Tel-Hai Magazine 2022

Student Entrepreneurs

MA-SA – Optimizing the logistics of rehabilitative care

Five years ago, Computer Science student, Roy Caspi, suffered a life-threatening head injury in an accident that left him on life-support for two weeks, and paralyzed on one side of his body. Roy spent seven months in hospital, followed by another year of intensive therapy and rehabilita tion. Throughout this period, Roy was de termined to make a complete recovery and, against all odds, with the help of excellent therapeutic teams, and with the support of his family and his partner, Michal, he did just that. However, Roy realized that the process as a whole was not working as smoothly as it could and there was often a lack of coordination between the different aspects of his treatment, leaving his thera pists and his family struggling with the lo gistics. Five years later, and with this in mind, Roy arrived at the Entrepreneurship Workshop at Tel-Hai College intent on improving the logistics involved in rehabilitative care. His vision, born out of his personal experience, was to pave an easier path for future pa tients and their families, that would also facilitate the work of therapeutic teams. He came up with the idea of an interface that would synchronize the system, simplify the logistics, and make it easier for all those in volved to communicate, share information, and plan together. But just as Roy’s rehabil itation involved a team, the realization of his vision could not be accomplished alone. At the workshop, Roy teamed up with two other students, Udi and Eden, with whom he could share his ideas, while each of them contributed their own unique skills and tal ents to complement the team. The workshop provides participants with the tools needed to transform their ideas into startups, and to realize their potential and creativity. It exposes participants to the inner workings and terminology of the

world of entrepreneurship, while bringing them together with entrepreneurs – and with each other. It combines theoretical learning with practical experience, and en ables students to forge connections in the industry. Udi Rozenblit, 29, a Computer Sciences student, lives with his wife and two daugh ters in Hatzor, in the Galilee. Udi, who feels deeply connected to his natural surround ings, grew up in the Galilee, and served in the military as an officer in a top intelli gence unit. He defines himself as an indi vidual “who is interested in everything from entrepreneurism, business, economics, computers, to history and nutrition…” It was only natural that he would join the en trepreneurship workshop, where he gained experience in product development and marketing. This created a perfect combina tion of talents and skills – Roy’s vision and Udi’s curiosity and know-how. But it was the third member of this team who broadened the vision - and the poten tial of the trio’s product. Eden Valdman, 25, a student of Food Sciences, who has successfully overcome the challenges of a learning disability, is not intimidated by new endeavors. Eden knows the practical meaning of thinking outside of the box. Being a people-person, she has a talent for connecting with and between people, and is best able to convey the project’s impor tance and uniqueness to potential partners. Together, with the tools provided by the workshop, Roy, Eden and Udi designed an application that may revolutionize the lo gistics and the experience of rehabilitative care in Israel – and beyond. The Medical Analyzer Scheduling Assistant (MA-SA) Rehabilitation involves numerous resourc es, and a range of professionals, tasks to be

accomplished, timetabling and coordina tion of medical examinations and consul tations. Often in this process, valuable time is wasted on bureaucracy, scheduling ap pointments, and other logistics - time and resources that could be saved and chan neled into helping patients get better faster, while unburdening the system that is al ready overworked and grappling with many challenges and difficulties. The initiative of the MA-SA app is intend ed to provide a user-friendly, digital inter face that enables fast communication and sharing of information between the four key elements involved in the process of re habilitation: patient, therapists and medical teams, and the family/caregivers. The app allows synchronization on both the logisti cal and the professional levels, thereby fa cilitating smoother coordination of sched ules between these four elements. This is particularly important, since rehabilitative programs frequently involve a multidisci plinary approach, making the sharing of relevant information crucial. The interface also obviates the need for the patient to re peat relevant details, when meeting thera pists from different disciplines, including those helping the patient deal with the emotional and psychological aspects of the medical condition and the rehabilitation process. The interface provided by Roy, Eden and Udi’s app, will enable the medical team and the patient to focus solely on recovery, in stead of on bureaucracy and logistics, and it will have a great impact on the experi ence of patients and their support network. At Tel-Hai, we are pleased to have assisted in the realization of Roy’s vision, and wish the team every success with their app.

Tel-Hai Magazaine | 2022 23