Millions of syringes are found in the Czech Republic every year. The vast majority of them are collected by field workers of addiction services. Syringes are mostly recorded manually. Years ago, the Magdaléna organisation came up with the idea of saving hundreds of hours of this administration with a simple application and created the first version of Jehlomat.
In the community, we have set ourselves an ambitious goal - to create a completely new application that will be clearer, more user-friendly and will allow easy and fast recording of found syringes, including data logging. The new Jehlomat should allow any of us to report a found needle and track its disposal via a tracking code. The aim is to get the whole company involved in solving the problem.
Even closer to a working app for everyone#
During the two years of work the community managed to: design an infrastructure solution, conduct user research, organize Hack day twice, deliver a demo with 23 features out of 29 required, create a new visual identity and brand identity, design a communication strategy for dissemination of the application across organizations, create a promotional video and write GDPR documentation for use of the application.
"Personally, I perceive that Jehlomat has societal benefits on several levels. Firstly, thanks to Jehlomat, data on injection waste finds in the Czech Republic will be recorded electronically, which means it will be easier, faster and more accurate to evaluate. This can greatly assist field programmes in tracking the movements of groups of addicts and keeping them 'under their control'," summarises the benefits of the project coordinator Lucia Poláková.
Jehlomat is one of the first projects in the community and while working on the app, the team experienced a transformation to agile management. The Magdalene organization gained insight into working on a digital solution, experienced the implementation of an agile methodology, and received the necessary materials to complete the application.