Worcester Department of Health and Human Services: Mobile Application for Substance Use Resources

Welcome to our project’s page! During our interactive qualifying project, we worked with the City of Worcester Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase accessibility and awareness of substance use, homelessness, and related resources in Worcester. We did this through the creation of an Android mobile application that serves as a directory for all relevant organizations in and around the city.

Project Sponsor: City of Worcester Department of Health and Human Services

The sponsor of this project, the City of Worcester Department of Health and Human Services, located in City Hall, manages the health resources of the city. The organization also ensures that all residents have equitable access to health services without prejudice by providing information, education, outreach, and advocacy. The commissioner, Dr. Matilde Castiel, leads the department and acts as the liaison to our project team (City of Worcester, 2018-c).

HHS runs a Community Health Assessment (CHA) every several years to determine the health needs of Worcester and assemble a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) (Central MA Regional Public Health Alliance, 2016). One of the priority areas of the plan is reducing substance use. Other relevant parts of the plan include mental health, economic opportunity, and access to care, which aims to provide care to low-income and diverse communities. HHS needs a solution to reduce substance use, improve mental health, and reduce homelessness by making treatment more accessible.

Student Researchers

Our IQP team is comprised of (left to right): Walker Christie, Michael Kola, Kyle Foley, and Natasha Honcharik

Our Project

The project aimed to assist the Worcester Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the distribution of information about locations and services for substance use, homelessness, and more. The purpose of this project was to create an accessible directory of substance use treatment services and related resources in Worcester through the creation of a mobile application. This application improves access to resources by compiling all the information in one directory that is easy to search through and keep updated.

Goals and Objectives

To provide the best deliverable to HHS and the technical department, we developed the following three objectives:

1. Research service providers and catalog basic information such as name, services provided, location, hours, and more.

2. Determine which features and designs would make the mobile application most useful and easy to use.

3. Develop and publish a functional mobile application.

Final Report