WeMakeThe.City festival 2019
During the WeMakeThe.City festival 2019, APH participated in the '10 years longer living in Amsterdam' program (10 jaar langer leven in Amsterdam) which focuses on lifestyle factors that contribute to a longer and healthier life. What can we do to help vulnerable groups from the city on their way to adopt a healthier lifestyle? Where does it go wrong? And what works? Among the guests: researchers affiliated with APH (Amsterdam UMC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), neighborhood professionals and local residents themselves.
Residents within the city ring live on average 10 years longer than residents outside the city ring. The central question was: How can we improve the life expectancy of Amsterdammers? Eating healthier, exercising and being in the mood (ik eet, ik beweeg en ik heb zin) were central themes for the three neighborhood meetings during the festival. The knowledge in these areas of APH research is summarized in three videos
Movie 1: Eating healthier
In this movie APH researchers Viyan Rashid and Sara Saleh explain different factors which determine food habits.
Movie 2: Exercising
In this movie APH researcher Manou Anselma tells about an initiative which stimulates children to exercise in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost.
Movie 3: Being in the mood
In this movie APH researcher Bart Baselmans tells about the effect of the environment on wellbeing.
At the festivals' closing meeting the lessons learned from the neighborhood meetings plus one recommendation from the closing meetings' audience resulted in 10 recommendations that together formed the manifesto '10 years longer living in Amsterdam'.
Hacking Health Amsterdam 2020
The second edition of the Hacking Health Amsterdam (HHA), which is an event where technology, design, entrepreneurship, healthcare and patients are brought together during a weekend, was planned for September 2020. Unfortunately, the event could not take place due to COVID-19. In order to help participants further in taking their ideas to the next level, from problems towards solutions, the online Next Step-athon has been organized.
During the finals on October 20, the winner with the best problem definition and with a promising solution potential was chosen. The Next Step-athon proved to be a successful online substitute for Hacking Health Amsterdam. An intensely diverse group actively helped those with an innovative idea to improve health and healthcare in the Amsterdam region. As a result, many next steps can now be taken.
Recap of the Next Step-athon on the HHA website (in Dutch).
Hacking Health Amsterdam 2019
From April 11-13, 2019 APH researchers participated in the first Amsterdam edition of Dutch Hacking Health. During this event several extraordinary, multidisciplinary teams consisting of people from a variety of backgrounds – from scientists to creative designers and from medical doctors to data managers – work together on clarifying and finding a solution for a current and urgent problem in healthcare.
APH researchers Dominique Maciejewski, Eline Heppe, and Marieke Buil actively participated in the hackathon. The ultimate goal of the Hacking Health Amsterdam (HHA) was to create innovative ideas that benefit the physical and mental health of the residents of Amsterdam, in order to increase life expectancy with 2 years.
Dominique’s team was focused on developing a screening instrument, named Uit je Hoofd, for detecting early signs of depression in children of parents with depression. Eline’s team developed a tool that stimulates healthy behavior of cardiac patients. This tool, called HartMaatje, helps them maintain a healthy lifestyle after they left the hospital to prevent them for having another cardiac incident. Marieke’s team created the gizmo TEAM-ME that stimulates young schoolchildren to signal that they do not feel happy at school. This, in turn helps teachers gain insight in the real-time social well-being of kindergarten and early elementary schoolchildren.
Dominque, Eline and Marieke agree that the hackathon was a huge success. Dominique explains that the event forces you to step out of your comfort zone by working together with people you normally do not cooperate with. “It truly broadens your horizon and you learn to think ‘out of the box’ ”, adds Eline, and it is very rewarding to translate research to practice. Marieke’s team won the 'Healthy Amsterdammer' incentive award, and Eline’s team won the 'Best Human-Centered' design award. Eline’s team will compete during the national Dutch Hacking Health finale May 2019.
The HHA was supported by the municipality of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Economic Board, GGD, Cordaan, SIGRA, Amsterdam UMC and many other partners.