May 08, 2014: William Osler Health System will soon launch its own mobile app courtesy of the winner of Kiss My App, the organization's national app design contest for students.
Atinderpal (Atinder) Singh Multani won the $10,000 grand prize for his app, HosNav, which focuses on improving the patient experience at Osler's hospitals. Slated for launch in June 2014, the app includes helpful tools like hospital maps, parking information, a diagnostic appointment tracker and a visitor navigation tool.
"Atinder's HosNav app will be a tremendous help to the thousands of patients and families that come through our doors each and every day," said Matthew Anderson, Osler President and CEO. "We are looking forward to working with him in the time ahead to make it available to our community."
The winning app was unveiled before a standing-room only crowd at Brampton Civic Hospital. The award ceremony was hosted by Evan Hadfield, the man behind his famous father's astronomical social media campaign and featured guest speaker Marc Saltzman, tech expert and host of Gear Guide.
One of the first contests of its kind in Canada, Osler launched Kiss My App in September 2013 and challenged undergraduate students to come up with innovative ways to identify and address what they see as perceived issues in health care through the development of a mobile app. Four finalist teams were in the running for the top prize.
"We have been completely blown away by the ingenuity and out-of-the box thinking demonstrated by our student teams, and the creativity in how they have presented their ideas throughout this competition," Anderson said. "These students have different educational backgrounds, but they all have a single passion for improving health care."
The prize money was donated by Osler's Student Volunteer Youth Committee, which is a group of passionate young leaders committed to improving Osler's hospitals by raising funds for equipment and providing student bursaries.
"We are thrilled to be involved with Kiss My App," said Yamna Ali, President of Osler's Student Volunteer Youth Committee. "To be able to support this contest and an idea that will help improve the patient experience at this hospital is an honour, and something our Committee can proudly stand beside."