Type 1 Problem

HER STORY

It all started out when she was standing at the sink constantly drinking water.  She would drink 4 or 5 huge cups of water before sitting down on the couch.  She would hardly move from that spot all day during our last days of summer.  She was starting her freshman year in high school and my whole family just thought that she was really nervous for the new school year.  When classes finally started, volleyball started too.  The first few days were rough because we were so soar from practicing and playing so much.  I remember her barley being able to climb the stair case to get to our early morning classes. Then, she started to lose a lot of weight and we all thought it was because of volleyball. Finally, after a two weeks she told my mom that something was not right. She was thirsty for water all the time and she could barley walk because she was so exhausted.  That was the day that my family's life got flipped upside down.  

My mother took her to the emergency room and they took a sample of her blood.  When the nurse came back she took my family that my sister's blood glucose level was in the 500s.  That is extremely high because a normal person's blood sugar should be 70-100.  The doctor and nurses concluded that my sister had Type 1 Diabetes.   

The first few days were awful.  She had to learn how to inject herself with a needle and give herself the right amount of insulin. There are different ratios and mathematical problems that need to be solved before giving yourself insulin.  Over time, she was able to use a pump which injects insulin into the blood without using a needle every time.  The pump is easier, but there is still an issue of regulating how much insulin to administer, and keeping track of highs and lows. 

THE PROBLEM

The problem with this disease is that teenager need a way to track their daily carbohydrate intact and the insulin they give themselves.

Here is some advice from the American Diabetes Association: “It really helps to sit down and look over your blood glucose record at the end of every week. Keeping daily records is best.  Reviewing your records is the key to improving blood glucose control.”  

Items that need to be recorded are:

• Blood glucose checks 
• Carbohydrate amounts 
• Carbohydrate doses 
• Correction doses 

There needs to be an easier way for all diabetics, especially teenagers, record all this information and send it to their doctor.  This tracking will help them catch patterns and see if a dosage adjustment needs to be made.  With high school and college, the teenage years are very difficult. Diabetes puts more stress and responsibility on the teen and it makes their lives so much harder.  Youth Health Talk concluded that "Most of the young people we talked to said that they had found it very difficult to control their diabetes when they were teenagers. They said that their control often went haywire during puberty because their hormones were 'all over the place' and also because they didn't want to have to think about diabetes all the time.” If we can find a way to keep young diabetics organized, then their stress levels will decrease and they will be able to manage their disease better.

KNOW THE SIGNS

• Urinating often
• Feeling very thirsty
• Feeling very hungry - even though you are eating
• Extreme fatigue
• Blurry vision
• Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal
• Weight loss - even though you are eating more

          FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT HERE

CRASH COURSE IN DESIGN THINKING

          

       

       The 90 minute crash corse in design thinking school from the d.school from Stratford University is a very fast paced experience. Every step of the design thinking process is done under 10 minutes. Usually the process of coming up with and idea or solution for a client takes days, weeks, or months. This process was perfectly smashed into a fast paces, organized, crash course.  Here is how it worked.

First, my partner and I exchanged our gift giving experiences.  We both asked questions and got to know the other person within 8 minutes.  Then, in a second interview, we went deeper into an emotional side of giving a gift to another person.  After the interviews, I took what I learned and put it into a point-of-view statement.  My problem-statement was “John needs a way to give back because he feels good when making other people happy”.  Next, I came up with different ideas to help John give back to the community. I created the ideas of a teleportation watch, happy machine, and the problem remote.  All of these ideas are very out-of-the-box and not very practical, but they would solve John’s problem.  Then, after creating solutions, we had more interviews with our clients/ partners to talk about the products.  After the collaboration, it was time to pick one solution to the problem.  I chose the teleportation watch.  The purpose of the watch is to teleport yourself to your friends when they are in trouble or just need a friend to talk to.  Next, it was time to build my teleportation watch. I constructed it out of pipe cleaners, foam blocks, and tape.  The magical combination of all the supplies created the colorful and stylish watch for teleportation.  Lastly, I showed the watch to the client and we collaborated again to see what can be improved.  

Throughout the process of design thinking, using the feedback from the client made the product so much better.  Unfortunately, the product was never finished because the crash course was so fast.  It felt uncomfortable and embarrassing to show a client unfinished work.  On a positive note, the fast paced experience made me focused on the task and allowed me to get the product 75% done.  Usually when I work, I take my time on the problem and take time to develop a solution.  With this crash course I was able to think on my feet and helped me develop better critical thinking skills. If I could incorporate any element from the design process it would be the critical thinking skills and the communication skills.  Both thinking and communicating is very important in coming up with a product that will fit the clients needs.  

