Memory Mingle

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Inspiration

Our biggest inspiration was the people around us. The last thing we believe anyone would want is for someone to stop caring for them but that is exactly what happens when someone gets diagnosed with dementia. The moment a loved one begins to drift apart, we reciprocate that. It is not fair for 40% of dementia patients to end up in nursing homes. It is not fair for 70% of dementia patients to die in nursing homes. As unfortunate as it is, only 4% of nursing homes have services that exclusively cater to dementia patients. The main reason for this: the lack of connection between patients and the people around them. To someone diagnosed with dementia, the world seems unfamiliar and distant. It is our responsibility to make sure that they feel belonged and loved. We wanted to reduce the gap between dementia patients and their loved ones. A way we sought to do this was through Memory Mingle.

What it does

Memory Mingle is an app that bridges the gap between dementia patients and their beloved friends and family through daily updates. As a user with dementia, you can use our app to create an intimate group with the people you care most about. Keep your mind active by keeping up with their lives through the video updates they send you daily.

How we built it

We used Java to build the main framework of the program. In addition to this, we created a prototype that would mirror the graphic interface and features using Figma.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge we had was creating a GUI (Graphical User Interface) using Java. We had quite literally no experience working with GUIs and struggled to bring our vision to life using coding. Due to the time constraints, we were unfortunately not able to implement the GUI. However, we recreated a similar demo with Figma, which we are proud of.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are super proud of the fact that we had a working project (even though it was on the console). This is the first hackathon that we are coding in and given the skills of other competitors, it was very daunting. However, we were able to come up with a solution that we believe solves a very important issue.

What we learned

We learned a lot about how the things we learned in the classroom could be applied in the real world. Initially, we started off with no plan but we got stuck very quickly. In order to resolve the situation, we had to take a step back and plan out our steps and classes using UML diagrams (which we thought we would never use). We also learned how to work efficiently with pair programming!

What's next for Memory Mingle

Next up, we would like to include a "feed" function that would work like TikTok or Instagram Reels. This way, we can not only incorporate daily updates from the people around them, but also the interests and hobbies of dementia patients. We believe that this would optimize their cognitive functionalities, boosting their lifespan and quality of life.