Mohawk students win national app contest

Mohawk College students Leo and Jerad Godreault are doing what they can to make sure the people who need to take medication are doing it on time. And, their bright idea has made them winners of the app challenge at the national ehealth conference.

The Godreault's have come up with what they think is a life-saving idea. It's called SmartMed and it helps the people who use it, take their meds on time as prescribed.

The app takes the prescription and turns it into a medication schedule on a smartphone. It issues reminders and tracks the progress of the patient through the course of the treatment. It even allows family members to monitor remotely if a loved one is taking prescribed medication on schedule.

"Now people have to recall. How often are you going to remember how many times you forgot to take your medication", said Leo Godreault. "It removes the tedious process of managing your medications."

The app is already an award winner. It took first prize at the App Chalenge at the National eHealth Conference on Wednesday. That's an honour that comes with $3,500 in prize money which they plan to reinvest into their app.The Godreaults topped competition from universities and colleges all across Canada. 

Leo Godreault has seen, first hand, the need for a better medication reminder system. "I'm a nursing student and I know that medication adherence is a problem around the world," he said.

Now the Godreaults hope to team up with a research group and conduct a trial to begin the process of making the app available to the public..

Another Mohawk student also came home with prize money. Rahulbai Patel placed third in the competition and won $1500 for his app "MyPCS". It is a product safety check that helps people make decisions about over the counter medications.