A teenager recently won a global technology award for her invention: Stellar, a paediatric occupational therapy app which provides quick and affordable services to children in need of them.
Saanvi Kaushik, a 13 year old from Cork City won the technology category at Technovation, a competition featuring 5,900 girls from 60 countries developing 1,700 mobile apps with the aim of solving community problems.
Kaushik, whose mother is an occupational therapist developed Stellar in order to create and maintain a safe platform for people in her mother’s profession to deliver remote appointments, keep track of their patient’s progress and create unique programmes for children.
‘There are currently 30,000 children waiting for occupational therapy in Ireland and these waiting times are only getting worse due to Covid-19. As the lists get longer, more children are suffering. I thought there must be a way to use technology to tackle this’, she said.
‘Every child, no matter where they live, should have access to the highest quality services.’
Kaushik developed Stellar with the aid of Teen-Turn, an Irish non-profit organization working to increase the low amount of women from undeserved areas and underrepresented communities who are attaining third-level qualifications in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.
By Marvellous Iwendi.
Source: The Irish Times