If I had to change anything about this process it would be my problem-statement.  I think I could have come up with a better and more creative statement like “John needs a way to make people smile because he is the type of person to make someones day 100% better”. 

Lastly, the d.school asked its participants to answers questions and share experiences on social media using #Dgift. One of the participants tweeted @skemp “Taking on the #designthinking process”. here. 

        This hashtag also represents the power of social media and how it can help connect people with similar experiences.  For more information about the d.school check out their blog

Design for Good

LIKE THIS BOX

“4 out of 10 homeless live in places not intended for people” - Supportive Housing Communities

         In a case study written by Trey Bates  talks about the social awareness of homeless people.  The project used graphic design to notify people that there are people living in cars or abandoned buildings.  The basic idea of the project is to solve this problem by having nonprofit organizations like Supportive Housing Communities step in and help the homeless.  Bates completed research that found “Mecklenburg County has the largest population of homeless in the state, and even more disturbing was the fact that a person working full time at minimum wage supporting a family of four cannot afford the rent on a one-bedroom apartment in any county in North Carolina.”  The fact was shocking and that's when the team of Bates, Linda Miller, and Ken Compton was born. All three came up with the idea to used billboards to help spread the message to uptown Charlotte, North Carolina.  The project is still ongoing to help people get off the streets and into good homes.  

 NOTHING

         In a case study written by NAIL Communications talks about how The Rhode Island Community Food Bank asked a team to help them with their advertising campaign.  Since the food bank took a huge hit with the 2008 recession, they have been struggling ever since.  The strategy of the campaign was to demonstrate the scale of the problem or "put the problem near the solution".  NAIL came up with the idea of “nothing”.  After a $100,000 donation from Citizens Bank, Nothing was launched in September 2011.  The campaign was, and still is, a success.  There were more that 14,000 can sales that generated $39,900 in donations.  Now, the project is licensed in three more states, Ohio, Vermont, and New Hampshire. To learn more information check out more information click here. 

LIVESTRONG

ISN’T ABOUT ONE PERSON.  IT’S ABOUT THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FACING CANCER WHO NEED SUPPORT AS THEY FACE THE TOUGHEST BATTLE OF THEIR LIVES

         In a case study written by Rigsby Hull, talks about the rebranding of the LIVESTRONG brand.  The foundation is a $50 million cancer foundation with 2.5 million members worldwide.  The foundation focuses on the survivors and not the research.  The foundation took a big hit when the seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong admitted to do doping. After the announcement the company had companies like Nike and Oakley drop their funding. In order for the company to bounce back, it would need some serious rebranding. The company hired Rigsby Hull to used reputation surveys and research to help find a new image. LIVESTRONG still wanted to be known by the foundation’s strong sense of itself and the importance of their story. The new rebranding launched February 28, 2013 and received media coverage from The Wall Street Journal with the article called “LIVESTRONG Foundation Seeks Life After Lance”.  Check out the new logo and website here.

^{OPEN GREEN MAP-A SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM} 

          In a case study written by Green Map System talks about how they wanted to create an interactive mapping resource that would be in a user friendly way for Green Map teams around the world to use and become a trusted resource of information.  There are over 845 locally-lead map projects have published more that 500 local and 325 interactive Green Maps that are used by millions to connect with green living, nature, social, and cultural resources near their homes and while they travel.  The goal of the website is to have a database of maps that show residents and visitors local nature, cultural and green living sources such as farmers markets, solar sites, bike lanes, and parks.  Currently the program is still growing and trying to find a way to keep the website alive.  To find out more information click here 

PAIN SQUAD- Mobil App to Help Young Cancer Patients Track Pain

        In a case study written by Cundari talks about how each year thousands of children with cancer are treated at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children (or SickKids).  Unfortunately, pain is a part of these children's sickness and everyday, twice a day, the nurses ask the children to write in their pain journals.  These journals give doctors a better idea of how the children are feeling during treatment.  To have a more efficient way of collecting data, SickKids decided to ask help from Cundari to design a better method for the children to rate their pain.  The team researched how the children spend their free time. They concluded that all the children love to have fan and play games.  The teams strategy was to incorporate a fun experience with video games.  The teams goal was to make reporting the pain for fun but more efficient as well.  Since the completion of the app, the main journal compliance rate has been over 90%.  Here is a video showing the success of the new app.