa County’s unhoused population has continued to surge in recent years. This year, the population reached over 9,500 individuals, leaving thousands without access to basic human needs like shelter and healthcare.

To bridge the growing divide, students from ASU’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions are taking their learning beyond the classroom. In collaboration with the non-profit organization Circle the City, one group of students is developing an app connecting those in need with free healthcare services across the region.

“My dream for this application is that it just makes getting healthcare for people in challenging life circumstances easier,” said Ben Ashkenazi, a computer science major at Ira A Fulton School of Engineering. “For me, it’s a matter of simplifying the process and eliminating obstacles to care that may save someone’s life.”

Circle the City provides comprehensive, free healthcare through its mobile medical units. These services, including medical and behavioral care, provide primary, preventive, and behavioral care throughout Maricopa County.

The mobile app students are developing, coined “Mobile Health Connect,” provides easy access to an interactive map and schedule of Circle the City’s Mobile Health Units.

This includes an interactive map with real-time user location, housing options and medical mobile units. Moreover, it enables users to easily navigate schedules and even provides directions for added convenience.

“Imagine being lost and someone handing you a map — that’s what we’re doing with Mobile Health Connect,” said Ashkenazi, whose responsibilities include writing code for the app. “We’re giving people a tool to find their way to health services in the most dire circumstances.”

ASU students are ‘Coding for a Social Good’

The app was born out of the Coding for a Social Good course at Watts College during the spring 2023 semester — which combines elements of social entrepreneurship, coding and design to help students catalyze change in their community where it matters most.

“The class connects students to problems and solutions in the community,” said Chris Hayter, an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs and co-instructor of the course. ”Our goal is to foster innovative thinkers who can actively address real-world challenges right here in Maricopa County.”

ASU students who created mobile healtchare app pose in media center — Students developing the Mobile Health Connect app meet in Hayden Library for a mid-way touchpoint. Left to right: Fawwaz Firdaus, Connor Oneill, Julia Reinert and Ben Askenazi. Featured on Zoom in middle of table: Ava Lemke and Gursparsh Sodhi

During the 15-week course, students identify specific challenges related to homelessness, devise solutions and create an app prototype for the community. Effective prototype design hinges on understanding coding basics.

The course, which is supported by Apple’s Community Education Initiative, uses Apple’s Swift Playgrounds software to help students learn app development.

“It’s crucial for students to engage in building apps that offer practical solutions,” Hayter said. “It not only enhances their learning but also deepens their understanding of real-world issues,” Hayter said.

In addition to connecting students with community organizations, Hayter and co-instructor Spiro Maroulis launched the Public Value Technology Accelerator (PVTA) to extend the course resources, which includes project management training, access to subject matter and technical experts and additional coaching. These resources offer students the technology to bring their prototypes from design to deployment.

“As educators, we strive to bridge theory and practice,” said Maroulis, associate professor and interim director at the School of Public Affairs. “This project isn’t just about app development — it’s about equipping our students with the tools and opportunities to excel in and out of the classroom.”

The 2022-23 academic year marks the third year this course has been offered by Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, and the second year for PVTA.

Hayter and Maroulis's leadership led to cross-college collaborations with Ira A Fulton College of Engineering, engaged students in and with the community, and connected students across disciplines to discover technology’s potential to meet community needs.

This programming is part of the Swift Community Playground initiative at ASU, a larger initiative that aims to amplify opportunities for diverse students to innovate, code with Apple’s Swift programming language and contribute to community solutions by connecting efforts across the university. ASU Swift Community Playgrounds is led by ASU Enterprise Technology.

Mobile Health Connect will soon be available on the iOS App Store.

“Building this app, especially with all the experiences I got out of the course, has been a game-changer for me,” Ashkenazi said. “It’s allowed me to see the bigger picture, to play a part in solving real-world issues and prepare for a future where I can merge technology with purpose.”