Our inspiration for PRIDECARE came from a desire to make it easier for members of the LGBTQ+ community and or those that identify as a gender minority to find healthcare providers who are welcoming and understanding of their specific needs. I wanted to create a tool that would help connect members of this community with providers who will offer compassionate and inclusive care.
It allows users to input their location (either city or zip code), then a page of nearby healthcare providers, health centers, and or hospitals will appear. They are able to see the name, reviews, and address of the place. It uses Google Maps Geocoding API and Google Places API to find nearby providers who meet the criteria for being LGBTQ+-friendly.
I mainly used Django, HTML, and CSS. I started off by building a simple prototype in Figma. I also worked on the graphics before starting on any of the code. Then, I learned how to use the Google Maps API. I used the Google Maps Geocoding API and Google Places API to access data about healthcare providers, and we incorporated this data into our application using Python functions. We also used the Bootstrap framework to style.
One of the biggest challenges I faced during this project was working with the Google Maps and Google Places APIs. These APIs were new to me so it was difficult at first. I spent a significant amount of time learning how to use them, troubleshooting numerous bugs and errors, and had to do a lot of research online and through the documentation. As for the video, it may seem a bit laggy because I had so much running on PC at once. However, I hope it was still fun to watch! I tried editing it well <3
I am proud of several accomplishments that was achieved during this project. First and foremost, I am proud of the fact that I was able to create a tool that will help minorities find healthcare providers who will offer compassionate and inclusive care. I am also proud of the technical challenges we overcame, including integrating the Google Maps and Google Places APIs into our application and troubleshooting complex bugs.
As mentioned, this was the first time I tried learning how to use the Google Maps API. I learned how simple, yet hard it was to effectively use it to get all the information needed and displayed.
I want to improve the UI of the search results page. I want to have a creative image/design that appears if there are no results available. I also want to fix the issue of the photos not properly loading. It may have to do with the quota, but that's a problem to figure out later on.