An innovative new idea to store emergency healthcare information recently won Faculty of Nursing alumna Kaitlyn Sheehan (BScN’12) the Highest Potential Design for Adoption award at the Windsor-Detroit Hacking Health event.

Sheehan’s StentTracker smartphone application was designed for cardiac patients to store information about their heart stents - small tubes used to help keep coronary arteries open and reduce the chance of heart attack.

“StentTracker will help physicians quickly identify the type and size of previously placed stents to assist with important decisions,” says Sheehan.

Sheehan says information is typically stored on paper cards which are often lost or damaged, making it difficult for physicians to assess patients with urgent cardiac needs.

“There are so many snowbirds here in Windsor that travel south during the winter, they might experience a cardiac event and will ultimately end up at a hospital that does not have any of their previous cardiac history.”

Sheehan says the contacts she made during the Hacking Health event have helped her to form a supporting team that she hopes will allow her to combine her passion for healthcare with her interest in business.

“I am always coming up with ideas from problems I notice in the workplace, but have never really known how to develop them or the process to bring them to life,” says Sheehan.

“I think that winning at Hacking Health is now motivation to move forward with a company, further refine and commercialize StentTracker and bring my other ideas to life.” said Sheehan.

Read full story in the Windsor Star.