By Tara Yap

Following the death of a friend from heart disease, 25-year-old law student Val Justin Deatras developed the HOPE app, designed for emergency responders in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.
Introduced during the Ideas Positive competition, an event conducted by the Unilab Foundation, the mobile application was found to reduce response time of first responders from barangay health workers and rural health units in five barangays, from one hour to 30 minutes.
The Unilab Foundation is supporting expansion of the app’s coverage area to 10 barangays./WDJ