University Circle

First Cleveland MedHack will bring together area's top healthcare innovators
Northeast Ohio's top computer programmers, doctors, patient advocates, entrepreneurs and other healthcare professionals will use their talents in innovation and technology to address problems facing healthcare at the first-ever Cleveland Medical Hackathon on September 26th and 27th at the Global Center for Health Innovation.
 
The event is designed to leverage the region’s strength in healthcare against technology and diverse skills in medical innovation. Lead partners behind the Cleveland MedHack include Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, CWRU, Ingenuity Cleveland, Flashstarts, MetroHealth System and BioEnterprise.
 
“Hackathons have been very successful in uniting people for a successful cause,” explains Will Morris, associate Chief Information Officer for the Cleveland Clinic. “This is about better healthcare delivery – better, faster, cheaper. It wasn’t so much ‘why don’t we do this” as it was ‘why aren’t we doing this.’”
 
Nesco Resource, one of the nation’s top staffing and HR firms with headquarters in Mayfield Heights, is sponsoring the Nesco Innovation Awards, which will be awarded to the hackathon teams that excel in developing projects that lead to out-of-the-box solutions. 
 
“Nesco Resource has been a long-time Cleveland based company that has been about connecting talented engineers and IT people with needs in the community,” says James Krouse, Nesco’s director of marketing and communications. “We’re happy to be presenting this event in that tradition.”
 
First place concepts will receive $3,000, second place will get $1,500 and third place will receive $500.
 
Organizers are hoping hundreds of participants will attend the MedHack and that it will become an annual event. “This is truly a grassroots effort with an eye toward the North Star of the global issue of how we deliver better patient care,” says Morris.
 
The event is free to attend, but applications are required to participate. The deadline is to apply is Wednesday, September 2nd.
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FutureHeights to offer mini-grants for neighborhood improvement projects
In an effort to improve Cleveland Heights neighborhoods and create a new kind of social interaction, FutureHeights is now offering mini-grants of up to $1,000 for neighbors to get together for improvement projects.
 
“It’s a way to strengthen our neighborhoods,” says FutureHeights executive director Deanna Bremer Fisher. “The way we do that work is with our residents and strengthen their assets.”
 
The grass-roots program is loosely based on Cleveland’s Neighborhood Connections program, which offers grants of up to $5,000 for neighborhood enhancement projects and is partially responsible for the creation of popular events like Larchmere PorchFest.
 
Years ago, Bremer Fisher says neighborhood block clubs were prevalent in Cleveland Heights. While some of the groups still exist and thrive, such as in the Fairfax neighborhood where the block has as many as 10 events a year, many of the groups have dissolved.
 
“This will be an incentive to be able to do small projects – do little things from a social aspect or physical appearance,” says Bremer Fisher. “Whether it’s a project that works on some aspect of physical appearance or strengthens a social network, we’re really open to all ideas. Let’s talk about it.”
 
FutureHeights has $7,500 budgeted for the mini-grants. Groups must consist of at least three people in the same neighborhood, and they will be required to match 20 percent of the grant in either money or volunteer hours.
 
 The organization plans to offer the program again in the spring, depending on the interest. “We have no idea what kind of response we’ll get,” Bremer Fisher says. The application deadline is September 15. An informational meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday, July 29 at 7pm at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Lee Road Library.
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