During my internship with Ignition Communications in the summer of 2016, I was given the opportunity to write a feature article for WATCH Magazine about a start-up from Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre. HealthIM was part of the Accelerator Program at the time, so I chose to interview them for my article.
HealthIM created software to aide law enforcement in detecting persons with mental illnesses without creating confrontations or other worst case scenarios. This technology would allow a police officer to determine how the person in question could best get help. This software decreased arrests while increasing treatment in persons with mental illness.
I interview the founders about HealthIM as a business, as well as why they created it in the first place and how it’s positively affected both the police and persons with mental illness. I drafted the article, which my boss then edited for both print and online publication. It was released near the end of August in a special edition of WATCH Magazine that focused on featuring many start-ups from the Accelerator Centre.
WATCH Magazine has since archived this issue, but you can still read my feature article here on page 4.
Elizabeth Sarah Larkin 